Before UFC 193, Ronda Rousey was unstoppable. Tearing enemies to shreds, often in a just a few moments, she reigned undefeated and unchallenged as UFC Women’s Bantamweight Champion.
Then Holly Holm happened.
Since her shocking loss to the challenger from Albuquerque, Rousey has been in hiding. Save for a few grim moments of paparazzi capturing her shrouded and hidden face as she rushed through an airport, we’ve seen or heard nothing.
Today, Rousey finally opened the door to ESPN and spoke.
“I just feel so embarrassed,” said Rousey. “How I fought after that is such an embarrassing representation of myself. I wasn’t even fucking there.
“I wasn’t thinking clearly. I had that huge cut in my mouth and I just spit [the blood] out at my feet. Then they brought the bucket over and I’m like, ‘Why didn’t I spit it in the bucket?’ I never spit on the ground.
“I got hit in that first round, I cut my lip open and knocked a couple of my teeth loose. I was out on my feet from the very beginning.
“It was like a dumbed-down dreamy version of yourself making decisions. … I was just trying to shake myself out of it. I kept saying to myself, ‘You’re OK, keep fighting. You’re OK, keep fighting.”
Seemingly moments after her head hit the canvas, the MMA world erupted into an overload of glee. Outpourings of memes, tweets and comments berating the now former champion flooded the internet. Celebrities, days earlier talking about her in revered hushed tones now laughed and mocked. A decision not to touch Holm’s gloves before the fight was cited as a cause.
“It was just like a reaction,” Rousey said. “I was like, ‘The last time I saw you, you were putting your fist on my chin and trying to get a cheap hit on me, then you turn around and you want to touch gloves? You have to be one way or the other. So if you want to be that way with me, that’s the way it is.'”
The same people who berate her after her loss, are also of course, the same who want to know her next step. Is she going to retire? Is she going to make movies?
“I guess it’s all going to be determined by what happens in the rematch,” Rousey said. “Everything is going to be determined by that. Either I’ll win and keep going or I won’t and I’ll be done with everything.”
