Ronda Rousey hints at nearing retirement ahead of return

Next month, former UFC women’s bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey will make her highly anticipated return to the Octagon when she steps into the Octagon in the main event of UFC 207 to square off against Amanda Nunes for the women’s bantamweight championship. The fight will not only serve as Rousey’s highly anticipated return to the Octagon after nearly a year away from the sport, it will also headline what is being marketed as the UFC’s New Year’s Eve card.

Rousey was on a tear for nearly 5 years as she compiled a 12-0 record that saw her finish all 12 opponents. That changed in November of 2015 in the main event of UFC 193 however when Rousey stepped into the Octagon with renowned striker Holly Holm. Just moments into the fight Holm began to land a cross, which continued to land on Rousey. Throughout the reamained of the first round, Holm picked apart the women’s bantamweight champion. In the second round, it took Holm just under a minute to finish the WMMA superstar with a brutal head kick.

While Rousey was supposed to film three movies in Hollywood before making her Octagon return, the historic event was continually postponed as Rousey continued to film movies, and heal up nagging injuries. Finally, in October of this year, UFC President Dana White announced that Rousey would be returning to the Octagon, informing fans that Rousey would be returning to the Octagon at UFC 207 to fight women’s bantamweight champion Amanda Nunes.

During a recent appearance on The Ellen show, Rousey spoke about her return, and how the fight will be one of her last:

“Not that long, I’m wrapping it up. This is definitely one of my last fights. Everybody better watch, cause this show isn’t going to be around forever.”

“It’s more the buildup that’s more tiring than anything else. If we had a fight right now, I’d be like, I’ll fight right now and I’d go get dinner, and I wouldn’t really feel tired about it. It’s the weeks and weeks of buildup beforehand, when you know you’re fighting this one person, it’s your showdown, it’s the most important thing in your life and then millions of people are watching. It’s that buildup for weeks on end. If it just happened right now I wouldn’t be nervous at all. It’s the waiting.