Speaking to the press ahead of her first UFC title defense this Friday in Las Vegas, bantamweight champion Amanda Nunes said she’s not sure what to make of her challenger but something seems off.
“It’s good for me Ronda Rousey’s not doing anything,” Nunes said. “I can rest and focus on my training and losing weight and that’s it.”
Nunes isn’t the only one wondering what’s up with Rousey after one of the most influential figures in the UFC erected a wall around herself during a mostly self-imposed 13-month hiatus.
It certainly comes across as strange behavior when an elite fighter, a star, goes out of their way to avoid the limelight, but this is what “Rowdy” Ronda has done since Holly Holm knocked her out in Melbourne last year. When Rousey finally declared that it was time to fight again, it came with a concession from UFC president Dana White that the vast majority of her promotional duties for UFC 207, including fight week’s traditional photo ops like open workouts and press conferences, were optional.
Rousey claimed they would distract from her goal of winning back the belt, and this is where the picture gets muddled for Nunes, who views Rousey’s actions as confusing and potentially telling. An overdose on media obligations played a part in the loss to Holm, Rousey said, and because she believed some members of the MMA media had been unfair to her in the wake of that performance she decided against talking to anyone this time around. That could be why she’s skipping questions. Or it could be another reason, something more psychological and to do with avoidance.
White called it a “one off” situation, and said that after the bout he expected Rousey to avail herself to the media.
“Ronda has given more than anyone,” White said on Wednesday during a media scrum in Las Vegas. “If you look at the amount of press done by any fighter in UFC history, Ronda smokes everybody by a long-shot. This is the way she wanted it. The only thing she cares about right now is focusing on winning.
“Ronda’s done a lot of things for us. This is what she wanted so I gave it to her.”
When the new-look UFC, owned by WME-IMG, the talent agency that looks after Rousey, heralded her return in October, the slogan was simple enough: “She’s back.” But by maintaining a low profile, it seems like Rousey hasn’t really returned at all.
As always, whenever Rousey is involved the stakes are elevated, which is why the crowd will explode when she makes her ring walk prior to Nunes’ arrival in the cage.
Rousey’s night will to go down one of two ways—there’s no in-between here because she made the lines so stark. She will be relegated or redeemed.
The UFC media darling, a famous and groundbreaking female athlete, faced an overtly cruel social media driven backlash after Holm, emerging only to provide brief glimpses into the depths of her suffering. Rousey told Ellen DeGeneres in February, for instance, that she contemplated suicide.
Much of Rousey’s identity was built around more than winning. She needed to be a killer, the best of the best.
Rousey stopped 11 of her first 12 opponents in the opening round, and her stardom grew far and wide. She was such a force that, comparisons to Mike Tyson weren’t uncommon and Rousey stoked a firestorm of media attention that translated to increasingly strong pay-per-view revenue for the UFC. Then, like Tyson, she was exposed. Human, broken and fragile looks the same in Tokyo, where Tyson went down to James “Buster” Douglas, as it does in Melbourne, where Rousey was undone in just over a round.
“What am I anymore if I’m not this?” Rousey wondered after Holm dropped her cold. “I was literally sitting there thinking about killing myself. In that exact second, I’m like, ‘I’m nothing.’ I’m like, ‘What do I do anymore? No one gives a shit about me anymore without this.’”
A few months later, as Rousey shared her thoughts on The Ellen DeGeneres Show, the deposed champion made it clear that she intended to fight again. DeGeneres praised her for allowing others who felt a similar despair to find courage in knowing a person of immense confidence and power like Rousey isn’t immune to the darkest things.
Nearly every aspect of Rousey’s fall make it a unique event in the short but turbulent history of MMA — a perfect storm of athletic excellence, cockiness, the rub of celebrity, and a uniquely emotional reaction to failure.
“All the greats throughout history, they’ve all lost,” White said. “Ali lost. Tyson lost. Go through the list of all the greatest fighters that ever lived. Everybody has a loss. It’s always interesting and exciting to see if they can overcome and comeback from a devastating loss like hers was.”
The story of Rousey’s recovery will be sorted out in the cage against Nunes, who has taken Rousey’s anti-everything position in stride. Nunes won the title in July by pounding Miesha Tate, and knows a win against Rousey could significantly elevate her status.
The hard-punching 28-year-old Brazilian should enjoy some advantages over her American foe. The most obvious revolves around hitting and being hit. Nunes (13-4) lands strikes at a solid rate, and Rousey (12-1) has often been on the receiving end more than she’d like. With the damaging potential of Nunes’ power and the lingering memory of Holm’s victory, it’s easy to speculate but hard to know for certain how well Rousey will handle the stress. By drawing a line in the sand with the media, Rousey has gone all-in and managed to ratchet up the pressure on herself.
UFC 207 has turned into a tribute of sorts to the bantamweight division.
Joining Nunes, the UFC’s other 135lbs champion, Dominick Cruz, has injected as much trash-talking as anyone can handle, taking aim at heavy-hitting challenger Cody Garbrandt. As with all of Cruz’s fights, the man standing opposite him has to be equipped to do several things in order to compete.
Garbrandt can crack, but if he can’t find Cruz (22-1) to hit him what good will that do? Pinning Cruz down, confining him and setting up potential offense won’t come easy for Garbrandt, who is so charged up after dealing with Cruz’s trash talking that he stormed away during an on-camera interview. That could easily be Garbrandt (10-0) on fight night, getting carried away and making mistakes that cost him over the course of a 25-minute fight.
Also at 135, former bantamweight champion TJ Dillashaw (13-3) faces the biggest puncher in the division, squat mauler John Lineker (29-7). It’s a stylistically fascinating contest. Dillashaw’s movement, work rate and wrestling should mess very well with Lineker’s straight forward punch-through-a-wall style. The UFC hasn’t declared that the winner of this contest will be next in line to face Cruz or Garbrandt, but chances are he will be.
