Former UFC women’s bantamweight champion, Ronda Rousey, was a dominant force during her heyday. She had six successful title defenses as a UFC champion before consecutive losses to Holly Holm and Amanda Nunes, respectively, brought an end to her MMA career, sending “Rowdy” Ronda Rousey to the WWE. That was back in 2016. Now, with plenty of time in the WWE behind her, Rousey had some pretty unfavorable comparisons to make between UFC and WWE fans on her YouTube channel, reserving particular ire for “bandwagon fans”.
“I would say that the WWE fans care more about the wrestlers than the UFC fans care more about the fighters. UFC fans have much less respect for the veterans and legends of the sport than WWE fans do. A lot of UFC fans are kind of like, bandwagon fans in that way.
Ronda Rousey Blasts UFC “Bandwagon Fans”
The second you’re not on top, you’re dead to them. Where WWE fans are like, ‘This is the guy that did this 20 years ago,’ and are still really excited, whereas UFC fans now are like, ‘Forrest Griffin sucks.’ Uhh, you owe basically the whole sport to him. Sh*t like that.”
Rousey feels that the fickle MMA fanbase quickly writes off fighters who paved the way for the new generation. She may well have felt this herself. Rousey’s time at the top of the UFC seemed to end as quickly as it started. At the time that she lost to Holly Holm via a vicious head kick knockout, Ronda Rousey was undefeated.
She was then riding a nine-fight winning streak, all of which ended in a submission for the champ. Both of Rousey’s career losses came right at the end of her time with the UFC, the latter of which came courtesy of Amanda Nunes, arguably the greatest female fighter ever to set foot in the Octagon.
Rousey clearly felt the fan’s lack of respect very keenly, pointing out that WWE fans show “more respect for legends than UFC fans”.
‘Anderson Silva sucks. GSP sucks.’ These are people that elevated the sport and paved the way for everybody else. I don’t see UFC fans having the same respect for people that got the sport to where it is as WWE fans. I’m not saying it’s completely absent, I’m just saying I see more respect for legends in WWE fans than UFC fans. There are exceptions to everything.” Do you agree with Ronda Rousey’s assessment? Let us know in the comments.
