UFC 193’s Ronda Rousey: “If your priority leading up to a fight is saving money… you’re gonna lose”

By Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief

Ronda Rousey (photo credit Jason da Silva © USA Today Sports)

Ronda Rousey dropped further thoughts on her mindset and why she thinks she’s very different from her opponents during the latest episode of “UFC 193 Embedded.

Working out with mats set up in a hotel room, Rousey discussed the idea behind preparing that way during fight week.

“Why do you think I turn my chair around to get my hand wrapped in a small room like this, with people watching and everyone being silent on camera?” Rousey commented. “It’s like – to get conditioned for that environment; conditioned for all of it. Every week leading up to a fight is fight week. There’s cameras all around the gym and everything, it’s the same as there is right now. I recreate fight week over and over and over again, the whole camp. Including the cameras, including the pressure, including my hardest day being MMA sparring end of the week at the exact time that I would fight.

Rousey contrasts that with the way her opponents prepare, and why she thinks the added cost of prepping the way she does is necessary to hold onto her spot.

“So when they get here it’s their first time doing it,” she said. “It’s their first time being around the cameras. It’s their first time warming up in that little room. It’s their first time being under that pressure.

“Yeah, it’s all coming out of my pocket. I had to go bankrupt to make sure I prepared for a fight right. If your priority leading up to a fight is saving money, then that means you’re only here for money. And you’re gonna lose.”

Penick’s Analysis: You have to get to a certain point before you have the money to prepare that way, but there’s no denying the benefits she’s found in doing things the way she does them. Whether it’s routine, superstition, or it actually has a significant effect on her, it works. She has the mentality, at least in regards to the fight game, that keeps her in that top spot fight after fight, and it’s why it’s hard to envision her actually losing a fight anytime soon.

[Photo (c) Jason da Silva via USA Today Sports]

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