Former UFC women’s bantamweight champion, Ronda Rousey, was a recent guest on the Bertcast YouTube show and dazzled fans with her charm and congeniality.
Just kidding.
Rousey was her usual caustic self;
which in fairness, is how she’s always been throughout her combat sports career (probably because of this). “Rowdy” speaks her mind and does not shy away from sensitive topics , nor does she miss an opportunity to sing her own praises.
“I said the other day that I’m the greatest ever, and man, everyone flipped the f—k out over it,” Rousey said. “I’m like, how do you define the greatest ever? I define the greatest ever as the person who was the most dominant, and the farthest ahead of their time, right? Because you can’t judge different eras against each other. No one can say I haven’t been the most dominant and the most ahead of my time, and I will die on that hill. But a bunch of people that have never been in a fight in their lives will devote a good portion of their day to arguing otherwise.”
A bunch of people who did fight will also argue otherwise.
“I think one of the problems that a lot of the women in MMA have now is they’re trying to be as inoffensive as possible and to not say anything outrageous,” Rousey added. “That’s how we almost lost women’s MMA. People trying to quietly not offend anyone and quietly ask for permission to be there. I was like no man, you have to make your space, not ask for space.”
Manager Ali Abdelaziz took exception to remarks Rousey made about one of his most revered clients, former UFC lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov. “Rowdy” suggested UFC fans would have grounded “The Eagle” if Nurmagomedov started losing late in his career.
“She was a great athlete and the girls she beat, they were not athletic,” Abdelaziz told Submission Radio. “But when she met Amanda [Nunes] she lost. She can’t compare herself to Khabib. She’s not like a GOAT, she’s unhappy. Khabib is a legit superstar and icon, undefeated, undisputed champion. He is always going to be a champion. He doesn’t have a highlight reel of getting knocked out by Holly Holm. If you think you are better than Khabib, you should come back. Kayla Harrison, your old friend, I am sure will be very happy to open the door and give you an ass whooping.”
Like Rousey, Harrison was an Olympic medalist in judo and now holds the women’s bantamweight title. There’s a pretty good argument that Harrison would not have a UFC career without the trail blazed by Rousey, but we’ll probably never get an opportunity to see them fight now that the brain-battered Rousey is retired.
