Ronda Rousey calls UFC fans bandwagon jumpers: “The second you’re not on top, you’re dead to them”

Ronda Rousey was undoubtedly the biggest star in the UFC between 2012 and 2015, but that hasn’t saved her from being largely dismissed by current fans several years after her dominant reign. In Ronda’s opinion, that highlights a key difference between MMA and WWE fans: MMA fans don’t respect their past legends like they should.

In a recent Baddest Stream on the Planet video, Rousey shared her perspective on how MMA fans often drop a fighter the moment they’re no longer on top.

“WWE fans care more about the wrestlers than the UFC fans care about the fighters,” Rousey said (via Wrestling Inc). “UFC fans have, like, much less respect for their veterans and the legends of the sport than WWE fans do.”

“A lot of UFC fans are kind of like bandwagon fans in that way. It’s like, the second you’re not on top, you’re dead to them. Whereas WWE fans are like, ‘This is the guy that, you know, did this 20 years ago,’ and they’re still really excited about that.”

Ronda Rousey is a pioneer of women’s MMA and the main reason why female fighters are competing in the UFC today. She was the promotion’s first women’s bantamweight champion and defended the title six times in dominating fashion. That hasn’t stopped her from getting a lot of hate from fans and revisionist views on her career as a whole.

While some of that may be due to how she handled her first career losses to Holly Holm and Amanda Nunes, it still doesn’t fully explain why her legacy is largely ignored a mere decade after she took the combat sports world by storm. Rousey definitely has a point that WWE fans lionize their past stars while MMA fans are often guilty of tearing them down or forgetting them entirely.

If you have any doubts about that, look at some newer fans’ reaction to Jose Aldo’s retirement, where they dismiss his accomplishments. See how people downplay the accomplishments of G.O.A.T.s like Khabib Nurmagomedov and Fedor Emelianenko. MMA is very much a ‘What have you done for me lately’ sport.

While this may be an issue with sports culture in general, the UFC doesn’t do a great job of building up its past stars either. Aging legends are often fed to up-and-comers on the way out, ending their careers on a string of nasty losses. And what little programming devoted to shining a light on the historic fights and fighters of the past isn’t enough to counter an endless stream of hot Twitter takes from fans so new that don’t even know what a ‘TUF noob’ is.

What do you think, BJPENN Nation? Is Ronda Rousey right? Do WWE fans have MMA fans beat when it comes to respecting our past stars of the sport? Let us know what you think in the comments.