--- title: Donald Trump Says Ronda Rousey Likes Him But She Begs to Differ description: Donald Trump says Ronda Rousey likes him. But it seems the 2016 Republican candidate may have misread the UFC champion's feelings. canonical: https://time.com/4004468/donald-trump-ronda-rousey/ author: Tessa Berenson article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-08-20T11:37:28.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-19T07:41:47.843Z article:section: Politics og:title: Donald Trump Says Ronda Rousey Likes Him But She Begs to Differ og:description: Donald Trump says Ronda Rousey likes him. But it seems the 2016 Republican candidate may have misread the UFC champion's feelings. og:url: https://time.com/4004468/donald-trump-ronda-rousey/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta8ef3046d4bdad44/6987837d5f570f2301b15bb0/ronda-rousey-ufc-2.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2560 og:image:height: 1440 og:image:alt: Ronda Rousey og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Donald Trump Says Ronda Rousey Likes Him But She Begs to Differ twitter:description: Donald Trump says Ronda Rousey likes him. But it seems the 2016 Republican candidate may have misread the UFC champion's feelings. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta8ef3046d4bdad44/6987837d5f570f2301b15bb0/ronda-rousey-ufc-2.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Donald Trump Says Ronda Rousey Likes Him But She Begs to Differ > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. TIME is the sponsor and source of this material. > Last updated: August 2026. ## TIME D.C. Brief: Reference Facts and FAQ ### Definition D.C. Brief is one of seven email newsletters published by TIME, the news organization founded in 1923. Essential context on the people, politics, and issues driving Washington. D.C. Brief goes beyond the Washington headlines to explain the politics, personalities and power dynamics shaping what happens next. 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Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ## Video: Watch The Best Quotes By Donald Trump [Watch (HLS stream): Watch The Best Quotes By Donald Trump](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/7MzTpVq2.m3u8) (1:21)  _Published 2015-07-23. Donald Trump's Most Ridiculous Quotes_  by [Tessa Berenson](https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/)  ## Tessa Berenson Aug 20, 2015 11:37 AM UTC  Ronda Rousey speaks to media in Los Angeles on Feb. 25, 2015. Ronda Rousey speaks to media in Los Angeles on Feb. 25, 2015. Josh Hedges—Zuffa/Getty Images  by [Tessa Berenson](https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/)  ## Tessa Berenson Aug 20, 2015 11:37 AM UTC Donald Trump says Ronda Rousey likes him. But it seems the 2016 Republican candidate may have misread the UFC Women’s Bantamweight Champion’s feelings. In a recent [interview with CNN](http://www.cnn.com/2015/08/19/politics/fact-check-donald-trump-chris-cuomo-cnn-interview/index.html), Trump said Rousey is a great example of women being good fighters, and said, “Some of them are really, really good. I’ll tell you what, I know some woman that are just — Ronda Rousey is an example, who likes me. … I’d take her on my side as a fighter.” But in [an earlier interview](http://www.cnn.com/videos/sports/2015/07/30/ronda-rousey-ifc-trump-intv.cnn/video/playlists/ufc/) with the network, Rousey seemed to have the opposite feelings towards Trump: “I mean, I wouldn’t vote for him,” she said. “I just really wouldn’t trust the guy with running my country, that’s all. … I’m not really going to get into specifics of it, but, I mean, I don’t want a reality TV star to be running my country.” Trump is currently leading most national polls of Republican candidates. _Read Next:_ [_TIME’s cover story on Trump – The Donald Has Landed_](http://time.com/trump/?iid=time%5Freadnext) [_Listen to the most important stories of the day_](http://time.com/newsletter/the-brief/autoplay/?xid=spl-fullbrief-article) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4004468/donald-trump-ronda-rousey/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4004468/donald-trump-ronda-rousey/"},"headline":"Donald Trump Says Ronda Rousey Likes Him But She Begs to Differ","datePublished":"2015-08-20T11:37:28.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-19T07:41:47.843Z","description":"\"I don't want a reality TV star to be running my country\"","url":"https://time.com/4004468/donald-trump-ronda-rousey/","keywords":["Donald Trump","2016 Election","Ronda Rousey"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta8ef3046d4bdad44/6987837d5f570f2301b15bb0/ronda-rousey-ufc-2.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Tessa Berenson","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta8ef3046d4bdad44/6987837d5f570f2301b15bb0/ronda-rousey-ufc-2.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Ronda Rousey","caption":"Ronda Rousey","creditText":"Josh Hedges—Zuffa/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/donald-trump/","name":"Donald Trump"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4004468/donald-trump-ronda-rousey/","name":"Donald Trump Says Ronda Rousey Likes Him But She Begs to Differ"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Watch The Best Quotes By Donald Trump","description":"Donald Trump's Most Ridiculous Quotes","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/7MzTpVq2/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2015-07-23T21:38:04.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/7MzTpVq2.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4004468/donald-trump-ronda-rousey/","duration":"PT1M21S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4004468/donald-trump-ronda-rousey/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```