"They never loved you" - Chael Sonnen reacts to Ronda Rousey recently sounding off on MMA fans and media 

Chael Sonnen recently reacted to Ronda Rousey’s comments about Joe Rogan and MMA fans. After Rousey called Rogan “a fan with an audience” and accused the MMA world of abandoning her, Sonnen said she misunderstood how the fight game works.

Speaking on his YouTube channel, Sonnen claimed that fans, like promoters, must move on when a fighter’s time passes. They need someone to attach themselves to, and when that fighter fades, so does their loyalty.

He said the backlash Rousey feels isn’t hate, but rather a natural part of the sport's cycle. Fans can’t “die” with one fighter, so they jump to another who’s still active. He said:

"The fan has to do that or their career dies. It’s not personal… they don’t really hate you, and they don’t really cheer against you. The part you had wrong is that you thought they were with you, that they loved you. That's the part you got wrong. They were never with you, and they never loved you. And there's nothing mean about that. It's called being a fan."

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He added:

"She’s having a hard time accepting what happened to her. The US Judo team would love to have Ronda come in. They would love if she went with them to the World Championships, the Olympic Games or just popped in and did a session at the Olympic Training Center. None of those things have happened. When she was done with that, she put that toy over here and picked up something else... But when people did that to her, it was supposed to be some kind of like a grave insult. And it wasn’t an insult at all."

Check out Chael Sonnen's comments below (7:30):

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Chael Sonnen reacts to Ronda Rousey's recent training videos

Ronda Rousey has been actively posting her training videos on social media, and fans are talking about a potential comeback. Chael Sonnen, however, brushed it off as noise.

He said Rousey wasn’t returning to MMA but simply chasing attention. Sonnen reminded everyone that the sport moved on after her knockout loss in 2016. Speaking on his YouTube channel, Sonnen said:

"There is just this idea that when somebody goes out there and they break a sweat or they used to do this sport and they dangle this idea of a return. But then an adult steps in the room and goes, 'Hey, it’s not a return. You were forced out.' It's not a retirement when they throw your ass out of the cage."

Edited by Abhishek Nambiar