Ronda Rousey opens up on Ellen
The road back to the top the MMA world made a pit stop at an unlikely place when former UFC bantamweight champ Ronda Rousey appeared on the Ellen DeGeneres show. You can see the entire interview just below.
This was the first TV talk show that Rousey has done since her dismantling at the hands of current champion Holly Holm.
To say Rousey appeared humble compared to her media blitz before her fight with Holm is like saying Joe Rogan knows a bit more about MMA than Mike Goldberg.
Rousey described in detail what it was like while she was getting thoroughly whipped inside the Octagon, and what she went through in the moments afterward as she realized she had lost something more than a fight.
Ellen listened closely as her guest told her she was out on her feet for most of the fight. She says she was rocked by one of the first punches by Holm, and never really recovered.
That’s what happens when you get a terrible game plan from your coach. Holm, on the other hand, had the perfect game plan, prescribed by Greg Jackson and company.
It’s amazing the fight lasted as long as it did. Rousey truly is a warrior. It was her talent and toughness alone that allowed her to make it to the second round.
Ellen asked the biggest draw in the UFC about her recovery afterwards, even asking innocently “Do you still have a headache?”
Rousey looked to be fully recovered of course. She looked fine in every sense of the word. The mixed martial artist did break down while describing how she felt once she was back in the locker room.
Rousey stated that she had momentary thoughts of suicide.
“Honestly, my thought, I was in the medical room, and I was down in the corner, and I was like, ‘What am I anymore if I’m not this?’” Rousey said.
“I was literally sitting there and thinking about killing myself, and that exact second I’m like, ‘I’m nothing. What do I do anymore?’ and ‘No one gives an (expletive) about me anymore without this.’”
Saying she had suicidal thoughts shouldn’t be taken lightly and hopefully this wasn’t a ploy to get more attention for the interview. I have to believe she wouldn’t do that, especially in light of her own father’s suicide.
She did state the thoughts were fleeting, and she immediately turned to her boyfriend, Travis Browne for comfort, saying she wanted to have his babies.
Lucky dude.
Rousey seemed to look at the loss as an overall eyeopener. That her purpose may be to show folks how to rise up from being knocked down.
She is up, but not back on the throne. So there’s still work to be done before she can be a hero to the fallen.
An interesting soundbite came out when Rousey wondered aloud “Why did this happen?”
Rousey seems to have connected to a deeper side since her loss. That’s cool, and I am on the edge of my seat every time she opens her mouth. She’s that interesting, engaging, and charismatic.
I just hope she doesn’t miss the trees for the forest. In the bigger picture, there may be a reason for her loss in her own mind. But in the short view, she lost her championship and status as the “Most Dangerous Unarmed Woman on the Planet” for one simple reason. Her opponent was better prepared.
On that night, Holly Holm was the better fighter and proved it in the only place that mattered. In a steel cage. The universe or Rousey’s greater purpose didn’t come into play that night in Australia.
Holm was also more focused then and probably even today. I don’t see Holm popping up on daytime TV. She’s getting ready to defend her belt against Miesha Tate on March 5th.
Rousey said she hopes Holm wins that fight, so Rousey can win her belt back from the fighter who took it.
That’ll be a tall order. One that will require more than talk.