Phil Baroni defends Ronda Rousey following loss

Since Ronda Rousey’s UFC 207 loss to Amanda Nunes last week to close out 2016, the MMA community has been torn between supporting Ronda Rousey at a low point, and criticizing the former champ for being ill prepared for her scrap with Amanda Nunes.

While there has been a tremendous outpouring of support for Rousey in the time since the fight, which included Floyd Mayweather Sr. and his brother Jeff Mayweather offering to train Rousey, her coach, Edmond Tarverdyan has been the subject of much criticism.

MMA veteran Phil Baroni certainly is on Rousey’s side when it comes to the situation. He spoke to MMAJunkie to discuss the situation, Rousey’s media blackout, and the fight:

“I think she likes being a heel,” he said. “I have a feeling that she embraced the heel, and she bent over backwards for the media previously for all the other fights, and she felt the MMA media turned on her. So (expletive) the MMA media. If you can do that (expletive), then do it. That’s strong.

“I don’t (expletive) buy pay-per-views; I didn’t feel like going to the Strip. I always get tickets. But I bought the (UFC 207) pay-per-view. I wanted to see the fight. I don’t buy pay-per-views. I didn’t give a (expletive) if she did an interview or not. I wanted to see what she’s got.

“What is she going to say? ‘I trained really hard for this fight, I’m in the best shape of my life, (and) I’m not worried about the last fight?’ What the (expletive)? She wasn’t fighting for the money that time, and that just goes to prove it. She was there to fight; I give her even more respect for that.”

Rousey has remained noncommittal about her future following the loss, stating that she would like to take time to process the situation before deciding on her future.