Tate: Why Rousey ‘obviously’ not in a good place with her legacy
“She knows she has value and interest but she also really doesn’t give a $#!@what anybody else wants to hear.”
Ronda Rousey was an Olympic medalist, and then she was living out of her car. And then she started fighting, and became the most famous person in the UFC. And then she lost, twice. And now she’s the biggest draw in the WWE, but is apparently leaving that to make babies. ‘Rowdy’ leaves an extraordinary legacy; but that legacy was born from impossibly high expectations – she once speculated that she’d have a shot at beating then baddest man on the planet Cain Velasquez.
When you think of Ali he’s standing over Sonny Liston, or blasting George Foreman, or talking better than any boxer ever. When you think of Jordan he’s flying through the air, impossibly. When you think of Rousey, it’s more complex.
She was recently asked about her legacy, and declined to reply.
How I feel about myself and my own legacy is something precious to me,” replied Rousey, as transcribed by Damon Martin for MMA News. “So you don’t get to hear it, you just get to have your own opinion of my legacy.
Miesha Tate, Rousey’s most bitter rival, was not impressed and not surprised.
"I don't think she's entirely happy with her legacy." — @MieshaTate reacts to Ronda Rousey saying fans don't deserve to hear her thoughts on her legacy in "Breaking Barriers."@RyanMcKinnell pic.twitter.com/VCjz2RNVsq
— MMA on SiriusXM (@MMAonSiriusXM) May 2, 2019
It’s very Ronda-esque, said Tate on her SiriusXM radio show. Look she’s not wrong even though it’s a bit arrogant but I think that’s the style that people have appreciated about Ronda. It’s not necessarily something I appreciate about Ronda but when you talk about her legacy this does sum it up in one quote really. It’s that she knows she has value and interest but she also really doesn’t give a s*** what anybody else wants to hear.
She’s not entirely an open book. She’s not their entirely for the fans selflessly. Ronda has always been about Ronda so it doesn’t surprise me. She continues to be exactly how she’s always been.
When I listen to this, she almost sounds emotional. I don’t think she’s entirely happy with her legacy. The point that Ronda [made] about us not deserving to hear it and about the vulnerability, I think it speaks again to point that she left the sport worse than she entered in. She has an inflated ego, she does have all of those things. I talk about myself and we’re polar opposites, that’s why we never really got along.
I started my career off a loss. I started my career with the humble approach. I’m a very open book. I’ve got nothing to hide. I have nothing to hide. I’ve won some, I’ve lost some, I don’t have the need to put myself on a pedestal or not be an open book. I enjoy being transparent because I hope somebody can take something away from my gains and my losses. I’ve lost horribly in front of the entire world and so did Ronda.
But she has a chance here to open up and to give some insight and perspective and motivation, but she’s obviously not at that point where she feels good enough about her own legacy to be vulnerable and to reflect and give back. She’s obviously not in a good place with it.
She wants to be the hard Ronda Rousey. The one that was back from 2014 that I always said winning is easy. You don’t have to make any adjustments. You don’t have to make any changes. You’re on top of the world. You’re doing great. When you lose, that’s when you see what you’re really made of.