Friday night in Las Vegas, former UFC women’s bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey stepped into the Octagon for the first time since dropping a 2nd round KO loss to Holly Holm at UFC 193 back in November of 2015.
While Rousey’s return was the focus of the promo videos from the UFC leading up to the fight, Amanda Nunes dominated the fight from bell to bell, tagging Rousey with a big punch just moments into the fight before then continuing to land a barrage of strikes, ultimately forcing referee Herb Dean to stop the fight just 48 seconds after the opening bell.
Following the fight, Rousey was the subject of much criticism for showcasing an extremely underdeveloped striking game, featuring little to no head movement.
In the hours following the fight, Ronda Rousey’s mom, who has been very vocal about her disapproval of Rousey’s head coach Edmond Tarverdyan, released a statement through her blog, saying:
“Like every mother and daughter on the face of the earth, Ronda and I don’t always see eye to eye. However, there is one situation where I am pretty certain.
All of those who have criticized Ronda for taking a loss so to heart, for not just ‘shrugging it off’ don’t understand that what made Ronda so successful is that she cares DEEPLY about winning to an extent that I don’t believe the average person can wrap his/her head around.
Caring deeply about something and working your hardest to achieve it doesn’t mean you make the right decisions 100% of the time. Wouldn’t it be a nicer world if it did?
Those of you who want to criticize Ronda, I just want to point out a few things. First of all, I know her better than you and she is a smart, kind, talented, generous, hard-working person.
Second, I’d like to list some of her accomplishments, and note that she isn’t yet 30 years old:Junior World Judo Champion
Panamerican Games Judo Gold Medalist
First American woman in a decade to win a world cup in judo (and then she went on to win several more)
U.S. Open Gold Medalist
World Judo Championships Silver Medalist
Olympic Bronze Medalist
U.S. Senior National Champion
First UFC World Champion
First woman to make a million dollars in martial arts
Co-authored sports book of the year – My Fight/ Your Fight
Acted in three movies
That’s just a partial list, but let me suggest that someone who has been world level athlete in two sports, written a best seller, acted in movies and made millions of dollars, all before the age of 30 has a pretty darn good track record. On top of that, Ronda has been part of the USADA drug testing since she was 16 years old, never failed a drug test, always paid her taxes, never been arrested, never been to rehab, has zero divorces, zero DUIs and zero children. While you might think that is to be expected, look how many celebrities (heck, look how many of your neighbors) can say that.
I am very proud of my daughter.