SI Makes It Official With These New Pics Of Ronda Rousey In This Year’s Swimsuit Edition

While the world is a very different place for Ronda Rousey coming into 2016 than it was in 2015, she’s starting the year off doing something pretty familiar. Last February, she was heavily featured in Sports Illustrated‘s 2015 Swimsuit Edition, and the folks at SI have just confirmed that she’ll be returning for 2016 … in “NOTHING BUT BODY PAINT!” Those are Sports Illustrated‘s caps, not ours. Here’s their tweet announcing the whole thing.

The news is some consolation to those who were looking forward to an immediate rematch between Ronda Rousey and Holly Holm. Yesterday, UFC president Dana White announced that Holm would fight before facing Rousey again, something the UFC was pretty dead set against as recently as last week.

What changed? Probably Ronda’s timeline for a return. The UFC wanted her back in the cage for UFC 200 in July. Many of her coaches and friends have said they think that’s way too soon. It looks like she’s listening to them. That opens the door for Holly Holm to face the #1 contender in the women’s bantamweight division: longtime Rousey nemesis Miesha Tate.

That’s a pretty epic fight, and it could go down as soon as March. We’ll keep you in the loop as soon as anything is locked in. For now, enjoy some shots from Rousey’s 2015 appearance, as shared by the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Twitter:

Now Watch: How Does Rousey/Holm Compare To The Biggest Sports Upsets?