As she approaches the “hard out” from her tenure at WWE, reports have indicated former Strikeforce + UFC bantamweight champion, pioneer of women’s mixed martial arts, and highly-decorated judoka — Ronda Rousey — may soon be un-retiring from MMA for UFC 300.
According to The Daily Mail (via Bleacher Report), one of Rousey’s “confidants” revealed:
“She just had a match at Summer Slam and is looking to wind down her time and commitments with the WWE and she is now focusing on potentially making a run to have one last fight in the UFC and compete at UFC 300 when that presents itself sometime next year.”
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The inside source added the female multi-hyphenate is, “at a current crossroads in her life and career as she is looking to see what she might want to do next,” beyond the UFC’s forthcoming marquee pay-per-view event, i.e. film and television.
There’s no denying Rousey’s impact on the sport — elevating it to new levels of mainstream popularity in tandem with Conor McGregor — nor her six consecutive title defences. An MMA “comeback,” however, wouldn’t be in the UFC Hall of Famer’s best interest.
For the uninitiated, Ronda Rousey’s era of dominance was punctuated by two nasty KO/TKO defeats, which occurred within the span of a year:
- The first being a rocket ship of a head kick dealt by Holly Holm at UFC 193 (Round 2); which we could honestly spend days dissecting given the behind-the-scenes drama surrounding Rousey’s conman head coach in Edmond Tarverdyan and the confounding decision to trade with a boxing champion instead of leveraging her world-class grappling skillset.
- The second being when she was completely dismantled inside 48 seconds by the undeniable GOAT of women’s MMA, Amanda Nunes, at UFC 207; a lopsided battering that effectively retired Rousey.
This calibre of damage isn’t exactly something even the most elite athletes can just shrug off, and the full extent of its long-term implications has still yet to be seen.
Furthermore, while she pretty much dictated the game during her fightin’ prime, at 36 years old, being anywhere close to competitive at this stage is simply impossible.
Beyond the fitness aspect and seven-plus years spent away from MMA, suffice it to say, the game has — for lack of a better phrase — evolved without her. In fact, if you reviewed her classic moments right now, I guarantee you’d be struck by how primitive they appear in comparison to present-day bouts.
Thankfully, this all appears to be nothing more than your run-of-the-mill bullshit report, as per the Daily Mail’s standard.
UFC President Dana White himself has recently shut down the prospect of Ronda Rousey and fellow promotion icon (slash fellow WWE superstar) Brock Lesnar returning for UFC 300.
“There’s no shot,” said White.
“She’s accomplished everything she set out to do… Her dream was to win a UFC championship, then win a WWE championship, and she’s done it. Now she’s starting a family.”
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“Ronda has made so much money, and she’s still making a lot of money in sponsorships.”
Translation: she doesn’t need this.
And just a month prior, renowned MMA journalist Ariel Helwani also shut down the rumours by definitively stating Rousey was “not considering a UFC comeback,” as well as there being “no truth” to the ongoing rumour she was preparing to re-enter the Octagon.
But now that the big bad boogiewoman in Amanda Nunes has officially retired, and given how both Holly Holm and Rousey’s other former rival Miesha Tate are clearly living the twilight years of their respective careers, perhaps a rematch with either of the latter two a la Nick Diaz vs Robbie Lawler might be the move.
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