Despite previous reports, former UFC women’s bantamweight queen Ronda Rousey won’t make her highly anticipated return at UFC 200 in Las Vegas this July.
Speaking with Yahoo Sports, UFC president Dana White revealed that the former UFC and Strikeforce champion has requested extensive time off following a one-sided loss to Holly Holm this past November.
When Rousey visited Melbourne before the championship fight, she laid out her plan to return in July for the historic UFC 200 pay-per-view at Las Vegas’ new multipurpose arena.
According to White, those plans have been put on the backburner due to Rousey’s Hollywood obligations, filming a remake of the classic Patrick Swayze movie Roadhouse.
“The filming of the movie got pushed back,” the UFC boss said. “She could do both, but the question is, should she do both? She could do both, but why should she? The filming is in a time frame where she’d finish before 200, but it would be cutting it too close.”
He’s absolutely right. Rousey has a tireless work ethic. It’s one of the many reasons why she’s the sports biggest crossover star whose popularity seemingly knows no bounds.
That hard-working attitude has backfired on the former champ, though. While preparing for three championship fights in nine months last year, the Calfornia native crammed movie roles, photo shoots, red carpet appearances, talk show spots, media interviews and television commercials into her schedule.
In a previous interview with Canadian sports talk show Off The Record, White confirmed that the frenetic pace wore down his most bankable pay-per-view star.
“When [Rousey] sat down with me and Lorenzo [Fertitta] a few days ago, she said, ‘I was exhausted going into that fight. I was exhausted mentally, physically, emotional’,” White explained.
Following the crushing loss to Holm, it’s pretty clear that Rousey needs to make improvements before she can unseat the new bantamweight queen.
Holm, a multi-time world boxing champion, outclassed the previously unstoppable fighter. Especially towards the end, Rousey was a bloodied and exhausted mess, wildly swinging punches and connecting with nothing but air.
UFC light heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier believes that Rousey would need to spend the entire 2016 season in the gym to beat Holm in a rematch.
Rousey’s return date is still a mystery, but, for now, at least, it seems the former champ has no desire to spend an entire year hitting pads at her California training facility.
The 28-year-old is set to appear alongside Mark Wahlberg in a new action flick, Mile 22, and star in the Roadhouse reboot.
Rousey has also signed on to make her first televised appearance since the face-smashing loss to Holm as the host of the January 23 edition of Saturday Night Live.
This is the reality for Rousey in 2016. She’s one of the biggest sporting stars – male or female – in the world right now. Even after being splayed on the canvas after a head kick, the public’s fascination with the former champ remains as strong as ever.
And the opportunities thrown her way are only going to get greater. Now it’s up to Rousey to determine if she can continue the juggling act as a pro athlete and Hollywood celebrity.
Luckily for Rousey, she is no longer chasing a deadline for her UFC return.
Holm is already tied up, agreeing to make her first 135-pound title defense at UFC 197 on March 5 against former Strikeforce champion Miesha Tate.
With that in place, there is no reason to rush the inevitable Holm versus Rousey rematch. Financially, the fight will surely be a multi-million dollar success, but fans will still pay top dollar for that match regardless of if it takes place tomorrow or a year from now.
Even if Holm loses the championship, the story of Rousey fighting to avenge her only MMA loss would still be an enormous box office attraction.
In her lone interview with ESPN since losing the title, Rousey said a rematch with Holm is “what I want”, but the jury is still out on whether or not that is a smart return fight.
Rousey is a fierce competitor with a history of overcoming adversity. She rebounded from personal and professional setbacks to become the first American woman to ever medal in judo at the Olympic Games.
And that same drive could again lead her to UFC gold. But Rousey’s management should be angling for a non-title tune-up fight in her Octagon return.
Rousey can’t become a better boxer than Holm in a few months, but with her speed, athleticism, and Olympic-level grappling chops, she could construct a gameplan to nullify the striker’s biggest asset and accentuate her own skillset.
That won’t happen overnight, though. And it definitely won’t happen while filming action scenes with Marky Mark.
Brad
Guest
"Mayweather asked whether she would fight Rousey responds to the reporter “Are you a joker’… he knows she would beat the shit out of Rousey but that would be a bad response. " 1st - Mayweather is a he 2nd - Boxing and MMA are both very different sports but if you are really pitting one against the other it isn't a contest. Watch the early UFC's and watch the grapplers dominate. Mayweather would clinch and it would be all over.
pjm
Roar Rookie
Have you seen the contract and when it was dated? She has some steam left now but another loss and it will all end.
Simoc
Guest
And the strange thing about that was that Rousey predicted beforehand how the fight would unfold, perfectly. Yet despite knowing that, she had no answers. The criticism of Rousey is of course because she is wealthy and famous. The nobody critiics help the story roll along. It's pretty amazing she can get so much publicity for a previously nearly unknown sport.
Justin Faux
Expert
Personally, I never had any illusions of Ronda Rousey being an outstanding striker. In my preview for the Holm fight I mentioned how limited Rousey's stand-up was and criticised her non-existent footwork, but I also figured that she was so far ahead of the pack in other areas of the game that her weak striking game wouldn't be a major problem. And you're right, nobody is unbeatable. There's a real good chance Conor McGregor's perfect UFC record will have a mark against it in just a few weeks.
Isaac Nowroozi
Roar Guru
She was a big fish in a little pond, and many (myself included) figured that she would just go on dominating everyone and retire undefeated. It wasn't until Holm picked her apart that we saw how many holes she really had in her game. People can claim that 'she wasn't that good to begin with', but I've been following MMA for a while and I couldn't believe what I was watching during UFC 193. It wasn't until I went back to Rousey's older bouts (specifically Rousey vs Tate 2) that I could see those holes appear, as I was no longer blinded by the hype. We see these fighters go unbeaten for so long we start to think it will never happen, it happened with Anderson Silva, it happened with Jose Aldo, it happened with Ronda Rousey and one day, it will happen with Conor McGregor.
Kaks
Roar Guru
You are clutching at straws for reasons to hate Rousey, it is obvious.
theHunter
Guest
Mate, don't state what I know already. Other fighters such as Aldo, GSP and Silva won more title fights than her but never did they state they were the greatest. People knew they were great but they remained humble. Ronda is like the Mundine of UFC, self-touted themselves as "greats" but ended up embarrassed in the end.
Kaks
Roar Guru
Again, she had 4 title defences in total time of 2 minutes and 10 seconds, no crap she was hyped up. She was unstoppable and everyone thought she would destroy Holm until the opposite happened. If you dont believe so, go check the comments before the fight. Hindsight is a wonderful thing for negative nancy's like you.
Justin Faux
Expert
The women's 135-pound division is weak, Rousey would be a substantial favourite against anyone ranked between 2-10 in the weight class.
Justin Faux
Expert
Rousey got the Saturday Night Live gig long after the Holly Holm loss.
Justin Faux
Expert
That isn't the object of the sport. That's one possible way to win a mixed martial arts bout. You can also win one by applying a submission hold, a fight-ending result that typically gives the loser little more than a case of disappointment.
Justin Faux
Expert
People forget, it hasn't been a cakewalk for Gina Carano in Hollywood. She has struggled to find parts, and in her most high-profile lead (Haywire) they altered her voice and chopped her lines. Rousey is a much bigger star than Carano but isn't exactly a great actor. In Mile 22, her latest role with Mark Wahlberg, they diminished her role and removed a bunch of dialogue. So don't bet the house on Rousey being a full-time actor just yet.
Justin Faux
Expert
Ronda Rousey's celebrity hasn't really taken a hit since the loss to Holm. Perhaps losing another would, but for now, I don't think that would be enough to cancel the project.
Justin Faux
Expert
Giving Rousey a 'can' might not give her the cage time to work on her striking acumen, but it will buy her some more time to be spent in the gym. To Gavin's point, Rousey is more than capable of beating Holm in the rematch, she just needs to fight smarter and implement a grappling-heavy game plan.
Clavers
Guest
I just don't understand how you can have a sport where the object is to kick someone in the temple. Boxing is dangerous enough but at least they use gloves. Someone is going to die if this "sport" continues.
pjm
Roar Rookie
Rousey holds no interest to anyone if she is not champion. She signed onto these projects before the loss but I doubt there will be much after them.
Gavin
Guest
She doesn't need a stand up test. She let Holm be that stand up test and we all know how that ended. Rousey will come back smarter and I can see her winning. Full credit to Holm, she fought the perfect fight, but only because Rousey played right into it from the moment the first round started. The fights goes a different way if she fights smarter.
Kaks
Roar Guru
I will agree with the Mayweather domestic violence thing, it was completely hypocritical - but I dont see how that means she deserves all the hate she has been getting.
lao hu
Guest
She has to be careful with her next fight , another comprehensive loss could seriously damage her future prospects. They need to rebuild her creditability by fighting someone that looks legit on paper but is very beatable. In response to an above comment about the differences between boxing and MMA in particular the UFC as per their records . In boxing the fighters are not centrally contracted nor is the match making so the promoter will match his boxer against whoever whenever subject to safety protocols etc. The more fights the more money for both parties . In MMA fighters are matched by the organization and fight exclusiviely on their events which is limited in number. In other words the match making is even in MMA . You build up records over a longer period of time and need longer periods of recovery and preparation . On the flip side you rise up the rankings faster without having to compile a longer record by fighting journeymen. As for cross sport converts their entire record should be looked at not just their MMA record to get a better idea of how active they are, uncontracted fighters are often active in two or even three combat sports at the same time. Most strikers are usually active in other combat sports
Damien
Roar Guru
Talking smack isn't such a biggie to me. Lets bear in mind that No Ronda = No Women in the UFC. Rondas lack of graciousness is the reason I'm not a fan of hers. I respect her work ethic and talent though which she has in bucket loads. Also this whole thing with her going after Mayweather because of his domestic violence but she wasn't shy about writing in her book how she did the same thing to her ex boyfriend (abit of context here.. the ex was a creep though - but, no excuse for it). Then her current partner Travis Browne is accused of domestic violence as well. Makes for a complicated situation that could be seen as quite hypocritical.