Ronda Rousey says things could have been different.
Ronda Rousey had a legendary run in UFC; she was the first female fighter that UFC signed, and she was the inaugural UFC Women's Bantamweight Champion. She went 12-0 before Holly Holm knocked her out at UFC 193. After taking a year off, Rousey returned and lost to Amanda Nunes in December 2016. She then retired from MMA and joined WWE. Rousey retired from UFC and joined WWE. She was inducted into the UFC Hall of Fame in 2018.
Speaking with Shakiel Mahjouri for CBS Sports, Ronda Rousey discussed her concussion history.
"If the concussions weren't an issue, things would've happened completely differently. Accumulative neurological injury is something people don't talk about in MMA. It's something that everybody is dealing with at a different pace. I started dealing with it at six-years old. I started getting concussions much earlier on in swimming. Two kids doing a backstroke in the other direction crack heads or hit the wall doing the backstroke. I started doing judo at a young age and kept getting concussions regularly and multiple times a year and not being allowed to speak up or say anything about it. As a fighter, you're not supposed to show any weakness or talk about things like that or the inevitable neurological decline that comes with taking headshots. A lot of people talk about it as if it's making excuses or weakness," Rousey said.
Rousey also commented on the end of her UFC career and reflected on the two losses as she noted that she knew she could not keep taking so much impact to the head.
"I have a whole list for my life to think about, and you'll never know when you take one hit too many until many decades later. But I also don't think I would be serving the sport or the division the right way if I stuck around too long. I got to a point where I knew that I literally could not be taking those head impacts and continue to compete at that same level. It doesn't do the sport any favor. It's a bad look on women's MMA in general. I am the representative of that sport," Rousey said.
Rousey then stated that it takes less and less to be able to hurt fights and knock them out as they age. She highlighted the detrimental impact of taking so many blows to the head. Rousey emphasized that she wanted people to talk about these consequences, as she hoped to see fighters age gracefully.
Rousey previously said that she retired from MMA due to her concussion history. Check out her comments here.
Dana White commented on Rousey potentially returning to UFC and said that she had done everything she set out to do. Click here to see what he had to say.
