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By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief
2013 could be a big year for women's MMA, and Ronda Rousey especially, as she makes her way into the UFC's Octagon for the first time. Rousey continues to garner more publicity than many, and she does a good job at appealing herself to a larger sports audience.
She showed that off again on Wednesday during an appearance on Jim Rome's brand-new program on Showtime. The always charismatic Rousey had quite a few interesting things to say, touching on a few different subjects throughout the interview.
First up was Georges St-Pierre, who made some comments about women's MMA recently that were not well received by the likes of Rousey and several other women fighters.
Said St-Pierre recently: "It's good for her [getting in the UFC]. I'm happy for the girls that fight, but me personally, I have a hard time watching the girls fight. It's the way I grew up maybe, the mentality, I'm different, I'm old school, but I have a hard time watching girls fighting. It's hard for me."
Though St-Pierre tried to be as diplomatic as possible with his answer, Rousey still thinks he was wrong in what he said and how he said it.
"Initially the way that he said it, it reminds me a lot like when you listen to boxing fans that are like 'oh, the MMA fighters, they're good athletes, and they're talented and good for them, but I can't stand to see guys humping on the ground like that, it's not a real man's sport, good for them that they make money' that kind of prejudice against it," Rousey said (transcribed by MMAWeekly.com).
“He seems to have very much that same kind of prejudice towards women in MMA, and he said it as tactfully as possible, that doesn't make it a tactful thing to say... People were getting mad at me for being, like, 'that's wrong.' But if there's an absence of debate, I think that just pretty much means acceptance of it. These girls when they go out to fight, they're pouring their hearts out, they deserve to be celebrated and not just merely tolerated."
Rousey's other eyebrow raising comments surrounded the topic of sex before fights. The old adage has been that abstinence before competition is needed for athletes, but Rousey's got a different take when it comes to female fighters.
"For girls, it raises your testosterone, so I try to have as much sex as possible before I fight, actually," Rousey commented. "Not with like everybody. I don't put out like a Craigslist ad or anything, but if I got a steady I'm going to be like 'yo, fight time's coming up.'"
However, while she thinks it's a good idea in the time leading up to a fight, she does draw the line on fight day itself.
"You can't (expletive) somebody and go fight that day."
Penick's Analysis: Rousey absolutely knows how to get people interested in her and what she has to say, and it doesn't hurt that she knows what to say most of the time. When it comes to the GSP situation, I can understand thinking he's behind-the-times in his mentality, but at the same time, not everything is for everyone. Not everyone is going to get behind MMA in general, but there can be some criticism handed down to someone in GSP's spot. He's one of the highest profile fighters in the sport, and having him give anything but a glowing recommendation of women's MMA can be perceived by those fighters as setting them back. That's how Rousey and company have taken it, and that's how they'll react.
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Jamie Penick, editor-in-chief
(mmatorcheditor@gmail.com)
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