Female MMA pioneer and global superstar Ronda Rousey may have fought her last fight according to UFC President Dana White.
Rousey’s TKO defeat in December 2016 to reigning champion Amanda Nunes at UFC 207 may have been the last fans will see of her.
Following a period of absolute dominance in the bantamweight division, Rousey was picked apart in sensational fashion by Holly Holm In November 2015. Rousey retreated from the fight game following the loss, only to reemerge over a year later to be dominated by Brazilian Nunes. White told UFC Unfiltered (via MMA Junkie) news that will be a surprise to some, but expected by many others:
“In the conversation I had with her, if I had to say right here right now – again I don’t like saying right here right now because it’s up to her – but I wouldn’t say she fights again. I think she’s probably done.”
“She’s going to ride off into the sunset and start living her life outside of fighting.”
White also suggested that Rousey has enough money to survive, hinting that she may “move to a desolate place and do her thing”.
“She’s so competitive that, her career and record meant everything to her,” he said. “And then once she lost, she started to say to herself, ‘What the (expletive) am I doing? This is my whole life. This is it? I want to experience and start doing other things.’ And I think that’s what she started to do, and she’s got a lot of money. She’s never going to need money again.”
The UFC President was full of praise for the former champion, and has not indicated that he would oppose her decision:
“I’m happy for her,” he said. “She came in and changed the world. She put female fighting on the map. She’s been part of the biggest fights in the history of women’s fighting, and I hope those records can be broken. I don’t know if they can, but I hope they do.”
This may very well be the end of an era for both the UFC, and MMA in general.
