Ronda Rousey believes she’s the greatest MMA fighter of all time.
The former UFC bantamweight champion is widely regarded as the pioneer of women’s MMA in the UFC, where she defended her 135-pound belt a record six times, before losing it to Holly Holm by a devastating head kick knockout at UFC 193.
Rousey, who had maintained an undefeated record until then, was deeply affected and openly acknowledged considering suicide in the aftermath of her defeat. Ronda’s return to the Octagon against Amanda Nunes at UFC 207 also ended in disappointment, with her being stopped by ‘The Lioness’ within a minute of intense pounding.
Despite her losses and varying opinions from MMA fans, Rousey maintains her belief that she is the greatest fighter of all time.
“I had taken punishment until I couldn’t take it anymore,” Rousey said in a recent interview with Valeria Lipovetsky. “When it got to the point that I couldn’t take it anymore, I was vilified as ‘She was all hype, she was just lucky.’ People making all these judgements about me in a fight where my first loss, my mouth guard was bad, I literally came into that fight concussed from slipping down some stairs already after all these years of concussions. I had an absolutely terrible weight cut, which means you have less fluid in your brain to protect it.
“I was out on my feet for the entire fight. I was trying to make it look like I wasn’t hurt, but I wasn’t there cognitively. I couldn’t think as fast or judge distance. Just from that one fight, everybody felt like, ‘Oh she’s a fraud.’ I know that like I’m the greatest fighter that has ever lived, but when it got to a point that I had taken so much neurological damage that I couldn’t take it anymore, suddenly everything I had accomplished meant nothing. Then after the second fight, I saw how all these people I was coming back to fight for had suddenly turned against me. All of my appreciation for them turned to resentment.”
Ronda Rousey: I know, that like, I'm the greatest fighter that has ever lived.pic.twitter.com/J9EbAcF4Lz
— Jed I. Goodman © (@jedigoodman) April 3, 2024
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