PWP Nation’s Eron Ramadanov talks about how losing in the UFC is handled by different personalities.
In any sport, it’s obviously difficult to lose. That concept isn’t only true in sports, but in life. Losing stinks. Whether you lost a parking spot when going to get groceries or when you’re a world icon, on top of the world of mixed martial arts, losing is all the same.
Everyone loses. It’s a way of life. But when losing, understanding that something from that lose can be learned, that’s the test of a true winner.
In the past 5 months, the UFC has seen two of its biggest stars to ever walk into the octagon lose in crushing fashion. In November, the then undefeated Ronda Rousey placed her UFC Bantamweight Championship on the line against world renown boxer and defensive specialist Holly Holm. After crushing opponents in a matter of seconds, Ronda Rousey wasn’t expecting what happened at UFC 193. Rousey lost. Not only did she lose, but she was basically picked apart and left for dead. This outcome was so shocking due to the fact of how Ronda was winning her fights before Holm.
- UFC 190: def. Bethe Correia via KO (1st RD/ 34 seconds)
- UFC 184: def. Cat Zingano via submission (1st RD/ 14 seconds)
- UFC 175: def. Alexis Davis via KO (1st RD/ 16 seconds)
- UFC 170: def. Sara McMann via TKO (1 RD/ 1 minute 6 seconds)
Going into UFC 193, no one really believed that Holly Holm was going to defeat Ronda Rousey, especially not in the way she did. Rousey was absolutely picked apart by the veteran boxer, and it showed that Rousey had to go back to the drawing board.
After her loss to Holly Holm, the “Rowdy” one went into hiding and stayed silent for many weeks afterwards. Slowly, Rousey has come out and spoken about her lose to Holly Holm. Most notably, Ronda Rousey appeared on “Ellen,” where host, Ellen DeGeneres pushed the former UFC Champion to speak more on how she was feeling after her loss.
Obviously, Rousey took the lose very seriously. As she stated above, she, even if it was for a split second, considered ending it all. Thankfully, she snapped out of it quickly. Since this interview, I’ve had many interactions and conversations with people about the validity of this claim, where my counterparts would imply (or even flat out say) that she was looking for pity and was making excuses.
Can I guarantee she wasn’t doing that? No, of course not. Only Ronda Rousey knows if she was honestly considering to kill herself, but the fact remains that we all deal with losing in different ways. For Rousey, in her mind, fighting was/is all she had/has.
Speaking of dealing with a loss, as I stated above, the UFC has run into the problem of having their two biggest names, go down in a crumbling defeat. This one is more recent, at UFC 196, where Conor McGregor (similar to Rousey’s lose to Holm) received his first loss in the UFC and was ripped from the top of the world.
It brings me no joy to say that McGregor lost. I’m a huge fan of his and think he’s not only a superb fighter, but has a great mind for the business and industry that is mixed martial arts.
The paths of Conor McGregor and Ronda Rousey are eerily similar.
Both rose to the top of the game in record time, and doing it in stunning fashion, knocking opponents out in the first round, sometimes even seconds in and becoming not only sports icons, but pop culture heroes as well. Personality wise, they’re a little different. McGregor wears his confidence (some would say arrogance) on his sleeve, and lets everyone know why he’s the best by showing it in he octagon and by telling you at every chance he gets. As for Ronda, she has a more commanding presence, where she demands respect when entering a room, but she doesn’t even have to say a word.
But the biggest difference between the two isn’t their personalities, though.
These two fighting legends are different in how they handled their loses. In the UFC, they have only now experienced defeat one time each, but they’ve both lost in life before. McGregor lost in a few MMA fights before coming to the big leagues and Rousey has tasted defeat in her judo background before becoming a world superstar.
At UFC 196, McGregor seemed to have Nate Diaz where he wanted him. After the first round, Diaz’s right side of his face was covered in blood and had a serious cut above the eyebrow. But Diaz’s stamina remained high, as Conor’s disappeared. After throwing punch after punch, with all his force behind them, looking for a knockout, McGreogor had nothing left in the tank, especially after Diaz caught Conor with a straight left, that clearly stunned the UFC Featherweight Champion.
Post-fight, Conor McGregor stated that he was going to take defeat, the same way he takes victory.
“I’m cocky in prediction. I’m confident in preparation, but I am always humble in victory or defeat.”
That couldn’t be more truthful. Conor McGregor, no matter how you feel about him, took his lose respectfully and humbly. He paid his respect to the person that beat him, and had explanations, not excuses, as to why he lost. McGregor did several post-fight interviews with several media outlets, and remained calm and understood that this was the business.
So, when comparing the two loses of Conor McGregor and Ronda Rousey, they both handled it very differently. McGregor was straight up and confronted his loss, whereas Rousey hid from the media afterwards and didn’t take her loss on the chin. I’m not saying that Ronda Rousey handled her loss badly or that she was wrong in how she wrestled with defeat, but when losing, confronting your lose, no matter what it is or who you are, is always better when you go for it head-on and straight-forward.
In closing, I wanted to touch on one last point. I think as fans and commentators of the sport, we also have to understand the position these men and women are in. Yes, they make millions of dollars and are “living their dream,” but when defeat engulfs someone, we as a people, shouldn’t be all that surprised. And I know some will laugh at this notion, but maybe we should show some compassion for McGregor and Rousey.
Maybe it’s the feminist, liberal side of me talking, but when someone’s livelihood is in jeopardy, I don’t know if we should be so hard on them. We all get upset when we lose a pick-up basketball game or an argument with our loved ones, imagine that being amplified by one thousand and then double that by one million.
In the end, losing is a part of the game and I can understand if people would rather not be compassionate to these mega-fighters because of how much money they make. Overall, it’s clear that losing in the UFC isn’t easy, and each individual fighter handles loses in different ways. As for Rousey and McGregor, I have a good feeling they’ll both bounce back and regain their status among the best in the game of mixed martial arts.
Thanks for reading, everyone.
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