Ronda Rousey spoke with ESPN about her debut at WrestleMania 34 last night. Rousey said that she’s grateful for the opportunity and wants to apologize to the WWE Universe for her expectations.
I owe the WWE Universe an apology, because I thought they were going to boo me out of the building from day one. They really accepted me from day one. Hopefully, I satisfied a lot of skeptics tonight.
I underestimated how kind the WWE Universe would be. I thought any outsiders would be shunned. I was expecting to get shunned and to have to battle to be accepted. I worked my ass off to pay respect to what’s so important to them, and hopefully they saw that tonight. I’m just so grateful, man. I’m trying my best to deserve it.
Rousey’s class shone through in the interview, thanking the fans for giving her a chance. She also said, in a surprising turn of events, that she’s now happy to have lost the fights she lost in the UFC.
It was me versus the world in an individual sport. I thought I would never say this, but I’m so happy I lost those fights [to Holly Holm and Amanda Nunes] because it led me here. This is so worth it.
Everything really does happen for a reason. I’m just so grateful. I thought I would never be [grateful] for [the losses], but time is a great teacher. I’m just really, really glad I gave it time instead of giving up and feeling it was the end of the world.
There’s so many people who encounter tragedies who feel like the world and time won’t heal it. But all I can say to those people is: Just give it time, even if you think time can’t heal it. You never know what will happen and where it will lead you. Every missed opportunity is a blessing in disguise. I really believe it now.
Ronda Rousey went on to talk about the strength of the UFC at the moment. To read the rest of the interview, you can click here.
