Chael Sonnen gets candid about fan vitriol aimed at Ronda Rousey after UFC exit - "I can assure you they would not boo her"
Ronda Rousey has been on the receiving end of severe criticism ever since she parted ways with the UFC. However, fellow UFC alumnus Chael Sonnen does not think that the former women's bantamweight queen would be as poorly received as she believes she would if she showed up cage-side at a pay-per-view.
Sonnen believes that Rousey's situation is not dissimilar to what most high-profile fighters have experienced and continue to. He has also opined that 'Rowdy' would be welcomed with more warmth than she expects.
'The American Gangster' stated:
"If the public understood Ronda is done, I can assure you they would not boo her. If her career were truly done and it's not a back-and-forth, and it's not a play, and it's not to get a better contract here. If they truly understood that that artist, even if a martial artist, but that artist's career is behind, they absolutely would not boo."
Furthermore, Sonnen, who has had his own complicated relationship with the MMA fandom due to his past as one of the sport's most prominent trash-talkers, has brushed off Rousey's experience as something that is not unique to her.
"She is right. That's how her career went. They built her to the highest, and the second she fell they talked about she was terrible. That's true. The part that she's missing is that's not unique. There's never been anybody to come along who has a story that's any different."
Check out Chael Sonnen's thoughts on Ronda Rousey fan hate (4:29 and 5:10):
Rousey, however, continues to feel hard-done-by over her treatment by the fans following her losses to Holly Holm and Amanda Nunes, both of whom knocked her out.
Ronda Rousey has also clashed with WWE fans
It seems that everywhere Ronda Rousey goes, she and the fans of whichever sport she takes up butt heads. While she has been open and honest about her frustration with how MMA fans regard her, she has also spoken out against WWE fans for various reasons, even once accusing them of hypocrisy.
This came following the late Bray Wyatt's past release from WWE despite how "over" he was as the Fiend. Rousey opined that the fans were disingenuous, claiming that the same fans who chanted for Wyatt's return also took attention away from Wyatt's matches by chanting about beach balls.
She has also clashed with WWE fans over her disparagement of pro-wrestling as "fake."