Ronda Rousey Thanked Conor McGregor For Taking The Weight Off Her Shoulders

Ronda Rousey is stepping back into the Octagon in two weeks, and this time she’s doing it without the crazy media circus of the past. It’s part of her new life and fight philosophy where the only thing she’s interested in is her performance. Not publicity. Not money. Just the win.

“I will never put my body at risk for money and views ever again,” she told ESPN in a new in depth interview. “What makes me happy is winning and being the best in the world and that’s it. F*ck all the promotion and energy spent on anything that’s not me winning. And anyone who tries to tell me I owe them energy on frivolous sh*t during camp out of ‘loyalty’ or ‘friendship’ deserves no loyalty from me and is no friend of mine.”

That includes her bosses at the UFC, who initially tried to rush her back into action at UFC 205 in New York. The old Ronda Rousey would have said yes to that. Then again, the old Ronda Rousey said yes to fighting Holly Holm in November instead of January and effectively died in the Octagon as a result. Saying no to UFC 205 was hard for her, but it was made easier thanks to Conor McGregor.

“Conor gave me the chance to rest, he took the weight off my shoulders, and I’m grateful,” she said.

The two seem to be part of a mutual admiration society. When asked if he had any advice for Ronda in her comeback, McGregor offered words of support.

“I’d tell her to go shut them all up now,” he said. “Shut them all up. Go and stake your claim again … Go and shut these people up now. Go and get what you began back.”

McGregor may have been slicker at bouncing back from defeat, Ronda has been better at getting what she wants from the UFC. So it’s only fitting that she gave him some advice when the two met shortly after he was pulled from UFC 200 for refusing to attend a press conference in Las Vegas.

She told him “Instead of trying to handle everything at once, while it’s coming at you, just trying to reach an agreement beforehand.” That’s how she managed to get out of the never ending media obligations the UFC typically piles on their fighters. Before she signed to fight Amanda Nunes at UFC 207, she made it clear that the UFC would get a very specific set of promotional appearances out of her. And she got them.

So it seems like both UFC superstars have something to learn from each other.

(via ESPN)

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