In 2015, Ronda Rousey had the whole world’s attention. She was demolishing foes in a way never seen before. She was setting pay-per-view records. She was main eventing shows around the world.
She was an unstoppable force unlike anything ever seen before in mixed martial arts. Then she suffered a devastating loss to Holly Holm at UFC 193.
It’s been over a year since that night, and while the details of Rousey’s return are set in stone—she will face Amanda Nunes on Friday at UFC 207—the fight is still a complete mystery in almost every way. How will Rousey look? Will she be technically on-point after the first long layoff of her career? Can she endure Nunes’ heavy hands?
Possibly the biggest question, however, isn’t about the fight itself. It’s what comes after.
Rousey, despite coming off a loss and having an uncertain future, is one of the biggest draws in MMA at a time when the UFC is desperately seeking capital. The former champion is a precious, indispensable commodity for the new ownership group, but she remains an in-demand personality with suitors in Hollywood, Stamford and Las Vegas alike.
So, is Rousey in MMA for the long haul? Or is UFC 207 the penultimate station on the midnight train to retirement? Bleacher Report’s dynamic duo of Patrick Wyman and Steven Rondina are here to discuss that topic.
Steven Rondina: Well, Patrick, we are just a few days away from Ronda Rousey’s long-awaited return, and there are a lot of questions about the UFC 207 main event, ranging from the X’s and O’s of how she matches up against Amanda Nunes to abstract ideas like her mental state entering fight night. Those are all discussions worth having, but I, personally, have been wondering something else: What comes after December 30 for Rousey?
Rousey, to her credit, seems to be 100-percent business entering this weekend. There has been a boatload of discussion about how Rousey has been “avoiding the media,” but judging from the pre- and post-UFC 202 Conor McGregor, that hermitage is likely to end with a victory. But what form will that take?
We know that Hollywood, at least to some degree, is still interested in Rousey, and the former champ herself has suggested that, win or lose, she might be done with MMA. Still, the money is way bigger in prizefighting than acting and, while she might be finger-wagging at Floyd Mayweather Jr. about his money-focused lifestyle, Ronda’s not fighting (or doing those MetroPCS commercials) for free.
So, Patrick, I have to ask you. Is 207 going to be Rousey’s swan song? Or does she stick around for much longer?
Patrick Wyman: Win or lose, I doubt this will be Rousey’s last time in the Octagon. If she loses, those Hollywood deals could well dry up, since they were predicated on a particular image of Rousey as an unstoppable pop culture phenomenon. Another loss, especially the kind of brutal knockout Nunes could give her, could be the end of anything like Rousey the movie star.
When I talked to WWE maestro and genius marketer Paul Heyman about Rousey last year, he pointed to at least six different narratives through which Rousey could be sold to the public. The easiest of those to grasp and the most essential, however, was her simple dominance. That was the single thing that every other meaningful narrative about her—female empowerment, her compelling life story, Rousey as cultural phenomenon—was built on. Without dominance in the cage, are the other angles even interesting to a general audience?
In that scenario, the money will eventually bring her back to prizefighting unless she’s content to live a lifestyle that involves nothing more expensive than playing World of Warcraft all day.
If she wins, though, it will be hard for her to turn down millions of dollars, potentially tens of millions, to stay in the sport. A rematch with Holly Holm could loom at either 135 or 145 pounds, and there’s always the Armageddon scenario of a fight with Cris Cyborg to consider. The latter has a good case for being the single biggest fight the UFC could put together right now.
I only see one real chance that UFC 207 is her last fight: If she’s really, truly, 100 percent sick of everything MMA has to offer and is willing to take the potential hit to her acting career that leaving the original source of her stardom behind would entail.
What do you think, Steven? Is Rousey so sick of MMA that win or lose, she’s out of the game? Would another loss tarnish her for good?
Steven: Was Rousey sick and tired of MMA ahead of UFC 193? I certainly think so. Has that changed after a year of just living life? That’s tough to say, but I’d wager not.
Either way, I agree that she’ll likely come back again, win or lose. The bucks are just too big to pass up, and they’ll eclipse whatever she could possibly make in Hollywood.
For the sake of comparison, Seth Rogen and James Franco were allegedly paid $8.4 million and $6.5 million, respectively, for their starring and creative contributions in The Interview according to documents leaked from Sony Pictures. That’s significantly more than Rousey could hope to make at any point in the near future, and significantly less than what she’s capable of making in MMA. And, while this isn’t an apples-to-apples comparison, Gina Carano should be a cautionary tale about how quick an acting career can go sideways.
If Rousey loses, I think she disappears for another year, maybe a year-and-a-half, and comes back for a legitimate tune-up fight. If she wins? Then she probably comes back sooner.
The only X-factor I see in there would be the WWE snatching her up for WrestleMania, and that feels like a longshot. Do you agree?
Patrick: The basic conundrum for Rousey is that her value as an actress is predicated on her stardom, and her stardom comes from being famous and dangerous. If she’s losing fights, especially in devastating fashion, and then shutting herself away for extended periods, it’s hard to maintain the public image of a famous and dangerous person.
If we’re correct in our belief that Rousey doesn’t particularly want to be in MMA for the long haul, going to the WWE would be an elegant solution in the short or medium term. She wouldn’t have to put herself through a punishing training camp or an unwelcome media schedule, but she’d still be in the public eye, and she’d still be able to project the image of a dangerous person.
In that scenario, Rousey could likely secure for herself the kind of limited schedule former UFC heavyweight champion Brock Lesnar has carved out, avoiding the day-to-day grind of travel and in-ring performance that plagues the wrestling industry while focusing on the biggest shows.
This would be a huge coup for the WWE, a steady and lucrative paycheck for Rousey and a way of maintaining the public interest necessary to slide into the occasional film that suits her particular talents. If the right matchup in the UFC came along, she could be there for that as well.
I’ve managed to talk myself into this, Steven, but you’re the wrestling expert here. Does this make sense? And how much would her stardom diminish should she lose to Nunes at UFC 207?
Steven: I’m flattered to be labelled a “wrestling expert” but that’s undeserved praised for someone working alongside Jonathan Snowden, Mike Chiappetta and Chad Dundas, who have written the proverbial (and literal) books on professional wrestling. Still, I know enough to say that Rousey wouldn’t necessarily fit well into the WWE’s pay structure with the current variables.
For the sake of comparison, Conor McGregor stated that he was poised to make $40 million in 2016 ahead of UFC 205.
Seth Rollins, who held the WWE World Heavyweight Championship for much of 2015 and main evented a number of pay-per-views during that time, was paid just $2.4 million annually, according to a piece in March by Forbes. Neither of those numbers are necessarily 100-percent accurate, but, regardless, there’s a big difference there.
Unless Rousey is willing to work on the cheap or the WWE is willing to rile up a lot of its regular performers, I don’t see her sticking around in wrestling for anything more than an appearance or two for an event like WrestleMania. It’s possible, sure—the WWE is openly courting Rousey, and Rousey is a lifelong wrestling fan who stated in 2015 that she wanted to be the Divas Champion—but it wouldn’t be wise for ol’ Vince McMahon to break the bank for someone who hasn’t ever cut a promo or worked a match.
Ultimately, though, I don’t see her potential wrestling career or her still-amorphous acting career as anything more than detours on her MMA path. As you mentioned, her entire persona is built around her status as an in-cage assassin. That applies to everything she’s done in Hollywood to this point and anything she might do in the immediate future.
While Rousey is the first person in MMA history to transcend the UFC, she hasn’t transcended the fact that she is a fighter. Even when she does appearances on mainstream outlets, she’s jacking up Jimmy Fallon’s elbow or smacking a fake Justin Bieber in the face.
Two years removed from her role in The Expendables 3, she hasn’t pulled a Dwayne Johnson and, honestly, I’m not sure she can. Hollywood has few opportunities available for a woman who doesn’t comfortably fit into the “20-something-year-old magazine editor” role, and unless she can miraculously post a breakout performance in a series of bit parts, her ceiling (and potential paydays) are comparatively low.
Granted, Rousey has likely made enough money to comfortably retire at this point, but the UFC needs her now more than it ever has. If her checks reflect that, then I just don’t see her going away anytime soon.
Patrick: Without being too down on her, none of Rousey’s acting work has thus far shown her to be the second coming of Meryl Streep. I’m sure she’s working on her skills, but she has a long way to go before she becomes more than competent on-screen. That’s a powerful incentive to stay in MMA.
On the other hand, though, the Holm fight should have made us realize how much Rousey doesn’t like to get hit. If the relatively pillow-fisted Holm could tag her hard enough to frustrate her, bust up her face and force her into an increasingly reckless style, Nunes’ fists will introduce her to a whole new world of hurt.
And that’s the basic problem here. Getting hit is just one unavoidable aspect of MMA that Rousey doesn’t seem to enjoy, and it’s indicative of her broader disenchantment with the sport. Unless she has reignited her love of fighting, I have a hard time seeing her stick around regardless of the money.
Steven: I’m not completely sold on the “Rousey doesn’t like getting hit” line of thinking. For better or worse, she ate Holm’s hardest shots and never stopped moving forward…albeit into more punches and kicks. Fighters who truly “can’t take a punch,” as social media naysayers would put it, usually don’t keep plodding at their foe with incredibly reckless abandon. I’d chalk up her loss to Holm to a less-than-polished striking game and awful game-planning more than anything else.
Either way…I do think her love of fighting has been reignited. Or, at the very least, her drive is back.
We saw what an emotionally checked-out Rousey looked like ahead of UFC 193; exasperated, somewhat awkward but willing to go through the motions. Today’s Rousey isn’t any of those things. Today’s Rousey seems to be focused and just generally mad at the world. That’s got to be a scary thought for anyone in the UFC women’s bantamweight division.
That won’t necessarily translate to victory, of course. Nunes is the hardest puncher Rousey has faced to date, and that’s not good for someone who has always had poor striking defense.
Still, there’s no doubt in my mind that Rousey wants to get a win at UFC 207, and if she can pull it off, there’s no doubt in my mind that she’ll want another in 2017.
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