Did Rousey set herself up for the criticism?

Dethroned UFC women’s bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey lost on Saturday. An orgy of derision followed.

I’m f—ing stoked,” said former two-time title challenger Miesha Tate. “F— Ronda Rousey,. F— her and her ‘Nobody has the right to beat me.’ Nobody has the right to beat you? Well you just got beat, b—-.”

There is a widespread value among human beings to not kick someone when they’re down. But Rousey and Tate have suffered one of the bitterest rivalries in the sport’s history, so one could see perhaps the reaction coming. However, countless casual fans responded collectively with what could be summed up in two words: “Ha ha.”

Donald Trump was mean. Lady Gaga was mean. A lot of people were mean spirited.

To be sure, Rousey also has millions of fans who were bummed at the loss and offered encouraging words. But that is normal. What was unusual was the degree of vitriol.

On his latest podcast former title challenger and current television analyst Kenny Florian discussed ways in which Rousey earned some of the response.

“I don’t think it’s warranted that people are being so harsh towards Ronda Rousey,” said Florian as transcribed by David St. Martin for MMAFighting. “You see all these stupid memes, but when you say the kind of things that she said at the weigh-in, on Instagram about Holly Holm … it just wasn’t warranted. It wasn’t applicable here. Holm did not swing on here [at the weigh-in].

“She put her fist in Ronda’s face and we see it all the time. I think you set yourself up to take this criticism now. Conor McGregor, same thing. He better go out and back up his words when he goes in there against Jose Aldo.”

“You see yourself on murals, on billboards, articles in the Wall Street Journal telling you how great you are, guess what? You’re going to believe it. You need those people to bring you back to reality and say, ‘Hey, you’ve got Holly Holm in front of you. She’s a legitimate threat to your belt.’ When the overwhelming message of you ‘being dominant’ outweighs the tough opponent you have in front of you, you’re not going to take it as serious as you should.”

“I think it would be a very bad mistake to give Ronda Rousey an immediate rematch with Holly Holm. I’m telling you now, I don’t think she’s ready. I think she needs to revamp her footwork, revamp her striking and know how to face a southpaw like Holly Holm. If she goes in there and loses for a second time the UFC will lose their biggest star.”

“Rousey has made tremendous gains with her striking, however, when you’re putting your inside left foot on the inside of a southpaw’s lead foot, you’re going to be in-line with the left hand again and again and again. I feel like she wasn’t prepared to fight a southpaw.

“Rousey didn’t prepare properly for a southpaw. I don’t know if it was lack of execution. I don’t know if it was her coaching not bringing her up to speed. I wouldn’t believe that. I would assume Edmond would prepare her for such an opponent. The way she went out there, it seemed like she really didn’t know what to do against a southpaw. It looked like she just didn’t do her homework.”

“I’ve had an opportunity to speak with Edmond about the sport, about striking and how he trains. This guy is very smart. I just didn’t like what he said after the first round. I don’t like telling a fighter that they’re doing a great job when they’re not doing a great job. I think you need to be more real with your fighter.

“I was hearing some rumors that maybe she had a rough camp. A lot of personal things going on in the camp. Who knows if that’s true or not, but having those types of distractions doesn’t help.”

Let’s give Holm’s Jackson/Wink teammate top UFC welterweight Carlos Condit the last (written) words.

Carlos Condit @CarlosCondit

For those of you gloating @RondaRousey loss this weekend, keep in mind, the only one with the right to gloat is @_HOLLYHOLM and she’s not…