Former UFC tv analyst Jimmy Smith didn’t maintain again in critiquing Ronda Rousey’s current remarks about her relationship with the media.
Rousey has discovered herself within the headlines in current weeks after the discharge of her memoir Our Battle in bookstores worldwide. The guide covers her burst onto the MMA scene, her Olympic judo run, and her admitted historical past of concussions.
Rousey has appeared on quite a few exhibits and podcasts to advertise her memoir. Throughout a current look on The Chris Cuomo Venture, Rousey claimed that Joe Rogan and different media members owe her apologies for spreading misconceptions about her profession.
Smith, a former UFC colour commentator, made some jaw-dropping admissions about how Rousey handled the promotion’s broadcast workforce throughout her Octagon run.
Jimmy Smith unloads on Ronda Rousey over claims about MMA media
🔊”All people behind the scenes, that needed to put a mic on Ronda Rousey, could not stand her.”@jimmysmithmma lastly heard sufficient of Ronda Rousey’s media feedback & did not maintain again an oz in his response to them
Supply: Unlocking the Cage with Jimmy Smith pic.twitter.com/53BUCcaqJT
— MMA on SiriusXM (@MMAonSiriusXM) April 29, 2024
Throughout a current episode of Unlocking the Cage on SiriusXM, Smith unleashed on Rousey and revealed how some workers seen her.
“I’ve by no means been a non secular particular person. One factor’s at all times stated about God, he will get all of the credit score, not one of the blame. That’s what Ronda Rousey desires,” Smith started on Rousey. “She by no means offers credit score to the individuals who really beat her. The concept that ‘I left MMA and went to the WWE as a result of I had concussion issues’ is not sensible. Let me allow you to in on one thing. Ronda, should you’re listening: the folks behind the scenes; digital camera folks, audio folks, the folks you possibly can push round, and the folks you possibly can bully, discuss all the way down to. Can’t stand your f***** a**…
“All people behind the scenes that needed to put a mic on Ronda Rousey couldn’t stand her. I stated why? They stated ‘She was a b**** to us from the second she sat down, to the second she acquired up’. Prefer it’s our fault that she has to do that interview…and he or she’s depressing, imply, and ‘we will’t stand her’. They had been cheering when she acquired knocked out, that’s what I used to be advised,” Smith continued. “These are the folks you may be imply to and impolite to, they usually can’t struggle again. These folks couldn’t stand Ronda Rousey, so don’t sit right here and inform me that you just’re the sufferer. The poor man sitting behind the digital camera is doing his job, will get s*** on by you otherwise you’re imply to the particular person asking you questions once we’re hyping your struggle, don’t give me this sufferer s***. Don’t, don’t waste my time with that.”
Smith joined the UFC’s broadcast workforce in Jan. 2018 however parted methods with the promotion the next yr. He’s spent stints in Bellator, Invicta FC, and WWE throughout his broadcasting profession.
Rousey retired from MMA after a loss to Amanda Nunes at UFC 207. Earlier than that, she was seen as an indomitable drive forward of a knockout loss to Holly Holm at UFC 193.
Rousey is likely one of the biggest feminine UFC fighters of all time and is seen as a pioneer of ladies’s MMA. Her UFC bantamweight title reign between 2013 and 2015 was probably the most dominant in MMA historical past.
Smith’s claims, if true, level to a fractured relationship between Rousey and plenty of behind-the-scenes UFC staffers. Whereas a deserved UFC Corridor of Famer, Rousey didn’t have many allies in the course of the top of her profession.