Ronda Rousey, the MMA icon who brought women’s combat sports into the mainstream, recently appeared on The Breakfast Club to discuss her new graphic novel “Expecting the Unexpected.” During the conversation, she reflected candidly on the double standards that exist in how male and female fighters are perceived after losses.
During the interview, Rousey didn’t shy away from addressing the elephant in the room. Despite losing only two bouts in her career, the media and public treated her losses as career-ending catastrophes, while male competitors who have lost multiple times continue to be celebrated as legends.
When asked about this disparity, Rousey pointed to the obvious answer that many refuse to acknowledge: gender bias.
“Well, what do you think the difference is?” she asked the hosts, prompting them to acknowledge what she already knew: “That you’re a woman.”
The conversation highlighted how fighters like Mike Tyson and Muhammad Ali lost multiple matches yet maintained their status as “the greatest,” while Rousey’s two losses seemed to overshadow her unprecedented achievements in opening doors for women in MMA.
Rousey revealed that her departure from combat wasn’t simply about those losses, but about serious health concerns she’d been privately battling. She disclosed that she’d suffered numerous concussions throughout her career, progressively worsening to the point where any impact would cause her to lose vision in the ring.
“I’d had so many concussions since I was a kid and they were getting progressively worse,” she explained, describing how she would experience temporary blindness during matches. This was a terrifying reality she couldn’t publicly share while still competing.
Rousey also addressed the unique pressure female athletes face to maintain perfection. “If you’re holding up basically the whole company at that point,” she said, referring to her role as the UFC’s first female competitor, “if you’re trying to be everything to everyone, you’re not going to have much left for yourself.” This pressure to be invincible, she suggested, prevented her from admitting weakness or asking for the breaks she needed.
Now a mother of multiple children and married, Rousey has found peace away from the spotlight. She’s channeling her competitive energy into creative pursuits, including her graphic novel about a pregnant fighter navigating both motherhood and danger.
She’s also training again, not for a comeback but simply because she loves it. “I’m training and everyone’s like, ‘So what are you training for?'” she laughed. “For my own joy. Is that bad?”
When pressed about potentially returning to the octagon, especially with the success of exhibitions like the Mike Tyson fight, Rousey remained philosophical. She noted how Tyson’s fight generated 108 million views and $20 million, yet she acknowledged the criticism would be vastly different if she attempted something similar.
