It didn’t take long for the haters to come out in force after Ronda Rousey lost her big comeback fight at UFC 207 in brutal fashion. It took under a minute for Amanda Nunes to batter the UFC superstar across the cage with relentless strikes, forcing referee Herb Dean to step in and save Rousey from another terrible knockout like the one she suffered against Holly Holm.
And while Ronda is continuing to keep her silence in the face of her defeat, her mother (and former judo world champion) AnnMaria De Mars took to her blog in the hours following the shocking loss to defend her daughter.
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?
AnnMaria goes on to provide a lengthy list of Ronda’s accomplishments in sports and entertainment thus far, making sure to note that Ronda isn’t even 30 years old yet and far from done.
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. As my other wonderful daughter, Maria, told her: “We love you just as much 10 minutes after every fight as we did in the 10 minutes before.”
You can read the full letter from Ronda’s mother here. Let’s hope that list of accomplishments only keeps growing. It’s almost impossible to name a legend in mixed martial arts who doesn’t have two or more losses sitting on their record. There’s no reason whatsoever to think Ronda’s quick skid needs to be the end of the road. And if she does move on to Hollywood and an acting career, we wish her the best in that as well.
Ronda Rousey has given us years of entertainment and revolutionized the sport of mixed martial arts for women. She deserves respect and admiration regardless of how her last two fights turned out. We just hope we get to see her with her arm raised in the cage again. Maybe that same fiercely competitive spirit that causes Ronda to take losses so hard will also refuse to let things end this way. We’ll let you know when she announces her plans.