TUF 18 Aftermath: Is Ronda Rousey Really That Bad?
Ronda Rousey made her humble beginnings in the world of Martial Arts as a junior in the 2002 Judo championships. She won the gold medal in that event, went on to win more than 40 medals overall as well as taking a bronze medal in the 2008 summer Olympics.
Retiring from Judo at age 21, to take up MMA, Rousey debuted in 2011 against Ediane Gomes. The result was a slick armbar victory for ‘Rowdy’ who was soon to be known as the best female fighter alive. She won the Women’s Strikeforce Bantamweight belt with yet another armbar victory over Miesha Tate and defended it once against Sarah Kaufman.
The UFC snatched up Rousey for the reveal of their own Women’s division, making ‘Rowdy’ the first ever Women’s UFC champ after her win against Liz Carmouche in February. Rousey had gone from a great grappler, to a regional fighter and then to one of the most well known names on the planet in just two years.
Currently booked to face Miesha Tate in the wake of their stint on the first ever mixed gender TUF season, Rousey has come under fire for her attitude during TUF 18; But did we really expect anything else from the self proclaimed ‘Queen of trash talk’ during her time on a reality TV show?
The truth is that Rousey is a very smart fighter, but also a businesswoman. She has made her MMA career a great success, and not only because she is tough as nails. Rousey knows that you need to be a household name to have longevity in the sport of MMA, and as is with most sports-that often involves a degree of dramatics.
During the latest season of TUF, there were moments of seemingly pure aggression from Rousey towards her opposing coach. Tears, broken equipment and sour grapes were on full show during this series; but why are we acting surprised? After all, we are talking about a show that once had a WWE champion tear apart a cardboard door, a show that saw Roy Nelson TKO Kimbo Slice using only his belly, and the show that brought us ‘Let me bang bro’.
The fact that Rousey has thrown in some waterworks and a fair share of sore loser tactics should only tell us one thing; this chick is very good at selling tickets. For instance; If Rousey came out of the show smelling of roses, having a great relationship with Tate and even double dating with Bryan Caraway and Joe Rogan at a local Wendys-would you be interested in seeing them fight? Well, maybe if it was right there in Wendys.
The fact is that Rousey may not have won any fans in her stint on TUF, but did she really need to? She is the undefeated UFC BW champ, and now there are hoards of fans hoping to see her eat humble pie. That amount of emotional investment from fans is enough to sell tickets. Add that in to the fact that Tate and Rousey will fight on the UFC 168 card along side Anderson Silva vs. Chris Weidman II, and you start to see why 168 will likely be the UFC’s best selling card ever.
