“It’s very Ronda-esque,” Miesha Tate said on MMA on SiriusXM when discussing Ronda Rousey’s recent comments about the fans not deserving to hear her thoughts on her legacy. “Look, she’s not wrong even though it’s a bit arrogant but I think that’s the style that people have appreciated about Ronda. It’s not necessarily something I appreciate about Ronda but when you talk about her legacy this does sum it up in one quote, really. It’s that she knows she has value and interest but she also really doesn’t give a sh*t what anybody else wants to hear.
“She’s not entirely an open book. She’s not there entirely for the fans selflessly. Ronda has always been about Ronda so it doesn’t surprise me. She continues to be exactly how she’s always been.
“When I listen to this, she almost sounds emotional. I don’t think she’s entirely happy with her legacy,” Tate continued. “The point that Ronda [gives] about us not deserving to hear it and about the vulnerability, I think it speaks again to point that she left the sport worse than she entered in.
“She has an inflated ego, she does have all of those things. I talk about myself and we’re polar opposites, that’s why we never really got along.
“I started my career off a loss. I started my career with the humble approach,” she explained. “I’m a very open book. I’ve got nothing to hide. I’ve won some, I’ve lost some, I don’t have the need to put myself on a pedestal or not be an open book. I enjoy being transparent because I hope somebody can take something away from my gains and my losses. I’ve lost horribly in front of the entire world and so did Ronda.
“But she has a chance here to open up and to give some insight and perspective and motivation but she’s obviously not at that point where she feels good enough about her own legacy to be vulnerable and to reflect and give back. She’s obviously not in a good place with it.
“She wants to be the hard Ronda Rousey,” Tate finished. “The one that was back from 2014 that I always said winning is easy. You don’t have to make any adjustments. You don’t have to make any changes. You’re on top of the world. You’re doing great. When you lose, that’s when you see what you’re really made of.”
It’s no secret that former UFC champions Ronda Rousey and Miesha Tate were at a point the fiercest of rivals in all of the sport. However, with both now retired, it’s all about reflecting on the lasting legacies that they left behind them.
For a UFC 25-Year Anniversary documentary special, Tate, Rousey, and Cris ‘Cyborg’ Justino were featured speaking about their respective careers. When it came to Rousey, she stated that “how I feel about myself and my own legacy is something precious to me, so you don’t get to hear it, you just get to have your own opinion of my legacy.”
Aside from Tate, many others also felt that this was the usual Rousey response… Tate just broke down why it may have been that way even after her MMA career.
Rousey, of course, would retire from the fight world with a record of 12-2 after suffering her first two losses in consecutive devastating knockout fashion.
Currently, Rousey finds herself on a hiatus from professional wrestling after suffering a broken hand in early April after performing for a full year with the WWE.
Tate, on the other hand, has since joined ONE Championship in a Vice President role and is making the move to Singapore with her family.
This article first appeared on BJPenn.com on 5/2/2019