Well, it’s not exactly the most glowing endorsement for the brand new season of The Ultimate Fighter, but Ronda Rousey has never been the most glowing of professional athletes, at least in terms of personality. The always blunt and straight-forward UFC women’s champion will make her debut as one of the coaches of The Ultimate Fighter 18 tonight at 10 PM ET on Fox Sports 1 – after we’re all done chatting about UFC Fight Night: Teixeira Vs. Bader, naturally – but Rousey is not excited at all about the backlash that inevitably comes with being a reality TV star.
Rousey is coaching against her “rival” Miesha Tate, after Cat Zingano was forced out of the role that she won in defeating Tate due to injury, and us UFC fans know that we’re probably in for some fireworks, as these two ladies don’t care for each other at all. And that’s why Rousey is reluctant to even watch the show, because she knows how that’s going to look to us.
“I think it was very good for the women’s division, and I think it definitely needed to happen, but you couldn’t pay me $10 million to do it again,” Rousey said.
“How could people possibly know who you are from a couple of clips of a video that people are seeing out of context?” Rousey asked. “That’s no way for people to get to know you, so I’m just preparing for people to get the worst idea of who I am.” (Via USA Today)
Of course, Dana White, being the showman that he is, added that because Rousey and Tate don’t like each other and had to spend all of their time in the same house, training opposing fighters, all before they eventually fight each other, things were bound to be said that neither fighter would necessarily be proud of. So that means we’re probably in for something great and/or absurdly unintentionally hilarious from Rousey this season.
But to go as far as to suggest she wouldn’t accept $10 million to do it again? Hogwash. You could put a plate of feces in front of me and I’d say, “No thanks.” But if you put $10 million right behind it, I’d ask you to keep the second course on a hot plate.
