Ronda Rousey will be back.
The former UFC bantamweight champion lost her belt to Holly Holm in UFC 193, putting an end to her undefeated streak. And while she’s been holed up in her Venice, Calif., townhouse and is “just really (expletive) sad,” there’s no way she’ll spend the rest of her career that way.
“I need to come back,” Rousey told ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne in an exclusive interview. “I need to beat this chick. Who knows if I’m going to pop my teeth out or break my jaw or rip my lip open? I have to (expletive) do it.”
To say Rousey had a lot on her plate before her bout with Holm in Melbourne, Australia, is an understatement. It was her third fight in nine months, she had been working on two movies and she always was in the media spotlight. So when it came time to fight, Rousey wasn’t herself.
“I wasn’t thinking clearly,” Rousey told Shelburne. “I had that huge cut in my mouth and I just spit (the blood) out at my feet. Then they brought the bucket over and I’m like, ‘Why didn’t I spit it in the bucket?’ I never spit on the ground.”
“It was like a dumbed-down dreamy version of yourself making decisions. … I was just trying to shake myself out of it. … I just feel so embarrassed. How I fought after that is such an embarrassing representation of myself. I wasn’t even (expletive) there.”
Even Cat Zingano, who Rousey vanquished in 14 seconds in UFC 184, had to feel bad for her former opponent.
“When I saw what people were saying to her, I was so disappointed in the fans and the sport,” Zingano said. “I immediately got protective of her. It was pitiful how people were treating her. And I love all these armchair quarterbacks on etiquette. She didn’t touch gloves? I’ve never touched gloves. I might give them some knuckles or whatever. But we’re getting in a fistfight inside some fenced-in walls. You want there to be etiquette?”
But at the end of the day, this is just part of the job for Rousey. She’ll get over it after time, but there never was any guarantee she’d be the champion forever.
“I always say you have to be willing to get your heart broken,” Rousey said. “That’s just what (expletive) happens when you try.”
