Ronda Rousey: I Don’t Understand Bethe Correia Most Of The Time

It was far from surprising to see UFC women’s bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey and hated opponent Bethe Correia get into an intense face-off at today’s (Fri., July 31, 2015) UFC 190 weigh-ins from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

After all, Correia has spent the better part of the lead-up to a title shot some feel she may not have legitimately earned by taking repeatedly personal jabs at ‘Rowdy,’ who has kept it professional for the most part by focusing on the view that she’s going to take it out on ‘Pitbull’ in the octagon.

That’s why Rousey has been simply staring back at Correia with a laser-like gaze as she talks trash. Yet even if Correia’s words did get under her skin, Rousey told Ariel Helwani of UFC on FOX that she couldn’t understand her anyway:

“Honestly I don’t understand what she’s saying a lot of the time, so I whenever I have staredowns with my opponents I’m just thinking about all the things I’m going to do to them and just like my intent to show them my eyes, you know, without thinking about what I’m going to say, you know? It’s distracting.”

Helwani implored as to what was more personal; her rivalry with Correia or her world-class judo career, to which Rousey said MMA had her prior passion heavily outweighed in that regard:

“No, it was a lot more impersonal back then. But I would have like, rivalries that ongoing. It’s kind of like tennis where I would meet the same people. So it was that kind of personal; not like you said something about my life kind of personal.”

The ultra-popular champion revealed that she was still in awe of the rousing reception she’s received from Brazilian fans considering that her opponent is from Brazil, but she’s not going to let it go to her head:

“Yeah, it’s still kind of surprising to me. I try not to listen to it too much. I just go in there and do my job and I’ll appreciate it all after I win.”

With her last three fights resulting in stoppages lasting just 96 seconds, the award-winning champ has stated she wants to draw out her beating over Correia because of the personal remarks she’s made. According to Rousey, that’s just her taking her time to be more careful as opposed to her quick finishes, which she called risky:

“Playing possum? I’m not very good at that. So, I don’t know, we’ll see when I get in there. I’m just going to be more thorough and careful; I’m just being really risky when I’m fast, so I’m being more careful when I take my time.”