Ronda Rousey finally seeing positives in MMA losses: I’m so happy I lost those fights

Former UFC women’s bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey has always been quite touchy about her MMA losses to Holly Holm and Amanda Nunes. Having authored an absolutely thrilling win at WrestleMania 34 last night, however, she seems to have immediately changed her tune.

“It was me versus the world in an individual sport,” Rousey told ESPN of her MMA career shortly after WrestleMania last night. “I thought I would never say this, but I’m so happy I lost those fights [to Holly Holm and Amanda Nunes] because it led me here. This is so worth it.”

“Everything really does happen for a reason,” she added. “I’m just so grateful. I thought I never would be [grateful] for [the losses], but time is a great teacher. I’m just really, really glad I gave it time instead of giving up and feeling it was the end of the world. There’s so many people who encounter tragedies who feel like the world and time won’t heal it. But all I can say to those people is: Just give it time, even if you think time can’t heal it. You never know what will happen and where it will lead you. Every missed opportunity is a blessing in disguise. I really believe it now.”

Rousey went on to explain how welcomed she’s felt by the WWE universe.

“I owe the WWE universe an apology, because I thought they were going to boo me out of the building from day one,” she said. “They really accepted me from day one. Hopefully, I satisfied a lot of skeptics tonight.”

“I underestimated how kind the WWE universe would be,”she added. “I thought any outsiders would be shunned. I was expecting to get shunned and to have to battle to be accepted. I worked my ass off to pay respect to what’s so important to them, and hopefully they saw that tonight. I’m just so grateful, man. I’m trying my best to deserve it.”

Are you surprised to hear Ronda Rousey speaking so cheerily about her MMA losses?

This article first appeared on BJPenn.com on 4/9/2018.