Ronda Rousey reveals severe concussions forced retirement from the UFC: “I really couldn’t talk about it”
Former UFC bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey was forced to leave combat sports due to concussions.
‘Rowdy’ is still one of the biggest UFC stars of all time, and directly led to the company introducing women into the promotion. Due to Ronda Rousey’s success in Strikeforce, Dana White took notice. He signed her in late 2012 and thus began a dominant stranglehold on the 135-pound division.
From 2012 to late 2015, Ronda Rousey scored multiple lopsided victories. She earned title defenses over the likes of Cat Zingano, Miesha Tate, and more. However, at UFC 193 in November 2015, she suffered the first loss of her career to Holly Holm. ‘The Preacher’s Daughter’ scored a devastating second-round knockout win to earn the gold.
Following the defeat, Ronda Rousey took a yearlong hiatus. However, the former champion returned to the cage at UFC 207 in December 2016, facing the new champion, Amanda Nunes. ‘The Lioness’ handed Rousey the second loss of her career by knockout, defeating the future Hall of Famer in under a minute.
Eight years on from that fight, Ronda Rousey hasn’t competed again. While she hasn’t formally retired from fighting, she’s admitted that a return to the cage is as likely as a return to Judo. In the years since Rousey has appeared in the world of professional wrestling and spent several years with the WWE.
Former UFC champion Ronda Rousey opens up on severe concussion history
However, Ronda Rousey left the formerly owned Vince McMahon company last year. She hasn’t signed anywhere else, leading some to speculate that she would return to MMA. However, any speculation of a Rousey return can now be put to bed. In a recent Instagram Live discussing her upcoming book release, she opened up on her concussion history.
“My concussion history that I had to keep secret for years, so I would be able to continue to compete and perform.” Ronda Rousey stated on the stream when asked to reveal something from the book that she never spoke about publically. “That’s basically why I had to retire… I think that there was just so much to [her losses] that I couldn’t talk about it in the form of like, an interview or an article or anything like that. Or there would be several filters between my words, and the people reading it.” (h/t MMA Fighting)
She continued, “So much had to do with having so many concessions when I was in judo before I even got into MMA. I couldn’t talk about it all when I was doing MMA because it would literally put a target on my head and I might not have been allowed to compete any farther. Same thing with WWE. They have a complicated history with their performers getting concussions and it would be a bad look on them.”
“So, I felt like I really couldn’t talk about it all.” Ronda Rousey concluded. “So I feel like this i the long form that I would be able to adequately address it.”
What do you make of these comments from former UFC champion Ronda Rousey? Will you read her upcoming book release?
