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Former ECW and WWE star Taz made headlines earlier this week when he suggested that the Women’s Bantamweight Championship match at UFC 193 was fixed, and that he believed Ronda Rousey had taken a dive. As you might imagine, that opinion from a professional wrestler didn’t go over well with the MMA community, and most of Tuesday was spent filling up Taz’s mentions with declarations of his ignorance and stupidity.
Taz returned to his CBS Radio show on Tuesday to defend his comments, clarifying that he “gave an opinion” and “meant no disrespect.” He also said that anyone who lost respect for him for thinking the fight was rigged could kiss his ass.
From The Taz Show, Bodyslams & Beyond, with a transcription h/t to CBS Local Sports:
“I don’t really want to get into the whole thing, I’ve moved on. I’ll tell you this. To me, I gave an opinion. I gave an opinion and I showed no disrespect towards the athletes and I said that in my commentary on the show 24 hours ago right here. I would never, ever, in a million years do that because I am an MMA fan. I respect all athletes. I don’t care if you’re a pro football player, a pro baseball player, a pro wrestler, a cricket player, an MMA fighter, a golf athlete, a NASCAR driver … I don’t care what you do. I respect that. If you’re an athlete at any level, someone who puts time in and works and sacrifices, I can appreciate that, because I did that.”
“‘Ohh, you’re from the worked world, you’re from pro wrestling, that’s all fake! Oh, that’s why you think that!’ But for those who have done their homework on my history, I spent some time since I’m a young kid in a couple of dojos in my day grappling before it was called MMA. I spent a lot of time kind of taking MMA or judo and ju jitsu and incorporating it into professional wrestling into my style, into my own niche, because I was an undersized professional wrestler. So I had to catch on somehow. So to come at me, that I don’t know MMA, and ‘I don’t respect you anymore Taz’ – that’s the one I was getting the most. ‘I lost all the respect for you!’
You know what, kiss my ass, how about that? Okay? You can kiss my ass if you lost respect for me.”
To put it another way, watch this clip. Taz is Tazz, Jerry Lawler is Rousey vs. Holm and Jim Ross is The Internet.
