Former UFC Bantamweight Champion Ronda Rousey has been keeping herself busy, following her recent loss to Amanda Nunes at UFC 207 last December.
The fighter turned actor has been landing TV cameos whenever she can. Having previously made a brief appearance on Comedy Central’s Drunk History and having hosted SNL, Rousey’s most recent accomplishment is a larger role in the hit television series Blindspot.
Well, some believe that Rousey may have been keeping herself a little too busy during her fighting career. Former UFC heavyweight champion turned actor Bas “El Guapo”Rutten gave his opinion in a recent interview.
In an interview with Fox Sports, Rutten explained that he believes that Rousey’s ventures outside of the ring greatly affected her fighting.
“I truly believe that. On the other side, her name is getting bigger and bigger and bigger and then the girls who are going to fight her, they know if they dethrone the champ, they’re going to be that known. It’s a judgment slip I think. That’s what happened there.
“Unfortunately, she hasn’t been able to pull it back together now.”
Offering a potentially dark truth, Rutten added
“The problem also with Ronda was she had so many movie offers and the last fight that she had, everything was riding on that.
“She knew that if she would lose, she would not only lose but she would lose all the movies, opportunities, everything would go away cause that’s how the world works. It’s unfortunate but that’s how the world works.
“Once you start losing, suddenly you’re not that interesting anymore. It’s bad that it happens, but it happens.”
While Rutten has transitioned into acting, he does not suggest doing both at the same time.
“It’s the dumbest thing, especially as a fighter because they need to be mentally and physically prepared. They need to focus 100-percent solely on fighting. That’s what I would do. It’s a thing where once they get an offer it’s like ‘wait a minute, I can do this and this can be a backup plan’ and then they totally forget about the consequences of acting. Then you see guys or girls who do it, they start losing their next fight. Because they aren’t focusing on the fight.
“It’s a hard job already. You’ve got to stay away from the injuries and everything else to keep the mind and body in tune while you’re doing another job on the side, it’s just not a great idea.”
UFC President Dana White has admitted that he does not believe that Rousey will return to the sport, following her two fight losing streak inside the octagon.
