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Ronda Rousey has been in the news a lot over the past few weeks, as she's had a number of things to say about her time in both WWE and UFC. Rousey's comments come following the release of a new book in which she reveals the toxic culture backstage in WWE, her disdain for former WWE Chairman Vince McMahon, and multiple concussion-related issues that she hid from people in order to keep fighting and wrestling. Now, former WWE commentator Jimmy Smith has fired back.
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Speaking on SiriusXM's "Unlocking the Cage" on Wednesday, Smith said Rousey is the type of person who wants all of the credit for her successes and none of the blame for her failures, and took issue with the logic of her claim that she chose WWE over UFC because of her issues with concussions. Smith then launched into a profanity-laden rant about how Rousey is perceived by her co-workers.
"Ronda, if you are listening," Smith began. "The people behind the scenes, camera people, audio people, the people you can push around, the people you can bully, and the people you can talk down to can't stand your f***ing a**. Everybody behind the scenes that had to put a mic on Ronda Rousey couldn't stand her."
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Smith didn't work with Rousey in UFC, but he didn't hear a single good thing about her
WWE
Rousey's first WWE run was already over by the time Smith signed there in 2021; she returned in January 2022, however, and the two were concurrently active until Smith was dismissed from WWE in October 2022. Similarly, Smith's brief stint as a UFC commentator didn't begin until 2018, well after Rousey's heyday as a fighter, something he readily admitted during the show. Nonetheless, Smith had ample opportunity to speak to various UFC crew members who he claimed were only too happy to witness Rousey's 2015-26 fall from grace in the MMA world.
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"They were cheering when she got knocked out," Smith said. "Because those are the people you can be mean to and rude to, and they can't fight back. Those people couldn't stand Ronda Rousey ... She didn't have one defender. She didn't have one person who went 'She was alright.' Everyone was like 'She was horrible, we were thrilled when she got crushed.'"
Please credit "SiriusXM" when using quotes from this article, and give a H/T to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.
