Becky Lynch Praises Ronda Rousey, Says There Was Locker Room Resentment

During her appearance on ESPN’s MMA show (transcript via Wrestling Inc), Becky Lynch praised Ronda Rousey, and admitted there was early locker room resentment to her signing…

On Always Wanting to Make Women’s Wrestling Cool: “Look, the thing is, what I always wanted, what I set off coming from Ireland to do, was to make sure that women’s wrestling was the coolest thing on TV, right? And that people cared about it. When you have a star like Ronda Rousey coming in, then it brings eyes. It brings attention.” Lynch explained, “so to me, that was a case of, ‘alright, alright, this person is here, this world class athlete, this champion, this Olympian, is here. Now it’s time to step up and show her who ‘The Man’ is, who the boss is, who runs this show, right?’ And to me, that’s another opportunity to step up.”

On Ronda Rousey: “Ronda is doing amazingly well. She is doing amazingly well! She has taken to this like no one. She is talented beyond belief. She’s the world champion. She [has] got the Women’s Championship over on RAW, but she’s illegitimate until she takes it here. And that’s the thing, Ronda has been so successful in her life. And Ronda’s whole life is based on being unbeatable and I get beaten up all the time. I got beaten up twice on the way over here.” Lynch continued, “but that’s the thing with people who were born naturally talented. They hate getting hit, right? They’re not used to it. But I was the runt growing up. I’ve been beaten up my entire life. I’ve been beaten up my whole career. I left Ireland when I was 15 [years old] to do this. I would fight anybody they would hire me to. So I wasn’t born tough like Ronda, but I was made tough and that’s what’s more legitimate. That’s what’s more long-lasting.”

On Initial Resentment Towards Rousey: “Absolutely [there was resentment].” Lynch said, “that’s the thing with some many people and the people they want to succeed, right? And that was never me. There are chosen people and that was never me. I was never meant to succeed. I was never the one that was meant to be the champion, the one that was meant to be on top, the one that was supposed to be on the posters and the billboards. I think that’s what [has] made it all the more sweeter and I think that’s what the audience relates to because they could see that. And that is why I think they’ve supported me because I made this myself and nobody can take that away from me. Nobody can take that away from me.”

On Respecting Rousey: “I have a ton of respect for Ronda, right? When you look at UFC we questioned whether women should even be in The Octagon until Ronda came and what she brought to the table. And she was undoubtedly the best at the time. And it brought women’s sports and women’s MMA to a whole other level and category that we’d never seen before, right? And I don’t know if we’ll see it again, right? So she was a phenomenon. My point in that is that being a champion is about being tested, right? And what I’ve done is being tested time and time again. I have lost countless [matches], but it means nothing to me because I get back up and I don’t think she could do the same thing.” Lynch added, “when we really see Ronda tested in my sport, it’s when she gets knocked down and I’m the person to do that.”