When former UFC bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey is in the room, no one is safe. Alongside her diss at UFC color commentator Joe Rogan, the 38-year-old had an interesting take about former UFC lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov. While appearing in a podcast with comedian Bert Kreischer last week, she went off on ‘The Eagle’ as well as the MMA fanbase as a whole. 

“MMA fans and media are the most what have you done lately for us crowd of any sport.. In MMA, it’s like the second that you’re not on top, you’re not sh-t, and you never were sh-t.. I think the only reason why MMA fans have their lips so firmly planted at the base of Khabib’s c—k is because he retired before he reached his limit,” she told Kreischer during the podcast. “If he kept fighting until he reached his limit, everybody would be like, ‘Khabib ain’t s—t,’.” Like her comments about Rogan, this quickly became the trending subject across social media platforms and news outlets. Naturally, Submission Radio’s Denis Shkuratov brought it up during his latest interview with MMAFighting journalist Jed Meshew.

Ronda Rousey advised to be happy

“She should be a happier person. That would be my advice to her,” Meshew said when asked about his take on Rousey’s recent comments. “Because she’s clearly just outwardly unhappy about a lot of things.” Meshew pointed out that Rousey has made millions throughout her career in both the UFC and WWE, suggesting she shouldn’t concern herself with social media criticism. Still, he couldn’t overlook how misguided her remarks were.

“My honest to god, my biggest takeaway was [that] this is a bad take because fans don’t worship Khabib,” Meshew added. “Everybody has pretty comfortably come to, ‘Yeah, he’s sort of a weirdo because he was undefeated, but his reign was really short.’ No one defends him to the death as the greatest fighter of all time or whatever.” He speculated that had Nurmagomedov stayed in the promotion longer, he might have eventually lost and fallen out of favor with fans.

Still, Meshew felt Ronda Rousey’s disdain toward Khabib Nurmagomedov came from her own fractured relationship with the MMA fanbase. “This is just a bad take because she’s never gotten over how she f—ed up her career—or not even f—ed up her career, but f—ed up her relationship with the fans and with fame,” Meshew told Shkuratov. “She seems to really not understand anything in a lot of respects, I think.”

At the height of her career, Rousey was adored by fans. However, her perceived arrogance, sense of entitlement, and bitterness following losses to Holly Holm and Amanda Nunes made her a polarizing figure. Over time, the UFC legend felt the world—including figures like Joe Rogan—had turned against her, which explains her comments about Rogan as well.

Rousey downplays Joe Rogan’s expertise

Joe Rogan may not have stepped into the Octagon himself. But he possesses not only combat experience through training and competition, but also from his experience commentating on countless fights since the early days of UFC. But to Rousey, he is just another voice on the internet with a following. During her chat with Kreischer, she was asked how much money it would take for her to return to fighting.

Dismissing the idea, she jokingly replied, “I will beat the s–t out of you in your backyard for this house.” When Kreischer mentioned getting tips from Joe Rogan, Rousey fired back, “He wouldn’t know,” Rousey said. “He’s not an expert, he’s a fan with an audience.” Kreischer, who is a long-time friend of Rogan, tried to defend his friend, highlighting Rogan’s taekwondo background, but Rousey wasn’t budging. “He never fought,” Rousey said. “That’s not fighting.”

Rousey might have a point here. If Nurmagomedov had stayed in the UFC longer, there’s a chance he could have lost and fallen out with fans. She might even be right about Rogan. But it’s hard not to notice the bitterness evident in her statements, some of which, as Meshew pointed out, had in the past already turned many of her fans against her. However, from what we can tell, there are still many who feel she was one of the best to ever do it, regardless of how she feels now. What do you think of Rousey’s comments?