It’s robust to fathom that Ronda Rousey’s total UFC profession really lasted lower than 4 years.
She helped usher girls’s preventing into the UFC after Dana White famously mentioned it will by no means occur, and the 2008 Olympic bronze medalist in judo then grew to become one of many largest stars within the historical past of the game. At her peak, Rousey was neck and neck with Conor McGregor as the 2 most recognizable fighters the UFC had ever promoted.
However simply as shortly as Rousey rose to fame, her plummet again right down to Earth occurred nearly as quickly. A surprising knockout loss to Holly Holm was adopted by one other rapid-fire end from Amanda Nunes simply 13 months later and that was the ultimate time Rousey ever appeared within the UFC.
Wanting again now, the UFC CEO believes it was really Rousey’s timeless dedication to constructing the game and willingness to function one of many faces of the promotion that really allowed the competitors to catch as much as her.
“What occurred with Ronda was — Ronda was very distinctive in that she got here in and put this factor on the world stage,” White defined on The Membership Shay Shay podcast. “This factor being girls preventing. She put it on the world stage at a stage that no one else might have carried out it. Whereas she was doing what she was doing, constructing the game and the UFC and girls, all these different girls have been coaching to beat her.
“She had taken a lot on her shoulders on the time, it was actually unattainable for her to continue to grow as a fighter throughout that interval.”
Regardless of a dominant run via the UFC in her first six fights, Rousey’s remaining two appearances have been the precise reverse.
She produced nearly zero offense towards Holm earlier than the previous boxing champion demolished Rousey with a vicious head kick lower than one minute into the second spherical. In her subsequent combat, Rousey by no means even actually received began earlier than Nunes was blasting her with punches and he or she was overwhelmed simply 48 seconds into the combat.
Whereas she by no means technically retired, Rousey was successfully carried out after dropping to Nunes and, fact be instructed, White felt like she received out on the proper time. As a lot as he loved having Rousey round, White believes she had nothing left to show when she in the end determined to hold up her gloves earlier than turning her consideration to skilled wrestling and beginning a household with husband Travis Browne.
“I used to be unhappy that I wouldn’t work together with her every day like we did however I felt just like the timing was proper,” White mentioned about Rousey’s exit from the UFC. “She had carried out all the things she got down to do. Not only for her and her profession however what she did for girls in preventing typically.”
Rousey was later inducted into the UFC Corridor of Fame however she’s brazenly acknowledged that she’s had a considerably combative relationship with the game since leaving.
Actually, Rousey claimed that she hasn’t attended a UFC occasion since dropping to Nunes again in 2016 largely because of the detrimental receptions she is aware of she would obtain.
“Every part that might be mentioned that was detrimental was mentioned, and I really feel actually vilified by MMA media at this level and probably not welcome again, which is why I haven’t gone to a UFC combat since [I left]. I’m fairly certain if I walked into the world, I’d be booed,” Rousey mentioned again in Could. “That’s the way it feels.”
There’s no telling the type of reception she may obtain, however White would welcome her again with open arms as a result of he’s by no means been round anybody fairly like her earlier than or after she left.
“The best athlete I’ve ever labored with,” White mentioned about Rousey. “She was enormous [for the UFC]. On the proper time and the proper place and girls’s preventing is the place it’s right this moment due to her. She was a type of athletes like something, wherever, any time. She was a piece horse. Nice human being. Good. The best athlete I’ve ever labored with.”
