Ronda Rousey recently touched on Khabib Nurmagomedov’s retirement from MMA as something that stands out as a microcosm of a more toxic side of the MMA fandom. This was expressed by the dominant former UFC bantamweight champion during a recent interview with Bert Kreischer.
Rousey covered multiple topics and opined about the rigidity of mixed martial arts fans demanding perfection, otherwise, that fighter was never skilled to begin with. ‘Rowdy’ didn’t just reference her own drop off as an example of that idea, but invoked the names of several prominent fighters who drew out the vitriol of fans for not being perfect.
Rousey felt like some of Nurmagomedov’s logic in retiring when he did was in part to go out while on top, but also not to give the fans a moment for them to tweet out things like ‘hype train derailed’ or something of that persuasion if the Dagestan great ever ended up having a misstep. Expounding upon her thoughts in this regard, Rousey said [via Bloody Elbow],
“I think the only reason why MMA fans have their lips so firmly planted at the base of Khabib’s c— is because he retired before he reached his limit. If he kept fighting until he reached his limit, everybody would be like, ‘Khabib [Nurmagomedov] ain’t s—, he never was s—’. They’re like that with everybody.”
“Name one person. ‘Brock [Lesnar] ain’t s—, he never was s—’. Name one past champion that has the kind of respect that the current champions do. It’s really sad because I think it encourages people to get out while they’re peaking and leaving and taking all of that equity with them instead of passing it on to whoever’s next to take up the mantle.”
“I wanted to retire undefeated because I was so afraid of everything that I accomplished is going to be nothing if I ever lose. So I have to retire undefeated. It wasn’t until I got into the WWE and saw that wait, you have to retire on a loss.”
“Everybody in WWE has to retire on a loss because you have to pass that torch on, and I think everyone in MMA, they’re going to try to take the torch with them because of how the fans respond to it.”
Ronda Rousey and the contrast between how legends are treated in WWE versus in the UFC
Ronda Rousey and Conor McGregor loomed large over the sport at one point, but after the former had consecutive losses to Holly Holm and Amanda Nunes, the fans no longer put her on this pedestal above the clouds.
Rousey went to WWE when her MMA career had come to an end, with that part of her anecdotal experience giving her quite a wake-up call. The former WWE champion highlighted how figures like The Undertaker and Shawn Michaels are spoken of with so much respect and reverence still to this day, but then referenced several MMA names of yesteryear and touched on that rhetoric difference between the fanbases.
A difference in discourse whereby, when many MMA greats would falter but once, many seemed to revel in their downfall as proof that the hype was never real in their estimation.