Ronda Rousey appeared on ESPN today as a promotional appearance for Wrestlemania 34, and had a few awkward segments during two of her appearances today.
Rousey appeared on Golic & Wingo, and Mike Golic asked the likelihood that she returned to MMA, but Rousey appeared thrown off by the phrasing of the question: (transcription credit to Bill Pritchard for Wrestlezone.com):
Golic: So Ronda, let’s go back and start with when you knew, from the MMA, when you knew you were done. When you knew in your mind ‘I’m not going to fight anymore.’
Rousey: I never said that.
Golic: Ahh… so there is a possibility that you could go back, in time?
Rousey: [confused] is it possible that I could go back in time? That’s your question to me?
Golic: Go back, in time, and fight, in the octagon?
Rousey: I do not have the ability to go back in time. No.
Golic: Would you fight again?
Rousey: I don’t know.
Ronda Rousey Does Not Know If She Will Return To MMA; Says She Has Something To Prove In WWE (Video)
Rousey also appeared on First Take with Stephen A. Smith and Max Kellerman, and didn’t take too kindly to her interpretation of Kellerman’s opening question after previously recorded audio of the two hosts speaking about her was played: (transcription credit to Bill Pritchard for Wrestlezone.com)
Kellerman: I said that you were a woman, who through your fighting, you became such a big deal that when you lost, it’s like the Earth stopped spinning on its axis. And that’s the part I chose to focus on after your loss in the UFC. [I was like] ‘why is everyone talking about ‘oh my God, she lost. She’s over’, all of these things that when you achieved such heights that one loss, the whole world stopped and noticed. Why do you think there was a kind of negative backlash to you after the loss?
Rousey: umm…
Kellerman: In other words, people —you must be aware—in the MMA world, there was a lot of talk. She was overrated, she was this, she was that. And my point of view at the time, and remains, that you achieved amazing heights —almost no one wins forever—everyone suffers setbacks. But there seemed to be an unusual amount of negative pushback after your loss. Did you not experience that?
Rousey: I experienced a lot of people who quote [makes air quotes with fingers] “some people” who are really just afraid to state their own opinion.
Kellerman: Do you think that’s my opinion?
Rousey: [shrugs shoulders]
Kellerman: That—no, that’s not my opinion. I can tell you that right now. It’s not my opinion. I thought you achieved amazing things. I was and am, remain a big fan of your fighting, and of you, that’s not me saying ‘some people’ meaning me. That is me saying I read and heard from others and defended you.
Rousey: Well thank you for defending me, I appreciate that.
— Jed I. Goodman © (@jedigoodman) March 27, 2018
