Ronda Rousey Admits She Never Learned How To Lose

Former UFC women’s bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey has put distance between herself and MMA.

Now, she’s in the sports entertainment business and is learning to make the transition from the Octagon to the ring.

Just earlier this month, Rousey and Kurt Angle defeated Triple H and Stephanie McMahon in a Mixed Tag Team Match at WrestleMania 34 on April 8th, 2018 at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome in New Orleans, Louisiana on the WWE Network. This marked Rousey’s in-ring debut.

Rousey has been out of the fight game for two years after suffering devastating losses in her last two bouts under the UFC banner.

Up until those losses, she was a wrecking machine as she ran through the top contenders in the division at the time.

However, that all went away when she was dethroned of UFC gold by Holly Holm at UFC 193 in November 2015 as Holm knocked her out with a head kick in devastating style. Then, she suffered a 48-second TKO loss to Amanda Nunes at UFC 207 in December 2016.

The former UFC champion did a public question and answer session hosted by Hollywood director Peter Berg at the Wild Card West boxing gym on Wednesday night. In that Q&A, she reflected on her two losses under the UFC banner.

“I did a whole lot of crying, isolating myself, (husband Travis Browne) held me and let me cry and it lasted two years,” Rousey said (transcript of USA Today). “I couldn’t have done it alone. There’s a lot of things you have to remember. Every missed opportunity is a blessing in disguise.

“I had to learn from experience. From the worst things, the best things have come as a result. Time is a great teacher. It’s that belief that time passes, even bad times.”

“My parents expected me to be special, so I expected to be special,” Rousey said. “I was just trying to create the job I wanted, and I wouldn’t have the audacity to do that if my mom didn’t tell me I could.

“But one thing my mother never taught me was how to lose. She never wanted me to entertain it as a possibility. She’d say: ‘Let it suck. It deserves to suck.’”