Ronda Rousey has her fair share of haters these days — an inevitability when you talk as much trash as she does. But you can still count NBA superstar Kobe Bryant among her fans. In fact, he went out of his way to contact Rousey after her crushing loss to Holly Holm. Here’s what he told her (via USA Today):
“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.”
Who knows, maybe this loss to Holly Holm is the best thing that ever happened to Ronda Rousey. She’s on the cover of the new SI Swimsuit issue, so it hasn’t hurt her marketability. And the whole “indestructible superwoman” thing was starting to get old — the UFC’s biggest problem promoting her fight with Holm in Australia was convincing anyone the fight was competitive. Now that we’ve been reminded that no one is unbeatable in MMA, the women’s divisions are much more exciting. Plus Ronda Rousey’s attempted comeback is set to be one of the biggest sports stories of the year.
Kobe Bryant isn’t the only NBA star paying attention to mixed martial arts these days. LeBron James has taken to reblogging inspirational Conor McGregor quotes as well. It’s just another sign that the UFC is hitting new heights of popularity with its new crop of superstars.
(Via USA Today)