I think people want Rousey to be so much more than she is. We live in a world where women get sadly few role models, especially in athletic competition. People want Rousey to be flawless and emotionless—a combination of brawn, beauty, and sick burns against dicks like Floyd Mayweather. And she is... sometimes. However, she’s far from perfect. The less savory elements of Rousey’s personality and fighting style often get swept under the rug in favor of this idealized perception of her. People don’t want to acknowledge her mistakes—nor give her leeway to occasionally make them—because they need her to represent something. A powerful woman in sports, a larger than life figure. Some love her for that, others hate/fear her. In both cases, tempers flared when she fell.

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I think people are in such uproar about Rousey’s loss in part because it was a sobering reminder that nobody can escape their humanity. Nobody can climb that far. We hope for superheroes, but we get human beings. Every single time.

Despite all that, I’m actually glad Rousey lost. As I said in a previous article, the way she recovers from a loss will be infinitely more interesting than another dozen wins. Based on the path Rousey seems to have been headed down, I think it will be good for her too. She was getting distracted, failing to keep her eyes on the prize. She was underestimating people and buying into her own hype. This loss, hopefully, will refocus her—force her to add new dimensions to her game and become more well-rounded. Ronda Rousey is still great, but perhaps she can become greater.

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