Ronda Rousey has called on more MMA fighters to think like professional wrestlers in one specific regard.
Speaking during the Media Scrum following the MVP MMA press conference in New York on Wednesday, Rousey conceded that MMA is a legitimate sport but added that it didn’t mean it had to be without a story.
“It’s sport, but like the Olympics is a sport and people only watch it every four years because it’s not entertainment. I mean I’m not gonna watch swimming every weekend, sorry. People need to realize that, yes they are athletes, they are doing a sport, but it is your job to also be an entertainer and to get people interested in your fight.”
Rousey said she draws on her experience with WWE in professional wrestling from 2017-23 on and off, thinking about what she can do to make her fights more interesting and sell fans on more than just the actual sport of it.
“Something I kind of learned in pro wrestling is, every time we would have a match we would ask ourselves, ‘What’s the story of the match?’ So I would advise everybody in MMA, any match-up uou have, think, ‘What is the story of my match? What is something unique that just the two of us bring to the table that you would never see in any other match-up?'”
“Put a lot of thought into it, don’t just show up and be like, ‘I don’t really care because I’m too cool for this.’ Like right yeah you’re really awesome, you’re so cool but it’s not your job to be cool. It’s to get people to watch your f***ing fight so please think about it.”
Rousey will be fighting Gina Carano in her comeback fight streaming on Netflix on May 16, headlining the first MVP MMA event. They have both been putting over the redemption and closure element of their returns, Rousey coming 10 years since she was knocked out in less than a minute by Amanda Nunes, and Carano coming 17 years since she was defeated similarly in round one by Cris Cyborg.
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