Ronda Rousey was in the house at Madison Square Garden for the UFC 205 weigh-ins, but not for long. The enigmatic superstar hasn’t said much on the record since her fight with Amanda Nunes on December 30th was announced. Other than an appearance on Ellen to admit this would be one of her last fights, she’s been virtually silent. And that silence carried over to this very unusual appearance at the Garden.
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After stalking onto the stage and squaring off against current women’s bantamweight champion Amanda Nunes, Rousey turned right back around and exited the building without sticking around for the customary interview with Joe Rogan. Dana White caught her by the arm as she tried to leave, but once Rogan began interviewing Nunes, she left. Her face was set in a permanent scowl through the entire ordeal, and she only smiled once to wave to a fan as she left.
The whole thing was pretty unusual. Why show up to do promotion for your fight and then duck out halfway through? Is Ronda Rousey’s anger at the media and fair-weather fans so great that she plans to avoid all speaking responsibilities for the next month and a half? Or is this all part of some new pro-wrestling style angle designed to cause confusion and controversy?
After taking so long to come back to the sport and announcing her career would be over soon, many are rightfully questioning Rousey’s commitment leading up to UFC 207. All this silent treatment isn’t doing much to convince people she’s in the kind of calm and confident place a former champion should be going into a fight against an underdog like Nunes. It seems like all our questions will continue to swirl around Rousey unanswered, perhaps right up until the cage door shuts behind her on December 30th.