It’s been greater than 11 years since Ronda Rousey helped usher in a brand new period of girls’s sport after she debuted within the UFC with a win over Liz Carmouche at UFC 157.
Till that night time in Anaheim, Calif., girls had by no means competed within the UFC, however Rousey’s magnetism and star energy lastly satisfied Dana White to launch a division largely based mostly round her presence. Greater than a decade later, girls are cemented as superstars and equals on the UFC roster, however it began with Rousey.
Sadly, her exit from the game ended with a dramatic thud after Rousey suffered back-to-back knockout losses and successfully retired from the game earlier than finally being inducted into the UFC Corridor of Fame. Regardless of all her accolades, Rousey has admitted that she has a troublesome relationship with MMA nowadays, and went so far as saying she’d anticipate a damaging response if she ever walked into an area for UFC occasion.
Whereas she definitely can’t inform followers how they need to really feel, Carmouche — the opposite half of that historic 2013 struggle — provided nothing however reward when addressing Rousey’s MMA legacy.
“I’d hope with what she’s executed within the historical past of this sport, whether or not it ended on a great notice or it ended on a foul notice, she completed a lot and made girls’s MMA what it’s right this moment, and we should always present her the respect that she earned,” Carmouche instructed MMA Preventing. “Let her shut it that means.
“Now, if she’s again right here speaking, ‘I hate MMA followers, I hate MMA,’ that’s slightly bit completely different, however I believe we have to give her credit score the place credit score is due.”
Rousey blamed an extended historical past with concussions as the most important contributing issue to her UFC exit. She dated her first concussion all the way in which again to childhood swimming, however the issues solely multiplied after years spent competing in judo after which doing MMA.
Rousey believes surely that her concussions struggles performed an element in her remaining two knockout losses by the hands of Holly Holm and Amanda Nunes in consecutive fights.
After all, many imagine Rousey addressing her points now appears like an excuse for her losses, however Carmouche understands simply how debilitating a concussion could be for a fighter.
“I definitely understand how a lot concussions can actually change an individual,” Carmouche mentioned. “It adjustments their chemistry, every thing. So if she has proof of that and that’s what’s been taking place, then I want she would have gotten the assistance she wanted from the start to hopefully change how she went out from her MMA profession, to have the ability to go to a special chapter.”
Nonetheless, Carmouche says Rousey’s contributions to the game are simple. In reality, Carmouche admits that as a lot as she needed to win again in 2013, she’s unsure girls’s MMA would’ve ever reached the heights it did except Rousey was the face of all of it.
“Ladies’s MMA wouldn’t be the place it’s [without Rousey],” Carmouche mentioned. “As a lot as I can look again and be like, ‘I want it had been a special end result and I gained the belt,’ I don’t assume it will have performed out the way in which it did if Ronda hadn’t been the one who gained the belt.”
Whereas Rousey hasn’t competed since 2016, Carmouche hasn’t slowed down one bit.
On Friday, Carmouche competes within the semifinals of the continued 2024 PFL flyweight event, when she faces Taila Santos with an opportunity to maneuver into the championship spherical, the place the winner earns a title belt and a $1 million prize.
Carmouche is aware of she’s traveled a tricky street to get right here — together with a pair of rematches she needed to endure simply to make it to the PFL playoff format — however she expects being battle-tested to assist her in ways in which cruising to the playoffs could harm another fighters.
“You possibly can’t actually argue on the subject of the outcomes that I’m getting,” Carmouche mentioned. “With my wins, I really need to be the place I’m at, whereas you possibly can’t at all times say that about different folks.”