UFC fighter Ronda Rousey suffered her first loss last month to Holly Holm. In an interview with ESPN Magazine, Rousey opens up about losing, why she’s taken some time off and how she feels about a rematch.
Staying out of the public eye since the match:
I’ve turned off my phone. I haven’t looked at it. I’ve just been having long conversations with Mochi [her 7-year-old Argentinian Mastiff].
What happened during the match:
I got hit in that first round. … I cut my lip open and knocked a couple of my teeth loose. I was out on my feet from the very beginning. I wasn’t thinking clearly. I had that huge cut in my mouth and I just spit [the blood] out at my feet. Then they brought the bucket over and I’m like, ‘Why didn’t I spit it in the bucket?’ I never spit on the ground. It was like a dumbed-down dreamy version of yourself making decisions. … I was just trying to shake myself out of it. I kept saying to myself, ‘You’re OK, keep fighting. You’re OK, keep fighting.’ I just feel so embarrassed. How I fought after that is such an embarrassing representation of myself. I wasn’t even fucking there.
On her words being taken the wrong way:
It’s not my responsibility to make everything I say idiot-proof. If a dumbass can’t understand it, then I’m not going to spend my time putting everything I think into layman’s terms.
Coping after the loss:
I kind of just slept a lot and ate fast food. First I was so sick I couldn’t eat anything. Then I just slept and pooped in the woods. I used a whole roll of toilet paper in one day.
On the public’s perception:
That I’m a fucking failure and I deserve everything that I got
Why she wouldn’t touch gloves with Holm before the fight:
It was just like a reaction. I was like, ‘The last time I saw you [at the weigh-in], you were putting your fist on my chin and trying to get a cheap hit on me, then you turn around and you want to touch gloves? You have to be one way or the other. So if you want to be that way with me, that’s the way it is.’
How Rousey will be remembered next:
I guess it’s all going to be determined by what happens in the rematch. Everything is going to be determined by that. Either I’ll win and keep going or I won’t and I’ll be done with everything.
photo via ESPN the Magazine
