It’s still not easy for Ronda Rousey to talk about what will likely be the final fight of her UFC career against Amanda Nunes back in 2016.
Rousey has never really publicly spoken about her last bout against Nunes, but she actually addressed the aftermath in a vignette produced by WWE to promote her upcoming appearance at WrestleMania 34 on April 8.
Rousey lost the fight by TKO in just 48 seconds before exiting the Octagon without speaking to the press after the event. Rousey then went into seclusion for several months without making many public appearances outside of filming commitments she had previously booked.
From the sound of things, Rousey was mired in a very dark place after her defeat but she says her husband — and fellow UFC fighter — Travis Browne helped pick her back up again.
“I remember my last fight walking away thinking ‘God hates me’,” Rousey said about her last fight at UFC 207. “I had nothing left in me. My husband’s amazing and he really brought me out of some tough times and he would just look at me and say ‘you’re not only this’. He said ‘you’re more than just a fighter’ and that’s not a bad thing. It’s not something I should be ashamed of. It’s something that I should embrace and showcase to the world and that’s why I’m here.”
“I remember my last fight walking away thinking ‘God hates me'” ~ Ronda Rousey
While there’s no doubt that loss had a profound effect on Rousey, it sounds like that ultimately served as the catalyst to her new profession with WWE.
Rousey now says she truly believes everything she’s done up to this point in her career — from winning an Olympic bronze medal to her reign as UFC champion — all led her to where she’s at now with WWE.
Rousey is a lifelong professional wrestling fan so it’s no shock that she opted for this type of career after fighting was finished.
Now she’s embracing it as she prepares to have her first match in just a few weeks time.
“I’m not afraid to care anymore. I needed to be miserable then to be truly happy now,” Rousey said. “It’s all led to this and I didn’t even realize that I’ve always been on this path.”
Will you be watching Ronda Rousey when she makes her WWE debut at WrestleMania 34? Let us know in the comments.
