Rousey considered suicide after loss
Mixed martial arts can be cruel and unforgiving.
One punch can change the narrative of a fighter’s entire career. One mistimed exchange can leave a once-unbreakable champion unconscious on the mat in front of tens of thousands of fans.
What happens when those fallen fighters leave the octagon and go backstage is rarely public knowledge. While the winners are trotted out onstage at the post-fight news conferences, the losers are transported to hospital and left nursing their wounds, both mental and physical.
After months of relative silence, Ronda Rousey spoke Tuesday about her loss to Holly Holm at UFC 193 in Melbourne, Australia.
“I was literally sitting there and thinking about killing myself,” Rousey said on Tuesday’s Ellen DeGeneres Show. “At that exact second, I’m like ‘I’m nothing. What do I do anymore? And no one gives a s--- about me anymore without this.’ ”
While some people might think suicidal thoughts after one loss are a bit much, it’s impossible to watch the clip and not sympathize with the longtime women’s bantamweight champion.
In the moments after Holm kicked her in the head and Rousey collapsed in the cage, everyone from Donald Trump to Lady Gaga rejoiced in seeing the end of her reign. The beating she took on social media was far worse.
Throughout 2015, Rousey had embraced her new-found stardom. She appeared in Hollywood blockbusters, graced the covers of magazines and was front and centre in national advertising campaigns.
As her profile grew, so did the ranks of her critics. On Nov. 15, the knives came out.
Setting aside the role her gender played in the backlash — and make no mistake, it was a big factor — there are just some people out there who didn’t like seeing someone achieve so much success, so quickly.
Her fall vindicated their most vitriolic impulses.
It’s hard to imagine being in a distant country as detractors rain down insults in your greatest moment of self-doubt. Fortunately for Rousey, she wasn’t alone.
“To be honest, I looked up and my man (UFC heavyweight champion Travis Browne) was standing there,” Rousey said. “I was like, ‘I need to have his babies and I need to stay alive.’ ”
That honesty from Rousey represents an important moment for MMA.
Fighters are freakishly fit and put themselves at risk to make money in a way most of us would never consider. Fans love watching UFC, but that doesn’t mean they fantasize about what it would be like to step into the octagon.
But Rousey’s story is something all of us can relate to. She was unbeatable and invincible until, suddenly, she wasn’t.
“Maybe just winning all the time isn’t what’s best for everybody,” Rousey said Tuesday. “I felt like maybe everyone has their moment of picking themselves up off the floor, and I’ve been through several of mine, but no one had actually seen me go through it.
“Maybe I had to be that example.”