Ronda Rousey has come out swinging at MMA fans in a new interview, in which she compares them unfavorably to WWE fans.
“MMA fans and media are the most what have you done lately for us crowd of any sport,” Rousey said on Bert Kreischer’s podcast. “You look at WWE and they have such a reverence for their legends. In MMA, it’s like the second that you’re not on top, you’re not sh*t and you never were sh*t.
“Chuck Liddell, when he’s on top, ‘He’s the best, he’s the best.’ The second that he loses, ‘Oh Chuck Liddell ain’t sh*t, he never was sh*t,’” Rousey said. “‘Rampage’ Jackson, oh my god he’s the next Mike Tyson, he’s so great!’ The second he loses, ‘Rampage’ ain’t sh*t, he never was sh*t. [Georges St-Pierre], ‘Oh he loses, he’s not sh*t, he never was sh*t.’ Anderson Silva, oh my God he was almost like a mythical creature for a while. He was like this ninja, and he would hypnotize everyone in front of him. The second he loses, ‘Anderson ain’t sh*t, he never was sh*t.’ Fedor Emelianenko, one of the greatest ever. The second he loses, ‘Fedor ain’t sh*t, he never was sh*t.’
“I think the only reason why MMA fans have their lips so firmly planted at the base of Khabib’s c*ck is because he retired before he reached his limit. If he kept fighting until he reached his limit, everybody would be ‘Khabib ain’t sh*t, he never was sh*t’.
“They’re like that with everybody. Name one person. ‘Brock [Lesnar] ain’t sh*t, he never was sh*t.’ Name one past champion that has the kind of respect that the current champions do. It’s really sad because I think it encourages people to get out while they’re peaking and leaving and taking all of that equity with them instead of passing it on to whoever’s next to take up the mantle.”
“I wanted to retire undefeated because I was so afraid of everything that I accomplished is going to be nothing if I ever lose,” Rousey continued. “So I have to retire undefeated. It wasn’t until I got into the WWE and saw that wait, you have to retire on a loss.
“Everybody in WWE has to retire on a loss because you have to pass that torch on, and I think everyone in MMA, they’re going to try to take the torch with them because of how the fans respond to it.”
“The fans, a lot of them have never fought,” Rousey concluded. “It’s not like football where a lot of people who watch have done football. They don’t understand how short your shelf life is and how every fight changes you. Even if the fight you came out unscathed, you didn’t come out of the training camp unscathed.
“You can’t keep it up for very long. It’s just the human body. You’re taking impact to the head. This is your f*cking brain. We can’t make your brain stronger or more calloused. There’s a limit to how much you can take. As soon as anybody reaches that limit, you ain’t sh*t, you never were sh*t.”
Rousey’s comments appear to tie in with a separate swipe during the same interview at Joe Rogan, who was once among her biggest admirers at the peak of her powers, only to then be more critical after she left the sport following back-to-back losses via strikes.
“He’s not an expert,” Rousey told Kreischer when Rogan’s name was brought up. “He’s a fan with an audience. He never fought, while also downplaying his background competing in taekwondo competitions, stating, “That’s not fighting.”
Watch Rousey’s full interview below.
