Ronda Rousey’s mixed martial arts career is winding down.
Rousey will fight Amanda Nunes for the UFC women’s bantamweight championship at UFC 207 in December, but even if she wins back the belt she lost to Holly Holm at UFC 193 last November, we might not see too many title defenses. That’s because Rousey already has an eye on retirement.
“Not that long, I’m wrapping it up,” Rousey said Tuesday on “The Ellen DeGeneres Show” of how long her MMA career will last. “This is definitely one of my last fights. Everyone better watch. The show isn’t going to be around forever.”
Rousey, who turns 30 in February, is one of the biggest stars in UFC history. She’s made a lot of money based on her excellence in the octagon and it’ll be interesting to see how she rebounds from the first loss of her UFC career. But even if Rousey proves in December she’s back to being her dominant self, the mental stress of negotiating, promoting and training for big ticket fights is unavoidable, which is the part Rousey seemingly can do without.
“I think it’s more the buildup that’s more tiring than anything else,” Rousey said. “If we had a fight right now, I’d fight right now and then I’d go get dinner and I wouldn’t feel really tired about it. It’s the weeks and weeks of buildup beforehand, when you know you’re fighting this one person and it’s like your showdown and the most important thing in your whole life and then millions of people watching. It’s that buildup for weeks on end. If it happened right now, I wouldn’t be nervous at all. It’s the waiting.”
Rousey has pursued other endeavors, including acting, so she’ll have plenty of options once she retires from MMA. And based on Tuesday’s conversation, it sounds like her time to walk away is coming sooner rather than later.
