Holly Holm is responsible for Ronda Rousey having suicidal thoughts several months ago, and the new UFC women’s bantamweight champion is unsure of how she should react to that.
In a recent appearance on “The Ellen DeGeneres Show,” a teary-eyed Rousey opened up about how she thought about taking her own life after she was knocked out by Holm (video here) in November. Naturally, Holm was asked for her thoughts on Rousey’s somber interview.
“There’s a lot of things around that. When I heard that she said that, for me it’s one of those things it’s like, ‘How do I respond to that?’” Holm told Tristen Critchfield of Sherdog. “I don’t want to say I’m sorry because I think on a competitive level for me, if somebody was to say they’re sorry after [beating me], it’s like, ‘No, I’m a competitor.’ I’m not a charity case.
“I feel like that’s something the best thing is for me not to say anything at all. I don’t want to say that I’m glad that she felt that way and I don’t want to say, ‘Oh I’m so sorry.’ It’s something I think that you have to dig through on your own. In the long run, she’ll be stronger mentally from it.”
Holm has an idea of how Rousey feels. In 2004, she suffered her first loss in 24 career boxing matches.
“I hurt for her that she feels that way because that is a very low place. I did have a lot of help around me to where I did not feel that way,” Holm said. “People would say, ‘Oh it’s not the end of the world.’ I was like, ‘Well that’s exactly what it feels like, the end of the world.’
“When you put your heart and soul into something and it gets shut down devastatingly, it’s terrible. It’s a horrible feeling.”
Rousey’s goal was obviously to finish her MMA career undefeated, and she is still devastated that she fell short. If you watch the video of her interview with Ellen, you’ll get an idea of how much the loss to Holm still haunts her.
