Nearly a year out from her last attempt at a UFC comeback, Ronda Rousey’s future remains a mystery. While rumors fly of a run in the WWE and various Hollywood possibilities develop, Rousey has largely stayed out of the spotlight enjoying life. She even spent Mayweather vs. McGregor fight weekend getting married to her beau and fellow UFC fighter Travis Browne in Hawaii.
It fully appears like Ronda’s days as an active fighter are done. But if she did happen to come back for one more fight, her head coach Edmond Tarverdyan knows who he’d like it to be against: 145 pound UFC champion Cris Cyborg.
“That’s the one,” Tarverdyan said during an appearance on The MMA Hour. “I want that fight. When I trained Ronda, I know Ronda could beat Cyborg. I know that. Cyborg is too slow. … If injuries weren’t there and everything was where it was, we would take that fight and I’m telling you she’s too slow for us. And Ronda will beat her.”
“Ronda needs a challenge, she really needs to be like ‘This person is no good and I need to prove something to the whole world.’ That’s how Ronda works good. And she didn’t have that with Holly [Holm], she’s the one that pushed and wanted some aggressiveness before the weigh ins. This one, she has it. She said she cheated before, she’s hurt women and she wants to come and beat her.”
Rousey and Cyborg have spent a decent chunk of the past five years throwing serious hate at each other, with Ronda refusing to move up in weight from 135 to 145 pounds to face off. Instead, Cyborg was left struggling to make it down to a 140 pound catchweight, a process that messed up her body so bad that she had to take the better part of a year off to recover. The two never ended up fighting, and while it would have been way better if it had happened when both women were at the top of their game, we’ll still happily take that match up if Ronda Rousey can be convinced to participate.