Ronda Rousey says she’s not ‘neurologically fit to compete anymore,’ won’t return to UFC: ‘It’s not happening’
Written by CBS SPORTS ALL RIGHTS RESERVED on August 28, 2024
Ronda Rousey has heard the many rumors of an eventual return to mixed martial arts over the years since she stepped away from the sport in 2016 after back-to-back UFC knockout losses to Holly Holm and Amanda Nunes. Unfortunately for those wishing to see a Rousey return to the Octagon, she says a history of concussions has led to neurological issues that will keep that return from ever happening.
“It’s nice to feel missed, I guess,” Rousey said during an appearance on Chris Van Vliet’s “Insight” podcast. “But it’s not happening. I’m not neurologically fit to compete anymore at the highest level. I just can’t. You just get to a level where the neurological injuries you take accumulate over time. They don’t get better.”
Rousey lit the mixed martial arts world on fire as she quickly rose from the regional scene, to Strikeforce, to the UFC. In fact, the former Olympic bronze medalist was such a sensation that she was the basis for Dana White reversing course on his long-stated stance that women would never fight in the UFC.
While ripping through the competition in the Octagon, Rousey became a mainstream star and one of the most popular fighters to ever compete in the sport.
Things came to a swift end at the legs and hands of Holm and Nunes. Those knockouts were just the latest in a sporting career that had caused years of significant damage to Rousey’s brain.
“When I got into MMA, I had already had dozens of concussions that I trained through,” Rousey said. “Like, not even stopped for. So that was about a decade of having concussion symptoms more often than not. So when I got into MMA, I was playing a game of zero errors. Then it got to the point where I was fighting more often than anybody. I had more outside of fighting responsibilities than anybody, and it just got to be lighter and lighter hits were hurting me more and more and more.
“I got to a point where I couldn’t take a jab without getting dazed, without getting concussion symptoms. It just got to a point where it wasn’t safe for me to fight anymore. I just couldn’t continue to fight at that higher level.”
“Insight” was not the first place Rousey made similar comments. She has identified those concussions as dating as far back as when she was six years old.
“I started dealing with it at six-years old,” Rousey told CBS Sports in July. “I started getting concussions much earlier on in swimming. Two kids doing a backstroke in the other direction crack heads or hit the wall doing the backstroke.
“I started doing judo at a young age and kept getting concussions regularly and multiple times a year and not being allowed to speak up or say anything about it. As a fighter, you’re not supposed to show any weakness or talk about things like that or the inevitable neurological decline that comes with taking headshots. A lot of people talk about it as if it’s making excuses or weakness.”
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