Matt Brown Suggests Ronda Rousey to Show Humility at This Stage of Her MMA Career

UFC Hall of Famer Ronda Rousey has spoken more about fighting in 2024, while promoting her autobiography, than she did during her final years competing in MMA.

Rousey has openly discussed how multiple concussions ultimately led to her retirement, claiming a concussion before her fight against Holly Holm played a crucial role in her first MMA loss.

Recently, Rousey asserted that the MMA media has vilified her, overshadowing her accomplishments with negativity to the extent that she believes she would be booed if she appeared at a UFC event.

Newly retired UFC legend Matt Brown doesn’t quite understand why Rousey is complaining so much, especially given her level of celebrity.

“The first thing that comes to my mind is, what’s the problem?” Brown said on the latest episode of The Fighter vs. The Writer. “Like, is she complaining?

What’s the problem? Maybe people have said bad things about you. Welcome to being a human. Welcome to being famous. What did you expect?

“It’s not like she was out saving babies and shit. She wasn’t out there putting her best foot forward all the time. What do you expect?”

If Rousey truly wants to understand why she’s fallen out of favor with UFC fans, Brown suggests she examine the numerous interviews she’s given while promoting her book.

Rousey has listed various reasons for her struggles in losses to Holm and Amanda Nunes at the end of her career. She specifically stated that those losses hurt her more than anyone else because no one has ever loved being a UFC champion like she did.

Through it all, Rousey barely addressed Holm or Nunes as opponents, much less what they did right to beat her.

“I get where she’s bitter and can’t accept the loss, and blaming it externally is always the wrong thing,” Brown said. “Even if you were injured — and I can relate to this because it’s happened to me, I’ve been injured in fights, I’ve been sick, I’ve had the flu in fights.

I have a lot of fights. You don’t have 50 fights and it go right every time. That’s one of the reasons why we have so much respect for guys like [Julio Cesar] Chavez, who won like 84 fights in a row, or I’ll mention Floyd [Mayweather], he did win 49 in a row.

At some point in one of those fights, shit’s not going to be right and you’re going to have to fight through it.

“So for her to think that she’s special because she had a concussion, it’s just silliness. I could look at a loss, and I could give you all the reasons why I lost.

But any time you say it out loud, it’s an excuse. It’s purely excuse. If someone brings it up and the first thing you talk about is how injured you were or something, even if you’re trying to make it a reason, it’s an excuse. That’s all there is to it.”

When Rousey details the struggles she faced in her losses, Brown says she completely ignores the possibility that her opponents were dealing with similar issues.

“When she fought Holly Holm, I bet if we talked to Holly, she’d be like, ‘Yeah, I had this injury and this injury.’ How do we know she didn’t have a concussion?” Brown said. “It’s just silliness.

“I feel like it’s kind of one of those things, we should almost just ignore it. I almost don’t want to feed it. It doesn’t help the situation and it’s unfortunate.”

Despite the concussions, injuries, or other problems that may have influenced Rousey’s losses, Brown believes she hasn’t learned much from those experiences, other than to explain away why she was defeated.

This attitude, Brown argues, leads to backlash from fans who see Rousey’s statements as excuses rather than accepting defeat and seeking to improve.

“It’s just sad,” Brown said. “Because she’s got to live with herself. That’s the sad part. I’ve got losses. I’ve got way more losses than Ronda.

I fought a lot more times than Ronda. But you don’t want to go around living that way, blaming other people for the way your life is or the way that you’re portrayed.

“I don’t doubt for a second that she could reconcile everything. Like, she could walk in and show a little bit of humility — like you said, just show a little bit of f*cking humility and everybody would be bowing down to her again. Hire a f*cking PR person!

Just hire a f*cking halfway decent PR person, tell you what to say, just say the shit, and the world is yours again. You’re f*cking back at the top of the celebrity list. But no one wants to hear the shit that she’s saying.”

Brown also criticizes Rousey for seemingly portraying her experiences as uniquely difficult due to her high profile in the UFC.

While acknowledging that Rousey faced exceptional pressure and expectations, Brown argues that the emotions and challenges fighters face are almost universal, regardless of their fame.

“This is everyday fighter shit. You’re just not a fighter,” Brown said. “She didn’t go through anything that anyone else [hasn’t gone] through.

Of course, it happened to her on a way, way bigger stage than most, which is what I think is what got to her. She wasn’t mentally prepared for that type of stage and just didn’t handle it well.”

If Rousey truly wanted to be embraced by UFC fans again, Brown believes it’s possible, but doubts she will take the necessary steps to rebuild that connection.

“Most of the MMA world wants to love her,” Brown said. “She’s a perfect figure for us all to love and attach to. She has all of the right qualities, but she pushes us away. She pushes that away from her. I think every fan wants to love her.”