Ronda Rousey is reportedly eyeing a return to the UFC after she has seemingly ended her run with the WWE. Rousey, who last fought at WWE SummerSlam in early August, has not made an appearance on the show in over two months.
Right after the loss to Shayna Baszler at SummerSlam, Rousey posted a message on Instagram that seemed like she called it quits. Rousey wrote, “Shayna Baszler you were the reason I got into this business… Now I got no reason to stay.”
She has shared another cryptic message recently about her “retirement”. According to reports, the WWE creative team was told that Rousey was not there in the plans for a while. How long is “a while” is not known. However, reports from the Daily Mail suggest that she is going to take her leave from the WWE and return to the UFC for one last fight.
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She is reportedly willing to take up a fight at UFC 300 early next year. According to a source of the Daily Mail, “She just had a match at SummerSlam and is looking to wind down her time and commitments with the WWE and she is now focusing on potentially making a run to have one last fight in the UFC and compete at UFC 300 when that presents itself sometime next year.”
Ronda Rousey is not considering a UFC comeback, I’m told.
No truth to the rumors started yesterday.
— Ariel Helwani (@arielhelwani) July 13, 2023
MMA journalist Ariel Helwani claimed in July that Rousey was not considering a UFC comeback. Rumors of Rousey’s return had surfaced at that point as well. However, she continued to fight in the WWE. As of now, WWE does not seem to be in her future plans.
Ronda Rousey set to target the UFC women’s Bantamweight title after Amanda Nunes’ retirement
Rousey made her professional MMA debut in 2011 and made her way into the UFC in 2013. Her debut UFC bout was a title defense as her Strikeforce Bantamweight title was promoted to the UFC Women’s Bantamweight title. She went on to defend her UFC title six times before facing the first loss of her career against Holly Holm in 2015.
By the time Rousey came back for the title a year later, Amanda Nunes had gotten hold of it. She defended the title successfully against Rousey which turned out to be Rowdy’s last UFC fight. Since then, rumors of her coming back have surfaced multiple times but she has never done so.
I’m genuinely sad to see Amanda Nunes retire, but it was a fantastic career to witness pic.twitter.com/dDak0urMu5
— AJ (@AJWilson901) June 11, 2023
Brazilian fight Nunes was one of the most impressive fighters on the UFC roster. She retired in June 2023 as the UFC Women’s Bantamweight and Featherweight champion. She vacated both her titles on June 20, 2023. Reports suggest that Rousey’s return could see her target the UFC Women’s Bantamweight title one last time.
American fighter, Julianna Peña, the top-ranked Bantamweight fighter would be Rousey’s top choice for a fight. The second-best Bantamweight fighter, Raquel Pennington, could also be a strong match for Rousey. On the other hand, Brazilian fighter Mayra Bueno Silva holds an impressive 11-2 record and could give Rousey a shot for her money.
November 14, 2015: Holly Holm knocks out Ronda Rousey at #UFC193 in Melbourne to win the Women’s Bantamweight Championship pic.twitter.com/uYJ1B3xENA
— This Day In Sports Clips (@TDISportsClips) November 14, 2020
Two other contenders for Rousey would be the number four and five ranked Bantamweight fighters, Ketlen Vieira and Holly Holm. However, Rousey might be strongly interested in fighting Holm, who made her taste defeat for the first time.