Ronda Rousey reflects on losses to Holly Holm and Amanda Nunes: ‘It’s finally caught up to me’
Exclusive: Rousey was speaking ahead of her first fight in a decade, which comes against Gina Carano in May
Ronda Rousey has opened up on her losses to Holly Holm and Amanda Nunes , a decade after they marked the end of her UFC career. On 16 May, Rousey will fight for the first time since her December 2016 loss to Nunes, which came 13 months after her defeat by Holm. Both losses occurred via knockout, with Holm stopping Rousey early in round two and Nunes doing so inside 48 seconds.
The results and their nature led Rousey to leave the UFC and focus on acting and professional wrestling, but now she is preparing to face fellow MMA trailblazer Gina Carano live on Netflix, headlining a card organised by Jake Paul and Nakisa Bidarian’s Most Valuable Promotions . Ahead of that bout, 39-year-old Rousey spoke to The Independent about her title loss to Holm and failed title challenge against Nunes. Ronda Rousey’s KO loss to Holly Holm felt like a moment in time – the end of her peak (Getty) “I was having neurological issues, and I was getting hit and basically losing chunks of my vision, depth perception, ability to track moving objects, to think clearly,” Rousey said.
“I thought these were concussion symptoms, because the more concussions I got, the easier it was for me to get these symptoms. So, after my first loss, I was like: ‘F***, it’s finally caught up to me. I’m never gonna be able to compete at the highest level again.
’ “But there were a lot of other factors. I had a bad mouthguard, stuff like that. My teeth got knocked loose, the very first punch of the [Holm] fight, so I convinced myself: ‘Maybe it was just that.