I feel like we can recognize what she did for the sport without respecting her because imo people who act like rude entitled trash don't deserve respect.
It's like I said a few times in this thread, I think that she acts the way she does today because of:
1. her experiences in judo long before she even came to MMA
2. the way she was taught by her mother to deal with these kinds of situations
When you're just a kid and people boo you constantly for no reason beyond the fact that you're an American, then that's going to have an effect on your psyche. And the way that her mother taught her to deal with this was to shape a worldview where it's HER vs THEM, Rousey vs everyone else.
If I was consistently treated like shit by people when I was younger for no good reason at all then I'm sure I'd have a similar attitude to her's today. I'm not saying it's the best way to handle the situation, but it's not surprising to me at all.
What I honestly believe is that what Rousey wants more than anything else is to be accepted by people. She craves that and probably thinks that by becoming ultra-successful she'll get some measure of it. And for a while, she did. But then as soon as she lost, she was bombarded by the most vile things imaginable and many of her so-called fans turned on her, laughed at her, taunted her, and insulted her. And that just proved to her, yet again, that people can't be trusted and that ultimately, deep down, no one is really on her side.
And so the cycle continues.