Ronda Rousey: 'So many people live to hate me, but they're going to miss me when I'm gone'

For as many loyal, die-hard fans Ronda Rousey has, she has an equal amount of haters who cringe at the site of more "Rowdy" in the spotlight.

An unfortunate fact not lost on the current Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) women's bantamweight champion of the world, but it's something she's learned is part of the job.

A job she does quite well, as she is without a doubt the biggest star for UFC (see the proof here) and has parlayed that fame into opportunities outside of the eight-walled cage, as well.

Much to the chagrin of some.

As she recently declared on The Joe Rogan Experience (via MMA Fighting), all the people who hate on her (and her considerable success) are going to miss her once she's gone. Because at the end of the day, she's apparently that person who people just love to hate.

"I don't even think I'm going to know what is going on right now or realize what is going on right now until afterward, until it's all done. I could just try to do the best that I can in the moment, but I don't really think that any of us really comprehend what's going on right now until we're looking at it in hindsight. And that's the kind of thing, I think it's kind of funny. There's so many people who just live to hate me, but when I'm gone, they're going to miss me. They really are. It's like, how are they ever going to have a bad guy better than Heath Ledger as 'The Joker?' Like, you miss him! You need him, 'The Joker' is gone, you're never going to have him again. I'm not the protagonist. I'm the antagonist. Because the protagonist just reacts. They do nothing. The whole storyline, the whole everything that goes on, is completely dependent on the antagonist. I'm the one who's forcing everybody to do something, and so I like to think of myself as more of the heel, the bad guy who you somehow sometimes root for. You can't help it a little bit sometimes, but sometimes you hate them. I think the fact that mixed emotions come out is one of the more interesting things. I'm not trying to have everyone like me. I'm trying to have everybody care about what I'm doing."

So ... when does the Judoka plan on riding off into the sunset?

While she hasn't put an exact timetable on her fighting career, she says she doesn't envision herself competing when she's 31 or 32 years of age. For all you math geniuses out there, that means she'll only be knocking heads for another four or five years.

"It just seems unfinished. My career, there's more left to do. I don't feel like I'm done yet. Because with the Olympics, it's just like you win the gold medal and you're done. With the UFC, when am I really done? But I'm not going to be doing this in my thirties. I don't want to be fighting into my thirties. By thirties, I mean like 31, 32."

Once she's done in MMA, it will be up to another scrappy female to lead the charge. While "Rowdy' would love nothing more than to leave her title in the hands of someone worthy, she says she has yet to face someone that actually wants it.

And by "it" she means the pressure, the spotlight, and the scrutiny that comes with being world champion.

"I notice a lot of these girls, they would like to win a UFC belt and have that respect, but they're not about that life. They don't want that life. They don't want that attention, scrutiny, pressure, and constant work and all of those things. They don't want it. They want one thing without the other, but it all comes together. And that's I think one thing that's kind of working against them, is when they actually come in to fight me, they get a taste, a small taste, of what that life is going to be like when they're a contender -- because it is way more attention, way more this, way more that. And once you win the belt, it's just doubled every single time. It's more and more and more and more. And I don't think any of them would actually be happy with that lifestyle. I don't think they really, truly want it."

Rousey will next defend her title against striking specialist Holly Holm in the main event of UFC 193, which is set to go down on Nov. 14, 2015 at the 70,000-seat Etihad Stadium in Melbourne, Australia.

And maybe, just maybe, Holm can push Rousey past the first round, maybe even the first few minutes. Something her last four opponents have failed to do.

If not, then it will be another highlight reel to add to Ronda's ever-impressive resume. Something fight fans should take the time to appreciate, instead of hating on. Because before you know it, she'll be gone and you'll be yearning for those types of performances.

To catch Rousey's entire interview on Rogan's podcast, check out the video embedded below: