'That never happened': Brendan Schaub responds to claims from Ronda Rousey's book

Former UFC fighter Brendan Schaub responded to and denied several claims Ronda Rousey made about him in her book.

Rousey's claims come from a leaked excerpt of the book "Our Fight," which were posted to Reddit, and described her feelings about her ex-boyfriend Schaub and current husband, Travis Browne, fighting each other at UFC 181 in 2014.

Rousey claimed that Schaub "thrived on playing f***ed-up mind games" with her during their relationship, especially when she "had a fight coming up."

Schaub responded to the claim, saying that by "mind games" Rousey might be referring to him simply not being in touch with her.

"When she says mind games, no it's not mind games, the mind games came from, in all honesty, her camp," Schaub said on his podcast "Fighter and the Kid."

"I have nothing to do with that. Mind games? I guess that would mean ... it wasn't a match," he explained, saying the two were not meant to be a couple.

Schaub then disputed more of Rousey's claims about what happened during his fight with Browne, specifically the ending.

"When Travis knocked him out at the end of the first round, I didn't think it could get any more gratifying," the excerpt from Rousey read, as narrated on the podcast by cohost Bryan Callen.

"TKO, to be fair. Ground and pound. First lie," Schaub interjected.

Callen continued to read:

"My ex covered up on the ground while Travis pounded away on him. The referee waved the match over. Then Travis, towering over the crumpled, semi-conscious body of my ex, leaned down and whispered something in his ear."

Schaub rebuffed:

"I wasn't unconscious and also wasn't crumpled. I was in downward dog, okay ... I was fully conscious,"

'The difference is if I wrote a book she would not be in my book. That's not an event in my life that I would put in a book.'

Callen then read Rousey's last claim about Schaub, which was as follows:

"His words were indiscernible to the camera, but I swore I could hear Travis' voice saying, 'Ronda says f*** you,'" Rousey recalled in the book.

"That never happened. ... I don't think he said 'Ronda says f*** you,'" Schaub immediately stated.

"Didn't he come to your dressing room and say I'm glad you're okay?" Callen asked.

"In the back, yeah. He's cool. I have no issues with him," Schaub said about Browne.

"But why bring it up 14 years later? I mean, she has kids and it obviously worked out [for her] and like, it’s just life," Schaub added.

The former UFC heavyweight explained that while he wasn't trying to disrespect Rousey, he wasn't sure why he was included in her book. He then said that she would not be included in his own.

"The difference is if I wrote a book she would not be in my book. That's not an event in my life that I would put in a book."

"I'm flattered, I guess?" Schaub later added.

Schaub partially defended Rousey's comments that the MMA media, including Joe Rogan, turned its back on her. Rousey called media figures fakes and "a bunch of a**holes" in other interviews about her book.

"The way the media treats her, I think, is not fair, but some of it's justified by the way she treated the media [and] some of the comments she's made," Schaub claimed.

He continued to praise Rousey and said he was a big fan of her personality and work ethic, then cited her breaking barriers for women in mixed martial arts.

"People forget what she did for women's MMA, and there would be no female MMA fighters if it wasn't for Ronda."

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