UFC
UFC Champ Ronda Rousey: "There's so many people who just live to hate me, but when I'm gone, they're going to miss me"
Aug 31, 2015 - 9:25:47 PM UFC Champ Ronda Rousey: "There's so many people who just live to hate me, but when I'm gone, they're going to miss me"

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By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief

"I don't even think I'm going to know what is going on right now or realize what is going on right now until afterward, until it's all done. I could just try to do the best that I can in the moment, but I don't really think that any of us really comprehend what's going on right now until we're looking at it in hindsight. And that's the kind of thing, I think it's kind of funny. There's so many people who just live to hate me, but when I'm gone, they're going to miss me. They really are...

I'm not the protagonist. I'm the antagonist. Because the protagonist just reacts. They do nothing. The whole storyline, the whole everything that goes on, is completely dependent on the antagonist. I'm the one who's forcing everybody to do something, and so I like to think of myself as more of the heel, the bad guy who you somehow sometimes root for. You can't help it a little bit sometimes, but sometimes you hate them. I think the fact that mixed emotions come out is one of the more interesting things. I'm not trying to have everyone like me. I'm trying to have everybody care about what I'm doing."

-Ronda Rousey talks to Joe Rogan on his podcast about how she perceives her role in the sport and why she thinks she'll be missed when her time in the sport is done (transcribed by MMAFighting.com).

Penick's Analysis: The "you don't know what you've got 'til it's gone" line of thought may be a bit cliche, but that doesn't make it wrong. And you don't need to look far to understand how true that maxim holds. Rousey's the latest in a line of stars who have been at the top of this sport, and for those who are no longer in the game, their absences have left clear holes time and again. From Chuck Liddell to Brock Lesnar to Georges St-Pierre, and now even as we speak Anderson Silva's fall and Jon Jones' absence, there's still a longing for days when there were major fights from those names to which fans could look forward. When Rousey's done - especially if she goes out undefeated as she hopes to accomplish - then her presence in the organization is going to be greatly missed. Stars who bring the type of attention that Rousey brings don't come around all that often, so if that's not quite appreciated on a wide scale right now, eventually it will be.