Ronda Rousey On How She Handled Her UFC Losses

Former UFC women’s bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey recently took part in a Q&A session (via USA Today) at the Wild Card West boxing gym on Wednesday night. Here are the highlights.

How she handled her losses:

“I did a whole lot of crying, isolating myself, (husband Travis Browne) held me and let me cry and it lasted two years. 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. 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.’”

Trial by Twitter:

“We live in an age of trial by Twitter. What is really gained by stating opinion on anything? It whittles people down. It gets cut and pasted 10 times and it’s in (a) headline. (Famous people) keep more and more of it to themselves. Why should I talk? I believe hearing me speak is a privilege, and it’s a privilege that’s been abused, so why not revoke it from everyone? I don’t believe public criticism beating you down is the right thing to do.”