UFC icon Rousey reveals the one opponent she’d return for
Ronda Rousey, once arguably the biggest star in mixed martial arts, has stayed away from the sport since she suffered seismic knockout losses in her final two fights in the Octagon, preferring instead for a more pantomime profession in the WWE - but if the former UFC champion is to make the walk to the cage one final time, she wants it to come against another legend of women's MMA: Gina Carano.
To date, Rousey has shown little interest in resuming her combat sports career. The aforementioned defeats to Holly Holm and Amanda Nunes brought the curtain down on a glittering, if somewhat brief, career in MMA during which she emerged from the shadows to become a household name in the United States and beyond.
Now 35, Rousey continues to make part-time appearances for the WWE after giving birth to her first child with former UFC heavyweight Travis Browne last September - but as she told WWE icon Kurt Angle on his podcast recently, if she does opt to put on the 4oz gloves one last time it will only come against one opponent.
“Well… There’s only one person. There’s only one person I would come back for,” said Rousey, as reported by Bloody Elbow.
“I mean, I’ve said it a million times. It’s not like it’s something new but, for Gina man. Gina Carano.”
Before Rousey, Carano was the first true star of women's MMA where she won seven straight fights in a blistering run between 2006 and 2008 before retiring after running in to Cris Cyborg in what proved to be her final fight.
Since then, Carano moved to the silver screen where she took on several high profile film roles but has since been deemed persona non grata by Hollywood owing to a series of controversial social media posts - which ultimately saw her canned by Disney from its 'The Mandalorian' television show.
But regardless of her views, Rousey made clear that any callout of Carano is based in respect.
“She’s the reason why I got into fighting, she’s the reason why I knew it was a possibility. I will always be forever grateful… and if she ever was like, ‘Ronda, I wanna fight you tomorrow at 205 pounds,’ like whatever the hell she’d want - I’m not saying she’s 205 pounds - if she wanted to come into my backyard and do the Rocky thing or, you know, ding, ding and we just do it in the backyard, I don’t care," explained Rousey.
“I will fight Gina wherever she wants and if she doesn’t want to forever, leave [that there].
“It’s a respect thing, not like a, ‘F**k you. I’m coming to get you.’ It’s just like, hey, if you ever wanna pull that card out, it’s there. I love her. Thank you Gina for everything you’ve done.”
It remains unlikely that Carano, 40, would entertain a return to the cage after failed comebacks in the past but you can be sure that if the two icons of women's MMA agreed to a one-off bout, UFC chief Dana White wouldn't be too far behind them with a pair of contracts and a ballpoint pen.
