Once upon a time, Ronda Rousey ruled the roost in women’s MMA. She defended the UFC bantamweight title six times, but left the Octagon for the bright lights of the WWE following a lopsided loss to Amanda Nunes.
Now, with Nunes retired, and Rousey seemingly all but ready to depart from the WWE, many are wondering if the biggest name in women’s MMA might make a comeback.
Will Ronda Rousey Return to MMA?
Holly Holm, who ended Rousey’s reign as champ with one of the most vicious head kicks ever captured on film, doesn’t think so. “She’s doing her thing. Let her live.
Obviously she’s not passionate about fighting anymore. Let her do her thing. She’s still active. She’s still living her life. She’s still doing her thing. Let her do it.”
Holm is actually dubious about why fans would even want Rousey to come back to the UFC. “I don’t know what it is. Maybe it’s just fans want it so bad that they’re just wishing it to come true.
She’s doing her own thing. Honestly, I truly think she’s happier doing what she’s doing now than she was in fighting. I just sense that. I don’t know so I’m not going to say 100 percent on that, but I sense that she’s enjoying her time and her life and being a mom and doing her wrestling.
I honestly don’t think [she’s coming back]. She knows she can do whatever she wants. She’s made a name for herself and she can go out there and she’s going to do what she wants, and this is what she wants to do.”
Holm herself knows a thing or two about longevity and the mental strength it requires. Now 41 years old, Holm is showing no signs of slowing down, despite being one of the oldest fighters on the UFC roster.
“You have to physically want to be there. You have to mentally want to be there. You have to emotionally want to be there. There’s a lot. One fight camp, you go through everything.
I think it was Teddy Atlas who said it and I think he said it after there was a big robbery in boxing, and I wish I had the right words exactly on how he said it, he was like, ‘Shame on these judges, every time you get in there you leave a piece of you in that fight and you come out a little less.
You left a piece of yourself in there. You go through so much and your body takes so much. Your emotions take so much. A piece of you is gone.’
So yeah, over all this time, to be an older fighter and go through that, it takes a lot. It takes a lot out of me. Every training camp, I’m exhausted after, but I love it and I know that I’m built to be a fighter and I’ve been doing it a long time.”
