INQUISITR.COM / Sports

Ronda Rousey Explains Why She Lost Through UFC President: Still No Media Appearances

By Aric Mitchell
Published on: 10:54 PST, Dec 4, 2015

Ronda Rousey has made very few public appearances since getting knocked unconscious in round 2 of her main event championship fight with Holly Holm at UFC 193.

While most fighters try to show up to the press conference immediately following a pay-per-view event, UFC President Dana White told reporters that Rousey would not be joining the festivities because she had to be taken to the hospital.

It was an easy story to accept after the one-sided victory for Holm.

Rousey’s lip was split, and there was a reasonable assumption that she could have a concussion following the head kick that has now been immortalized in meme after meme on the Internet.

Nevertheless, Ronda Rousey chose to sit that one out, and beyond the media catching a glimpse of her at LAX and a family picture posted around Thanksgiving, she has been 180 degrees the opposite of her pre-loss visibility (aka nowhere to be found).

Today, however, it seems that MMA viewers could be close to seeing more of Rousey. White appeared on Off the Record with Michael Landsberg and shared details of a recent conversation he had with Ronda.

In the interview, she explained what happened to her on the way to the first loss of her career.

“I’ve talked to her almost everyday after the fight and when she sat down with me and Lorenzo a few days ago, she said, ‘I was exhausted going into that fight. I was exhausted mentally, physically, emotionally,'” White told Landsberg. “She had a lot of personal things going on, too, with her family.”

White also made sure to point out that he wasn’t giving up on Ronda Rousey as a fighter or a friend. He said that she, along with Chuck Liddell, were the two fighters he’s forged the closest friendships with in MMA, and also noted that she beat “one of the best female fighters in the world, Cat Zingano,” in 14 seconds.

“So I don’t know,” he added.

White said that he’s “never surprised” when someone loses in the Octagon, but that it “was surprising the way Ronda lost.”

Rousey had only been out of the first round once in her career, and many felt that she only went to round 3 in the second fight with Miesha Tate because she wanted to punish her. The results certainly lent credence to that theory as Ronda Rousey stopped Tate with an armbar submission after bullying her for the first 10 minutes of the fight.

White also thought it was “out of character” for Ronda to do what she did to Holly Holm at the weigh-in.

While many fans can understand why Ronda Rousey would feel so bogged down going into the fight with all the appearances she was making, some at MMA Mania aren’t buying it, and are even calling it a copout excuse.

“But she was saying she was the only person who could handle all this? And that she was fine!!!” chided one commenter. “Come on Honda [sic]… stop with the flip flopping.”

Ronda’s reception elsewhere has been pretty brutal, too. Immediately following the fight, many on Twitter and Facebook started using stills and footage from the fight to create memes berating her. One such example is pictured at the top of this piece, but it gets much more brutal than that.

The backlash has been so severe, in fact, that Ronda’s opponent, and the current UFC Bantamweight Champion, Holly Holm has stood up for her in interviews with the press.

What do you think about the reasons that Dana White offered to OTR? Is he making excuses, or is it conceivable that the Ronda Rousey, who lost to Holm, wasn’t the real deal?

[Photo by Quinn Rooney/Getty Images]

Share this article: Ronda Rousey Explains Why She Lost Through UFC President: Still No Media Appearances
dana white ronda rousey holly holm
More from Inquisitr