clock menu more-arrow no yes mobile

Filed under:

Morning Report: Ronda Rousey 'would rather die' than tap, contemplates retirement after every fight

By David St. Martin
Esther lIn, MMA Fighting

"I cry all the time. I'm such a crier."

UFC women's bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey obviously doesn't have a problem with showing some emotion, but she says she'd die before tapping out and losing a fight.

"With Liz Carmouche, I thought I could die for sure," Rousey explained during an appearance on 'Jim Rome on Showtime.' "I blocked a choke so she turned it into a neck crank. I felt my jaw dislocate and I was thinking I would rather break my neck than lose this fight."

By all accounts, Rousey will face the toughest test of her professional career in No. 1 contender Cat Zingano, tentatively targeted for Jan. 3 at UFC 182 in Las Vegas Nev.

According to Rousey, Zingano can abandon all hope of dolling the champ her first loss, least of all by submission.

"Have you even lost the Olympics? I would rather die than lose," said Rousey. "I know that feeling so well. It's not that I've never lost. I've lost at the worst time so I know what a loss is. That's why I want to win so much more than these other girls.

"It feels like dying to me. I'd rather die."

Assumably due to this attitude, Rousey says she is routinely challenged by individuals playing hypothetical matchmaker pitting her against men.

"People ask me, 'Do you think you could beat this person' or 'Can you beat that person?' I'm never going to place limits on myself," said Rousey. "I'm not going to say that I can't do something. You can't tell me there isn't a string of circumstances or events that could lead to me beating anyone.

"Realistically, I don't think it's a good idea at all. MMA is already fighting to be accepted, and especially with all the Ray Rice and things going on, it's never going to be a good thing to have a man hitting a woman on television or ever in any circumstance. Unless, it's like the gym training where I'm about to go right after this."

Undefeated and relatively unchallenged at 10-0 just four years into a fighting career, Rousey says she's already dreading her eventual departure from the sport.

"That's one big worry of mine. There are so many people out there who fight too long. I don't know how I'm going to deal with it. I tried stepping away from judo, and I've never been so depressed and lost in my whole life. I want to be able to step away and step away for real.

"When I retire, I'm going to retire forever. I'm not going to be that person that comes back. I don't know how I'm going to handle it. That's one of the things I'm actually scared of."

Already making the rounds in Hollywood, Rousey hasn't been coy about the goals she's making after she's done fighting.

"I'm afraid of life after [MMA]," said Rousey. "I'm doing everything I can to make sure I have that new quest and goal or whatever to go after next so I'm not left with... Before I was left broke with no goals, but if I'm left rich with no goals, that's a little bit more comfortable, but mentally I'd be in the same place.

"I make that decision after every fight whether or not I'm going to still keep going. I haven't gotten a single bruise from being hit yet in a fight."

Star-divide

5 MUST-READ STORIES

'I don't like to be disrespected.' Anderson Silva has an ominous warning for Nick Diaz. 'If he disrespects me, things are going to happen as they need to happen.'

'If they throw me in with Ronda, awesome.' Holly Holm says she wouldn't turn down a fight with Ronda Rousey.

New ground. Luke Thomas take a look at what Cung Le can expect from the UFC's new third party appeals process.

You can take the boy out of MMA... UFC play-by-play man Mike Goldberg apologized on Tuesday for his Twitter outburst this past weekend and won't call a second game for FOX.

A strange 72 hours. Last week Josh Burkman was released by the World Series of Fighting, signed to the UFC, booked against Hector Lombard, and then sent out a tweet that suggested he threw a fight.

Watch The MMA Hour with Holly Holm, Rick Story, Martin Kampmann, Joe Warren and Piotr Hallmann.

Star-divide

MEDIA STEW

Star-divide

Highlights from Anderson Silva's press conference. Full presser here.

Star-divide

Lorenzo Fertitta on Anderson Silva's Return.

Star-divide

Worst fouls in MMA part 2.

Star-divide

Round 1 goes to Cain Velasquez.

Star-divide

TTTHS.

Star-divide

Free Fight: Phil Davis vs. Alexander Gustafsson.

Star-divide

Long watches.

Knuckle Up #396: The Wonderful Horror of a Fighter's Life, Shields v. Ford, Celebrity Skin

...

Brian Stann Exclusive Part 1 on Retirement, Evaluating His Career, Fox Sports Colleagues & More

Star-divide

TWEETS

Star-divide

Smoke from a GSP meeting?

Star-divide

Unfortunate.

[Slide missing]

Star-divide

I like how they subtly incorporated the gloves.

Star-divide

Beefin'.

Star-divide

Get well soon.

Star-divide

Fair or foul?

Star-divide

So much damn Struggle.

Star-divide

FIGHT ANNOUNCEMENTS

Announced yesterday (Oct. 14 2014)

Frankie Saenz vs. Aljamain Sterling at UFC Fight Night: Bisping vs. Rockhold

Star-divide

FANPOST OF THE DAY

Today's Fanpost of the Day comes via Dave From Newfoundland.

Scrutiny of fighters for not "stating their case" on the mic needs to stop

First of all, I acknowledge that all platforms for MMA is entertainment and I don't discount the importance of self promotion and fighters doing and saying certain things to dictate and influence the direction in their respective careers. I also acknowledge that the sport is evolving before our eyes and there are going to be growing pains and that we are taking influence from professional wrestling, and generally speaking I think things are going pretty great.

However, I think pressure put on fighters to say more on the mic and "state their case" is getting a little out of hand. On a recent episode of the MMA Beat I think Jeff Wagenheim said it best-"Fighters need to be themselves". I believe the constant scrutiny of fighters for not calling people out or trying to be entertaining with the things they say needs to come to an end, we need to get back to accepting that these athletes make their case in the cage and how they fight, not by what they say. Don't get me wrong, I love nothing more when there is a heated rivalry with real trash talk (i.e Jones & Cormier) but on the contrary there is nothing I hate more than disingenuous smack talk with the sole purpose of hyping the fight, not to sound too dramatic, but I feel like it's bad for the sport.

...

Check out the rest of the post here.

Star-divide

Found something you'd like to see in the Morning Report? Just hit me up on Twitter @SaintMMA and we'll include it in tomorrow's column.

In This Stream

Morning Report: UFC and MMA News, Multimedia and Hot Clicks

View all 2692 stories

Get the latest gear

More From MMA Fighting

Sign up for the newsletter Sign up for the MMA Fighting Daily Roundup newsletter!

A daily roundup of all your fighting news from MMA Fighting