Ronda Rousey will be making her return to the Octagon at UFC 207 on December 30th against Amanda Nunes. But unlike in her past fights, she is expected to skip the pre-fight media obligations.
As pointed out by UFC president Dana White in an October interview, it was the media who “completely turned on” Rousey when she lost to Holly Holm in November 2015. Since that loss, Rousey did keep herself out of the MMA media limelight, merely making sparse appearances on talk shows such as Ellen and Conan.
Nunes, on the other hand, will be taking on the biggest fight of her career so far, as she defends the title for the first time. Fully aware that doing media is part of the job, she went on to criticize the former champion for her refusal to comply with such obligations.
“Yeah I think she’s been very weird about everything. This is MMA, people are going to talk good about you, people are going to talk bad about you. You have to be ready for it,” Nunes told FOX Sports.
“You guys (the media), you’re part of our lives, part of our careers. We have to talk and speak to the media because this is part of our job. She’s being so dramatic and weird about that. She knows this is normal.”
A number of fighters have put into question the former champion’s mentality entering the bout. Nunes, however, is expecting the best Ronda Rousey to show up on fight night.
“I really don’t want to think she’s weak but she shows that she’s been avoiding all those things that made her who she is now,” Nunes explained. “I think it’s a little bit weird.”
“I don’t think she’s weak in mind. I really think she’s prepared for the comeback. I expect the best Ronda but I don’t know what’s wrong with her.”