Ronda Rousey is set to step back into the cage on December 30th in an attempt to win back her women’s bantamweight belt. The person currently holding it? Vicious brawler Amanda Nunes. The fight was announced two weeks ago by UFC president Dana White, but since then we still hadn’t heard a peep from Ronda Rousey herself. Now she’s resurfaced on the Ellen show, and from what she’s saying, this comeback will also serve as her retirement run.
“I’m wrapping it up,” Rousey said on an episode of Ellen set to air today. “This is definitely one of my last fights. Everyone better watch because the show isn’t going to be around forever.”
As for why Rousey is deciding to quit just three years and seven fights into her UFC career, the Rowdy one cited the draining process leading up to matches.
“I think it’s more of the build up that’s more tiring than anything else,” Ronda explained. “Like if we had a fight right now, I’d fight right now and I’ll go get dinner, and I wouldn’t feel really tired about it. It’s the weeks and weeks of build-up beforehand, and you know you’re fighting this one person, and it’s this showdown, the most important thing in your life, and millions of people are watching. It’s that build-up for weeks on end. If it just happened right now, I wouldn’t be nervous at all. It’s the waiting.”
So it wasn’t just our imaginations: Ronda Rousey is actually getting sick and tired of the fight game. For nearly a year to a day, she’s largely hidden herself away from the public, refusing to even comment on her fighting future. Now she’s announced there’s a ticking clock on her fight career, so we better enjoy it while it lasts.
But will she enjoy it? Mixed martial arts is notoriously tough on even the most talented of fighters that aren’t 100% dedicated to the sport. Last month her boyfriend and fellow UFC fighter Travis Browne said he felt bad for the next woman to step into the cage with Rousey. And Ronda herself said in her Ellen interview that she’s been back at the grind for a while now.
“I’ve been training twice a day since the beginning of August,” she said. “I finally feel like I’m in super ninja good mode.”
Now we have to wait and see if Rousey remains in the spotlight and continues to do appearances on Ellen or if she returns to the shadows and remains a reclusive superstar in the drainging build up towards her UFC 207 fight.
