After staying silent and off the radar following her devastating loss via knockout to Holly Holm at UFC 193 last month, former UFC Women’s Bantamweight Champion Ronda Rousey has finally opened up about the first professional MMA loss of her career.
Rousey was interviewed by ESPN The Magazine for their “Ideas of the Year” special year-end issue and spoke about the aftermath of the head kick heard ’round the world.
Rousey spoke about being hospitalized in Melbourne immediately after the fight and feeling “really f*cking sad,” and talking about how she will no longer be able to retire undefeated as she has claimed was a career goal of hers since day one.
Additionally, Rousey spoke about the physical repercussions of the brutal punishment she received from multiple-time former women’s boxing champion and the new UFC Women’s 135-pound champion Holly Holm.
As noted by UFC President Dana White, Rousey was immediately transported to a plastic surgeon to fix her lip, which was “ripped completely in half” as a result of a shot she took from Holm during their record-breaking UFC 193 title fight at Etihad Stadium in Melbourne, Australia.
“It might be three to six months before I can eat an apple,” Rousey told ESPN The Magazine. “Let alone take any impact.”
With White recently confirming an immediate rematch between Rousey and Holm, and Rousey claiming she can’t take any impact for three-to-six months, it appears it will be a while before we see Rousey or Holm inside the Octagon. Rousey won’t be able to spar to prepare for the elite striker if she can’t take any impact for the next several months, so one would assume UFC is going to have to bail on plans for an immediate rematch between the two, or find some way to keep Holm busy for an extended period of time without booking her first title defense.
ESPN The Magazine’s “Ideas of the Year” issue, which features Rousey on the cover, will be available on newsstands everywhere this Friday.
She lost. But she brilliantly conquered 2015.@RondaRousey rocks the cover of our #IdeasOfTheYear issue out on 12/8 pic.twitter.com/5Cyeu8bmBg
— ESPN (@espn) December 7, 2015
