What an absolute maelstrom it has been for Ronda Rousey (12-1) since her devastating head-kick knockout loss to new bantamweight champion Holly Holm (10-0).
In the days following her monumental upset, everyone from fans to fellow fighters to celebrities such as Donald Trump and Lady Gaga has come out to express how happy he or she is that Rousey lost. In a strange twist, it would appear Floyd Mayweather is actually supporting her.
Losing is never easy. Losing on the biggest stage in front of the whole world when you’ve been built up as unbeatable is just a tad bit harder to swallow. Especially when you’ve built up your persona by not shaking hands with your opponents and putting them on blast when you don’t like how you perceive them to be.
Warning: Image contains NSFW text.
Things flipped aggressively against Rousey in the lead-up to her fight with Holm—people started to sour on her.
It didn’t help her cause when everyone began to realize Holm is literally one of the nicest people in the sport—and in general. Rousey’s calling her “fake” didn’t really sit well with anyone. When Rousey refused to touch gloves with Holm before their fight started, it was a tipping point for some folks.
The Internet has been filled with a deluge of memes and edited video mocking Rousey over her devastating loss. They are not worth reposting here, but you shouldn’t have to try too hard to find one, or a hundred.
What is worth posting, albeit hard to watch (and hard to look away from), is the very raw video shared by TMZ Sports. It shows reporters following Rousey through LAX airport as she covers her face—presumably to prevent anyone from seeing the bruises she incurred in her fight with Holm—peppering her with questions in an attempt to get her to say something, anything. It is classic TMZ.
Watching the video, you simultaneously want her to talk and wish the media would leave her alone. Certainly it all comes with the territory of being a huge celebrity. But how can you not, at least for a moment, feel a sliver of empathy for Rousey?
Like the other 7 billion of us on this planet, Rousey is a human being. And right now she’s in a place we’ve all been, albeit not on the wholly unique global stage she built for herself.
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