Since the very moment that “Rowdy” Ronda Rousey was shockingly knocked unconscious by Holly Holm at November 2015’s UFC 193, fans wondered if and when she would return and attempt to recapture her long-held title. Six months later, and Rousey still hasn’t competed, and still doesn’t have a fight scheduled, although it’s expected that the
Since the very moment that “Rowdy” Ronda Rousey was shockingly knocked unconscious by Holly Holm at November 2015’s UFC 193, fans wondered if and when she would return and attempt to recapture her long-held title.
Six months later, and Rousey still hasn’t competed, and still doesn’t have a fight scheduled, although it’s expected that the ex-champion will return on November 12, 2016 at UFC 205 in New York to compete for the 135-pound strap.
UFC 205 will be a landmark event for the UFC, as it will be the promotion’s first trip to the Empire state, and its first trip to the infamous Madison Square Garden, making it logical to have a mega-star like Rousey on the card.
The scenario undoubtedly makes sense, as does the timing given the fact that current champion Miesha Tate will defend her title against Amanda Nunes at July 9’s UFC 200 from Las Vegas.
The only issue, however, seems to be that UFC President Dana White just isn’t completely sure that Rousey will be ready to return in November:
“She has as much time off as she wants or needs. Obviously, I would love her to come back sooner than later so we’ll see how that plays out but it wouldn’t be a bad thing to roll into New York with Ronda but I just don’t know if she’s going to be ready,” White revealed when speaking to “The Michael Kay Show“.
Rousey competing at UFC 205 seemed to previously be all but confirmed, although as we’ve seen so many times before, nothing is a sure thing in mixed martial arts.
White is sure of one thing, however, and that is that when Rousey does finally announce her return it will be massive:
“When she announces she’s going to be back, it’s going to be big,” White said.
It’s no secret that the UFC’s top two undisputed stars may appear to be losing it a bit after two devastating losses in their last two respective bouts. Yet while Ronda Rousey and Conor McGregor are currently being heaped with criticism following two different kinds of outbursts, it’s not surprising to understand once one simply
It’s no secret that the UFC’s top two undisputed stars may appear to be losing it a bit after two devastating losses in their last two respective bouts.
Yet while Ronda Rousey and Conor McGregor are currently being heaped with criticism following two different kinds of outbursts, it’s not surprising to understand once one simply takes a look at the insurmountable pressure, media attention, hype, and time-consuming obligations were piled upon their shoulders in mass quantities.
That’s not to make excuses for either one, because as truly polarizing and unique fighters in their own right, they had built a large following of both passionate fans and fervent haters. One side tuned in to see them win emphatically as they always had before, and one side tuned in to for the small chance of hopefully seeing them lose. For a while, that game worked absolutely to perfection as Rousey and McGregor talked themselves up to clearly unattainable levels, and it worked because they backed it up in the Octagon with one seemingly endless stoppage after another.
But occupying that rarified air as a transcendent and one-of-a-kind superstar in the fight game is a tenuous position at best, and all of that came crashing down when Rousey lost to a vicious Holly Holm head kick at UFC 193 and McGregor was submitted by Nate Diaz in a welterweight bout four months later at March 5’s UFC 196.
Both ‘Rowdy’ and ‘Notorious’ stayed the undisputed top two stars in MMA, a backing sentiment to their true drawing power and overall scope, but it would obviously be impossible to say at least one coat of shine hadn’t been stripped away from their sleek sports cars on those nights. They’re still human, after all.
This week, however, it seems as if their somewhat troubling reactions to the losses have the once-confident superstars in the strangest spots of their otherwise spotless careers in the UFC.
Rousey made headlines for supposedly blowing up with a profanity-laced tirade on strawweight Paige VanZant at a Reebok event because she had congratulated on Holm for beating her, something PVZ soon confirmed. McGregor has obviously been embroiled in his drawn-out ‘retirement’ saga that found him pulled out of his UFC 200 main event rematch with Diaz for refusing to attend a press conference.
The drama has been poured on thick by both sides; however, at this point it’s a legitimate question as to whether McGregor should just keep his mouth shut and stay off of social media for now. Case in point, he showed up with an Instagram post of him throwing an uppercut at the UFC 196 open workouts with a caption touting its effectiveness in his bout with Diaz, a true point.
Yet it’s also a bit of clutching at straws, as it was a fight he was later battered and gassed before tapping out to a brutal finishing hold. Diaz walked through his punches that night, and now, it’s starting to appear he also walked through his once-indestructible psyche. McGregor had absolutely no problem doing each and every conference with gusto when he was knocking out much smaller fighters in every bout.
Again, not to take away from his accomplishments, because he’s been nothing but dominant at 145 pounds. But he and his employers may have built him up to an unachievable level that includes the rigorous and eventually exhausting promotional whirlwind it subjected he and Rousey to.
Rousey’s side of the story is a bit different. Read on to the next page to find out why.
Although we still don’t have a date nor an event for Ronda Rousey’s highly anticipated return, we do now have an idea of when it may take place. UFC president Dana White recently confirmed that the previously dominant bantamweight queen will be returning to action sometime next fall, perhaps in November. After suffering a shocking
Although we still don’t have a date nor an event for Ronda Rousey’s highly anticipated return, we do now have an idea of when it may take place.
UFC president Dana White recently confirmed that the previously dominant bantamweight queen will be returning to action sometime next fall, perhaps in November.
After suffering a shocking and brutal knockout loss to Holly Holm at last November’s UFC 193, it’s understandable that Rousey, being the global superstar she is, needed some time away from the spotlight.
Now having spent nearly five months away from the cage, the “Rowdy” one is apparently planning her triumphant return, or as her nutrition coach Mike Dolce put it, her return to ‘world domination’:
“We’re planning Ronda’s comeback and her world domination,” Dolce told MMAJunkie. “That’s really what it’s about. The last loss Ronda suffered was in the 2008 Olympics, where she battled back and won a bronze medal. She has been undefeated since, all the way to November 2015.”
After running a demolition course through everything put in her path, and looking invincible and unbeatable, it was simply jaw dropping to see Rousey put away last at UFC 193.
However, the fight may have clearly pin pointed some drastic holes in her game, holes we had never necessarily seen.
With that being said, Dolce claims that not only Rousey, but her team as well is completely ‘refocused’:
“She’s extremely refocused, and the team is definitely moving forward,” Dolce said. “We’re all rowing in the right direction, and now it’s just a matter of sitting back and waiting for the right time for her to step back in again.”
After her sudden fall from grace, does Rousey have what it takes to recapture the title she’s held for the last few years?
Or, on the flip side, have we seen the end of one of the sport’s most transcendent stars?
The MMA world was given a refreshing bit of news when it was revealed earlier this week that Invicta FC featherweight champion Cristiane ‘Cyborg’ Justino would finally be making her UFC debut against Leslie Smith at May 14’s UFC 198 from her homeland of Curitiba, Brazil. While Smith is most certainly a gritty and talented
The MMA world was given a refreshing bit of news when it was revealed earlier this week that Invicta FC featherweight champion Cristiane ‘Cyborg’ Justino would finally be making her UFC debut against Leslie Smith at May 14’s UFC 198 from her homeland of Curitiba, Brazil.
While Smith is most certainly a gritty and talented fighter and also deserves respect for taking the 140-pound catchweight fight, most hoped ‘Cyborg’ would make her debut against the top fighters of the UFC women’s bantamweight division. Obviously Justino has a long-standing feud Ronda Rousey, and bouts with champion Miesha Tate or top contenders Holly Holm and Cat Zingano are very enticing prospects.
However, UFC President Dana White spoke up to declare that no one other than Smith wanted the fight, and apparently Holm, who recently lost the title to Miesha Tate at March 5’s UFC 196, is one that did not. In a recent appearance at a news conference transcribed by The Albuquerque Journal, Holm touched on her desires for her next fight, which not surprisingly include rematches with Tate or Rousey:
“This one’s definitely a little more out of my hands. (In boxing), I knew that Lenny would give me the opportunity as long as I wanted it. This is a whole different situation.
“I really want that rematch, but I’m not the one with the title now. I’m not the one with the belt. So I have to be patient and wait for that opportunity to come.”
‘The Preacher’s Daughter’ seems to know the bargaining chips are a bit out of her hands after Tate submitted her in the fifth round of their title bout, and she believes she can’t be too picky as a result:
“Right now, what’s on my heart is the rematch,” she said. “(But) I don’t necessarily want to be too picky, either. I’m the one coming off a loss. I can’t expect to have everything handed to me, so we’ll see what happens.”
Holm’s longtime manager Lenny Fresquez also spoke up on the subject, adding that the UFC will hopefully give them a chance at Tate or Rousey when her next fight is booked:
“Miesha was in Australia on vacation, so they were supposed to get with her this week,” Fresquez said. “Hopefully, in the next couple of weeks we’ll know. But whether it’s Miesha or Ronda, those are the fights we’re interested in.”
As for the Cyborg fight, Fresquez, whom White infamously said was ‘not that smart’ in a tirade post-UFC 196, said that Holm’s camp is simply not interested in fighting ‘Cyborg’ right now:
“(Fighting Rousey or Tate) is pretty much what Holly wants to do,” Fresquez said. “If they have something else, it’s my job to present it to her. I’ve made her wishes known to them.
“We were not interested in that right now,” Fresquez said. “(Holm) just wants to fight Miesha.”
The UFC’s long standing color commentator Joe Rogan is not afraid to speak his mind. This time he’s discussing Ronda Rousey and CM Punk with MMA legend Bas Rutten… Joe Rogan has seen many eras of the UFC come and go during his time as color commentator. The stand up comedian and podcast host has
The UFC’s long standing color commentator Joe Rogan is not afraid to speak his mind. This time he’s discussing Ronda Rousey and CM Punk with MMA legend Bas Rutten…
Joe Rogan has seen many eras of the UFC come and go during his time as color commentator. The stand up comedian and podcast host has watched champions rise and fall, and numerous historic moments in mixed martial arts from just feet away in his commentary position. With experience in kickboxing competition and some high level grappling too, Rogan is a knowledgeable character and well placed to critique what goes on in the octagon.
One such historic moment that Rogan was privy to was the UFC 193 main event between Holly Holm and Ronda Rousey. ‘Rowdy,’ at the time, was experiencing levels of hype that were unseen with all her predecessors. She was the biggest pay-per-view draw, and the UFC marketed her to their full abilities, including promo videos that were more akin to a Hollywood movie trailer. As it turned out, the promotion’s trip down under to break all records at the Etihad stadium didn’t quite turn out as everyone had expected.
Rousey was catastrophically dethroned by Holm after suffering a nasty beating, followed by a fight finishing highlight reel head kick KO. This was just the beginning of her woes, as ‘Rowdy’ would become the subject of a fierce wave of online hate from fans the world over. She would later claim that she’d considered suicide in the aftermath of her first pro loss. Once again, Joe Rogan was on the front line to witness this game changing moment, and he told Bas Rutten during his most recent JRE Podcast exactly what he felt went wrong for ‘Rowdy’ in Australia:
Joe Rogan:
“I know that after the fight, that night, she was devastated. That was a brutal knockout, and it was just a fight where nothing worked. She went after Holly, she tried to bully her, but Holly just had great footwork and movement. The way she would counter as Ronda moved in, the kickboxing, Holly has the best footwork and movement in all women’s MMA. The way she countered Ronda, and Ronda’s bulldog style she fought with on that night, it just played right in to Holly’s hands. That head kick…
Unquestionably one of the most shocking nights in sport history, UFC 193 went down on November 14, 2015 live on pay-per-view (PPV) from the Etihad Stadium in Australia. The main event featured previously dominant women’s bantamweight champion “Rowdy” Ronda Rousey putting her strap on the line against decorated boxing champion Holly “The Preacher’s Daughter” Holm.
Unquestionably one of the most shocking nights in sport history, UFC 193 went down on November 14, 2015 live on pay-per-view (PPV) from the Etihad Stadium in Australia.
The main event featured previously dominant women’s bantamweight champion “Rowdy” Ronda Rousey putting her strap on the line against decorated boxing champion Holly “The Preacher’s Daughter” Holm.
Heading into the event, Rousey held a perfect 12-0 professional record along with an Olympic Judo background and she was a massive favorite to beat Holm.
Despite the obvious credentials of “The Preacher’s Daughter”, many had felt as if Rousey would simply run through Holm like she had all of her previous opponents.
Well, as they say, anything can happen in the fight game, and so it did.
Holm went on to pick apart the “Rowdy” one throughout the first round, bloodying and tiring the champion in a one-sided showcase.
The second round then came and it was the beginning of the end for Rousey, as Holm would land a brutal head kick early on that shut the lights off for the “Rowdy” one.
Very few saw it coming, and it will undoubtedly live on as one of the most monumental events in mixed martial arts history.
Relive the action with the full fight below courtesy of the UFC:
Holm is now set to defend her title in the co-main event of March 5’s UFC 196 against former Strikeforce champion Miesha Tate.
