Former UFC champion Ronda Rousey is refusing to back down from her controversial claim that she’s “the greatest ever,” despite facing intense criticism online. In a candid conversation on the Bertcast podcast, the MMA pioneer defended her legacy and explained exactly why she believes she deserves that title.
“I said the other day that I’m the greatest ever. And man, everyone flipped the f**k out over it,” Rousey revealed. But rather than retreating from the statement, she doubled down with a clear explanation of her criteria.
“How do you define the greatest ever? I define the greatest ever as the person who was the most dominant and the farthest ahead of their time.”
Rousey drew a comparison to basketball legend Michael Jordan, noting that you can’t judge different eras against each other directly. “Michael Jordan’s the greatest ever, I’d say, because of the effect that he had on culture, how far ahead of his time he was and how dominant he was,” she explained. “And no one can say that I haven’t been the most dominant or most ahead of my time. And I will die on that hill.”
The 38-year-old acknowledged the backlash comes with a particular edge when directed at accomplished women. “It’s offensive to some people like oh my god a highly accomplished woman with a high opinion of herself. Keyboard warriors to war,” she said: “If I had a quarter for every guy that has never been in a fight that I could kill with my bare hands talking s**t about my ability to fight, I would make Elon Musk blush.”
Rousey, who became the first female fighter in UFC history and headlined multiple pay-per-view events, revolutionized women’s MMA. She expressed concern that current female stars have forgotten how recently the landscape was completely different.
“That’s something that I kind of worry about these days that people forget how recently it was so different and they’re not fighting for their space anymore. They’re just occupying it,” she said.
The former champion also addressed what she sees as a troubling trend in MMA culture compared to other sports. “MMA fans and media are the most what have you done for us lately crowd of any sport,” she observed, contrasting it with WWE’s reverence for legends. In MMA, she noted, “the second that you’re not on top, you’re not shit and you never were s**t.”
Despite the online outrage, Rousey seems unbothered by the controversy. In fact, she sees a silver lining: “The great thing for me is that outrage drives engagement and there’s plenty of people that don’t agree with them and will get into a debate with them and then that ends up actually all helping me in the long run.”
Currently focused on her graphic novel “Expecting the Unexpected” and sustainable farming in Hawaii with husband Travis Browne and their two children, Rousey shows no signs of seeking validation from critics.
