At one time, the first and former UFC Women’s Bantamweight Champion “Rowdy” Ronda Rousey was thought to be invincible in her division. She had dispatched all of her opponents with such ease that it seemed they had no reason to fight her — other than getting paid, that is.
Enter Holly Holm.
The former kickboxing champion met Rousey at UFC 193 back in 2015 and annihilated her in one of the biggest and most one-sided championship matches in UFC history.
The loss obviously had an impact on Ronda. She even admitted she had contemplated suicide. Still, she mustered the strength to make what she hoped would be her triumphant return to the octagon against current champion Amanda Nunes at UFC 207.
But triumphant it was not.
Nunes did what Ronda had done to so many of her opponents before her: absolutely dominated her in under a minute.
Naturally, some are curious to know if Ronda will be back in the UFC.
According to her judo coach, Justin Flores, probably not.
Flores sat down with Submission Radio to explain why:
Oh man, there are a lot of layers to that. Personally, from what I … I mean, I would support her, but personally I don’t think it’s in the cards. I don’t think that’s what she wants in this time of her life. I mean, I’m not discounting anything – maybe later. But I just don’t see that being something she wants to jump into and focus full force to be the best. Because if she’s gonna do anything, from what I know about her, she’s gonna do it to be the best. And not that I don’t think that she can be the best. It’s just, I just don’t know if her body and her mind at this stage in her life, if that’s what’s right for her.
She’s competed her whole life. Her whole life has been about being the best, and I just think personally, the best thing is for her to kind of be okay with herself not as a fighter. So I love her to death, dude. I just know the pain she’s gone through physically – doing this forever, multiple surgeries, concussions, broken bones, weight-cutting. All those things add up and take its toll, and it’s accumulative. So being 30 years old now and doing this since you were 8 years old non-stop, I mean, the mileage you’ve put on your body and that she’s put on her body, I just don’t think, if she wants to, you know, live a long, happy life and raise kids with Travis, which I know that’s the future, I just don’t think that’s something I feel like would be in her best interests.
What do you think? Should the 30-year-old Rousey make at least one more attempt at a championship run, or should she stick a fork in her MMA career?
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