Ronda “Rowdy” Rousey stands amongst the most appreciated fighters in the community of combat sports. She is the only legendary woman to hold the titles in both WWE and UFC. Although she is currently under contract with WWE, she is very much hyped in the UFC, as well. One such example is the hype created by the beloved UFC commentator, Joe Rogan.

Ronda Rousey was known in MMA before she even signed up with the UFC. From the Strikeforce champion, she went on to become the first female to carry the title of UFC Bantamweight Champion and the first woman to enter the UFC Hall of Fame. Given her achievements, Joe Rogan believed ‘Rowdy’ could defeat ‘Money’ in the Octagon.

Rogan pumped up Ronda Rousey

Joe Rogan, on the set of ‘The Joe Rogan Experience’ with stand-up comedian, Erik Griffin, agreed to have pumped up Ronda Rousey before her fight. “I pumped her up”, said Rogan, “It was based on what she had been able to accomplish. It wasn’t based on bulls**t!”.

He added that he hyped up ‘Rowdy’ based upon her actual performance in the octagon against fighters like Cat Zingano and Sara McMann. Rogan did not hide his amazement, saying, “What she had done was supremely impressive”.

As the two continue their talk, Erik Griffin slipped out his thoughts as a layperson on Ronda Rousey versus Holly Holm. “Just looking at them standing next to each other, I was like- Oh! She’s [Rousey] gonna get her a** beaten”, says Griffin.

Rogan expressed his surprise at that. Griffin justified he thought so because Holly Holm was bigger than Rousey. Rogan said, “Ronda stopped Sara McMann in one round. Sara McMann was an Olympic silver medalist in wrestling and she’s a tank”. 

Joe Rogan believed ‘Rowdy’ could defeat Floyd Mayweather

The UFC commentator once also believed Rousey could defeat Mayweather in MMA.

“Ronda Rousey. I’m not kidding you. It’s too hard to avoid the clinch”, said Joe Rogan on ESPN’s ‘SportsNation’, when he was asked about his pick on a hypothetical fight between Floyd Mayweather and Ronda Rousey. 

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Rogan had a reason to believe so. Mayweather lacks experience in professional martial arts, as opposed to UFC fighters. Although going against Mayweather would be a challenge for ‘Rowdy’, Rogan believed she would be the one to prevail.

In fact, he once even said she could defeat UFC’s male bantamweight fighters. He later said it was a mistake/

Joe Rogan did admit that he was wrong in speaking too highly of Rousey. “I made the mistake of saying – Hyperbole, I’m the master of hyperbole, I exaggerate all the time – I was like, ‘She could probably beat half the men bantamweights in the UFC.’ No, that’s definitely not true. I shouldn’t have said it at the time. Now, it’s definitely not true”, admitted Rogan. 

What do you think about his previous comments?

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