Ronda Rousey defeated Gina Carano atop the MVP MMA 1 fight card last weekend in Los Angeles, a dream fight “Rowdy” has been fantasizing about for several years. After months of buildup, the card had somewhat of an anticlimactic end, thanks to the quick-fire submission skills of the 2008 Olympic bronze medalist.
Was this redemption for her bitter, fan-unfriendly exit after consecutive knockout losses to Holly Holm and Amanda Nunes?
“For me personally and I think I speak for a lot of people, there was
no redeeming qualities for this card, in terms of making us [bigger] fans of Ronda,” retired UFC welterweight Matt Brown said on The Fighter vs. The Writer. “I don’t like how she carried herself. I don’t like how she spoke. I think she’s a narcissist, and I think she’s got a lot of mental issues, and I think she maybe needs to go to therapy or something. If she said she’s coming back for money, I get it. You’re prize fighting. Come back get a bag. There’s no redeeming quality about winning this fight. You fought someone that hasn’t fought in 17 years. What are you proud of? There’s nothing to be proud of there. I think she’s just kind of a narcissistic person and nothing about this really felt good, in my opinion.”
It’s probably worth mentioning that Brown picked Carano to win by technical knockout.
“The whole thing with this fight card, I don’t think anybody would disagree that this whole fight card from beginning to end was kind of cringe as f*ck,” Brown added. “Ronda was just the cringiest person ever with her [mean mugging] the whole time and looking so angry and all the buildup, all the shit she said leading up to it. Talking so much shit to Hunter Campbell and this kind of vengeful personality that she has and all this anger and frustration. You really just need to go to therapy. You need a friend and some people to help you just calm down. Learn some stoicism and shit. Coming back and beating someone that hasn’t fought in 17 years, that was a good matchup for you even 17 years ago, you shouldn’t feel so great about that.”
Rousey, 39, spent the majority of her press appearances criticizing UFC and its CBO, Hunter Campbell.
“I really think she’s a narcissist, and she needs some damn therapy,” Brown said. “We want to love Ronda. This was her opportunity — another of her thousand opportunities — but this was a huge opportunity for her to create a lot of love for her. She could have gotten even more views if she came out all humble and just speaking properly and not making it about Hunter Campbell and the UFC. Not making it about trying to go out on a win. Who the f*ck is doing her [public relations]? She’s got the fame and the money, she’s got to have a f*cking PR person in her ear saying ‘look, just speak like this.’ Even if you fake it. Even if we can see through all the f*cking fake bullshit, you say it. Just f*cking say half-right things. She just can’t do it.”
Focused on self, not self improvement.
Rousey (13-2) is not expected to make her return to fighting after finishing her career in the win column. While the former UFC women’s bantamweight champion wanted the Carano fight to complete her cage fighting legacy, it’s a shame we never got to see the grudge match between “Rowdy” and longtime rival Cris Cyborg, who recently offered to fight both Rousey and Carano in the same night.
