Following her loss to Holly Holm at UFC 193 Ronda Rousey received some words of encouragement from five-time NBA champion Kobe Bryant. Kobe revealed what he said to the former UFC women’s bantamweight champion in a recent interview with USA Today.
“I sent her several messages, so yes, we have touched base,” Bryant told USA Today Sports. “That’s what it’s about. It’s not about how you win. A true champion is about how you lose and come back from that.
“I told her, ‘It’s a beautiful thing.’ That’s what I told her. I said, ‘To be a true champion sometimes you have to get knocked down.’ It happens to the best of us. It happened with my Achilles (when I tore it), (Muhammad) Ali got put down several times – it happens to the best of us.
“I think the true mark of a champion is how you get up from that,” Bryant said. “If she goes through her entire career undefeated, she becomes this mythical figure that nobody can relate to. She got beat. We all get beat at some point or another in our lives. Now it’s a matter of how she bounces back from that. I think that’s what makes her a true champion.”
Ronda Rousey is scheduled to make her return to the octagon in November.
