Baszler jaded with some Internet MMA fans
Shayna Baszler: “That’s one of those things that has made me a little jaded about MMA and MMA fans is the lack of knowledge of the history of the sport.”
Shayna Baszler turned pro in 2003. The Josh Barnett and Billy Robinson trained catch wrestler has 14 submission wins in her 15 victories, including some rarely if ever seen. But right now Baszler, 34, is best know as one of Ronda Rousey’s Four Horsewomen, a group often perceived as heels, particularly on the Internet.
“It bothered me at first,” Baszler said of the internet hate, as transcribed by Marc Raimondi for MMAFighting.com. “But it’s almost like it’s so much that it doesn’t bother me anymore. When you have a leak in your ceiling, that’s very annoying and stressful. But if all of a sudden it opens up and ‘whoosh’ your whole ceiling collapses, there comes a point where you’re just like, ‘Really? Alright.’ It’s almost so much that it’s funny. But I think what I’m learning is that people are going to find a reason to hate you just because.”
“I’ve been kind of embracing the fact that I’d rather have them boo and hate and comment on everything to keep us relevant than to have them ignore us. There’s a lot of girls in the UFC that are doing a lot of great or horrible things and nobody talks about it because they don’t care about them.”
But when some fans reacted scornfully to a GoFundMe page set up on behalf of UFC Hall of Famer Mark Coleman ‘The Queen of Spades’ rightfully got upset.
“That’s one of those things that has made me a little jaded about MMA and MMA fans is the lack of knowledge of the history of the sport,” she said. “A prime example that’s relevant right now is Mark Coleman. He’s a legend, former champion and he’s struggling to pay for hip surgery that he likely needed from putting his body on the line for fans every night.”
Baszler fights the #9 ranked Amanda Nunes at UFC Fight Night: Maia vs. LaFlare on Saturday night in Nunes’ home country of Brazil. A win will get her back in the mix after a UFC debut loss to Bethe Correia in August.
“We’ve seen really stellar performers, it takes forever for them to get in there, because they’re not interesting — either their fight style or their personality,” said Baszler. “I think I have an exciting fight style and a personality. I think any fight I’m gonna take is gonna get me back in there. It’s just that she happens to be on a good upswing and it’s in Brazil. I think that definitely gives it a little boost.”