Ronda Rousey suffered her first career loss in UFC 193 with a knockout at the hands of Holly Holm, and Conor McGregor believes he has an idea as to why.
The interim featherweight champion, who will fight Jose Aldo on Dec. 12 in an attempt to keep that title in UFC 194, has shown his support for Rousey in the past. McGregor came to her defense at a media lunch Wednesday by suggesting the media might have distracted Rousey before her big fight.
“Maybe just push everything away,” McGregor said, per MMAFighting.com. “I know there was problems. I can’t really see her situation. I don’t know her situation. From looking from where I was at, I could see that maybe she’s doing a little too much on the media side.
“That coupled with personal life that I don’t know about, maybe could’ve hampered her training a little bit. …Â It all kind of combined into making her a little bit too emotionally invested.”
Still, McGregor didn’t take any credit away from Holm.
“The first thing I watch is the technical aspect of the contest,” McGregor said. “I watch Holly put on a good performance. She struck, she evaded. I watched Ronda fight a little bit emotionally invested. I’m sure she had many, many things going on. She’s one of the hardest-working fighters in the game — media-wise and work-wise. She had a lot on her plate, and it showed in the contest. Holly Holm came up in the dark, in the shadows. That can help a person.”
McGregor the media guru also offered some advice about how to handle all the buzz.
“It’s important just to still the mind,” McGregor said. “Calm it. Make everything smaller than it is. That’s maybe what I would take from (Rousey’s loss).”
Thumbnail photo via Joe Camporeale/USA TODAY Sports Images
