Ronda Rousey prepares to walk to the Octagon to face Amanda Nunes. Photo / Getty
Ronda Rousey prepares to walk to the Octagon to face Amanda Nunes. Photo / Getty
Former UFC star Ronda Rousey refused to answer a question about her dramatic fall from grace in Mixed Martial Arts in an interview that UFC commentators believe left her greatest character flaw exposed.
The former UFC bantamweight champion on Monday announced she'd signed a full-time deal with WWE moments after the completion of the first ever women's Royal Rumble match.
Rousey went on to challenge Rumble winner Asuka to a fight at WrestleMania in April.
The 30-year-old has largely disappeared from public, running away from the UFC after back-to-back losses to Holly Holm (November, 2015) and Amanda Nunes (December, 2016).
Speaking in a sit-down interview with ESPN's Ramona Shelburne, Rousey had an opportunity to explain her actions over the past 24 months, but, instead, she chose to keep running.
Rousey didn't rule out one day returning to the UFC, but there have been no indications she will ever return to the Octagon.
In her first interview since signing with the WWE, Rousey refused to address a question that asked her to explain what went wrong in her fights against Holm and Nunes.
After a long pause, in which Rousey hid her face behind the palm of her hand, Rousey responded: "I think I'd just rather not talk about that right now".
The interview then cuts to Rousey giving a more extensive response about her pursuit of goals throughout her entire life, including in judo and MMA.
"It's still hard to realise your childhood dreams not coming true," Rousey said.
"I think the only thing that really helped was finding something else to devote myself to and be successful at. I think I only was able to get past the Olympics when I started doing MMA.
"And I do believe there is a parallel there. It still hurts that I didn't win the Olympics. It sounds ridiculous to a lot of people, right? 'You're an Olympic medallist, you should be happy.' But it would be hard to explain that to my 10-year-old self that was so sure she was gonna win the Olympics."
Her painfully obvious refusal to confront her limitations in professional sport left UFC commentators stunned.
MMA journalist Dave Meltzer said Rousey's refusal to deal with defeat is the character flaw that "killed" her UFC career.
MMA Fighting's Ariel Helwani also said that Rousey's denial over her recent defeats is difficult for him to get his head around after the fighter's meteoric rise to the top of the sport.
"She still can not speak about the losses, and to me — it's hard for me to wrap my head around," Helwani said.
"Week in and week out I see (UFC light heavyweight champion) Daniel Cormier show up to press conferences and talk about his losses just as eloquently as his wins. I see Conor McGregor get tapped out and dust himself off. The fact that she still can't get over these two losses to me just feels like a major character flaw. She's still harbouring these feelings like she's not over it. She hasn't moved on yet. I don't know what to make of that, but I find that fascinating.
"She went from being this person willing to do interviews and then she shut everyone off and everyone was her enemy. I think it hurt her greatly.
"If she had handled it like Daniel Cormier did, just as an example, I think Ronda Rousey would be the most popular female athlete in the country today. Those losses would have humanised her. I think people wanted to like her.
"She definitely turned a lot of people off because we all lose at somethng. We all have out disappointments and we have to get up. That's just life."
He said that destructive habit of failing to accept her own flaws has tainted Rousey throughout all her different careers.
"She went to the Olympics and got a bronze medal at 21-years-old.
"She didn't even step on a judo mat for a year and when she finally did step on a judo mat after two days she walked away and didn't do anything until she found MMA.
"It helped her probably to get to as good as she was in both of those sports, but that character flaw is what killed her from being a gold medallist in judo and it probably stopped her from being — as popular as she was — it stopped her from being far more popular with a far better career in MMA, making far much more money, getting far more endorsements and things like that."
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