It's been nearly two weeks since former UFC Women’s Bantamweight Champion Ronda Rousey was decimated by Amanda Nunes in the main event of UFC 207. Rousey has been pretty quiet other than one statement through social media, but UFC veteran Phil Baroni believes that the media should leave the former champion alone.
“F-ck the MMA media,” Baroni told MMA Junkie Radio. “I did everything. I bent over backward. I shadowboxed sexy for them for hours, answered all the questions, and then you just sh-t on me. But whatever. You sh-t on me, and now (expletive) you. F-ck, I’m that big a star, I don’t need to go to MMAjunkie. That’s how big of a star she is. She don’t need to go on Ariel Helwani. She should go on Oprah.”
One reason Baroni believes that Rousey isn’t talking to the media is that she likes being the heel, a role she has played in the past during her MMA career.
“I think she likes being a heel,” he said. “I have a feeling that she embraced the heel, and she bent over backwards for the media previously for all the other fights, and she felt the MMA media turned on her. So f-ck the MMA media. If you can do that sh-t, then do it. That’s strong. I don’t f-cking buy pay-per-views; I didn’t feel like going to the Strip. I always get tickets. But I bought the (UFC 207) pay-per-view. I wanted to see the fight. I don’t buy pay-per-views. I didn’t give a sh-t if she did an interview or not. I wanted to see what she’s got. What is she going to say? ‘I trained really hard for this fight, I’m in the best shape of my life, (and) I’m not worried about the last fight?’ What the f-ck? She wasn’t fighting for the money that time, and that just goes to prove it. She was there to fight; I give her even more respect for that.”
Baroni (15-18-0) hasn’t competed since a loss to fellow UFC veteran Karo Parisyan at Bellator 122 in 2014, he’s currently on a three fight losing streak.
