Ronda Rousey Addresses the Lack of Interest From UFC

Ronda Rousey hasn’t attended a UFC event since her final fight against Amanda Nunes at UFC 207 in December 2016.

Unfortunately for the “Rowdy” one, that was a tough 48-second night at the office.

Rousey, 37, understandably didn’t make any immediate media appearances backstage following her first career loss to Holly Holm at UFC 193 in November 2015.

The unforgettable second-round head kick knockout left the world wondering how Rousey would react and return.

All we saw was her arriving home at the airport with future husband Travis Browne and a face-covering purple pillow. Then, news broke a year later that she’d challenge the new champion, Nunes.

Before and after Rousey’s second and last career loss to Nunes, she had no media requirements or obligations and remained completely silent, a generally unprecedented luxury for any UFC fighter (just ask Nick Diaz).

Rousey felt that stretch led to poor treatment and critique from the media, as she revealed in her new book, “Our Fight.” She expanded on this sentiment in a recent podcast conversation, explaining why she has avoided the UFC since.

“Ask the MMA media [why what I gave wasn’t enough] — they’re the ones saying it,” Rousey told High Performance.

“That I was a fraud and I was hype and I was exposed and I was never anything and just lucky and all of these things, that I was ungracious or I was a loser or every other thing that I just assume at this point because I don’t take the time to read it.

“Everything that could be said that was negative was said, and I feel really vilified by MMA media at this point and not really welcome back, which is why I haven’t gone to a UFC fight since [I left]. I’m pretty sure if I walked into the arena, I’d be booed. That’s how it feels.”

Love her or hate her, Rousey is undeniably one of the most important figures in MMA history.

Her trailblazing efforts as a woman in combat sports led to her 2018 induction into the UFC Hall of Fame, one of the rare UFC-related events Rousey has attended since her MMA retirement.

Rousey transitioned to professional wrestling with WWE shortly after her MMA career. Despite achieving significant success, particularly in her first year, Rousey left in 2023 and has indicated she likely won’t return.

There were times during her WWE tenure when the crowd got to Rousey, she admitted. This wasn’t the only time she had “lived” with everyone hating her, as she says it’s the same with MMA.

“I live it,” Rousey said of fans and the community disliking her. “I guess I wish it didn’t [bother me]. I gave them everything I had, and it wasn’t enough.

But that’s why a lot of people don’t give everything that they have, because they don’t want to face it if it wasn’t enough. I realize it was enough for me, but not enough for people on the outside. But it really wasn’t for them.”