Ronda Rousey says fighting is ‘no longer a priority in my life’ despite everyone asking for a comeback
Ronda Rousey says she will not fight again despite everyone asking her to.
Rousey, who is the former UFC and Strikeforce bantamweight champion, has not fought since UFC 207 when she was knocked out by Amanda Nunes. The fight marked her return to the sport for the first time since her shocking knockout loss to Holly Holm to lose her belt after starting her career at 12-0 with six title defenses.
With her never officially retiring, Rousey says people ask her to fight but she says it is no longer a priority for her.
“There’s not a day that goes by people aren’t telling me to fight,” Rousey said on her YouTube channel (via MMA Fighting). “I have to try and think of it as, would I rather be the greatest of all time, or have everybody think I’m the greatest of all time? It used to be so important to me to have both. But now it’s got to the point where I don’t want to sacrifice myself and my family to prove that anymore to a bunch of people that don’t give a sh*t about me.
“I know, and the people who love me know. It’s no longer a priority in my life. All the people that tell you, ‘Come on, fight again, do this again,’ they would never do that for me.”
With Ronda Rousey growing up with martial arts, she says she finally views herself as something other than just a martial artist due to her no longer competing. She also says she knows she the greatest of all time so she doesn’t need to continue to fight.
“It’s hard when everyone around you, the value they have for you is how you fight, and how they see you is how you fight, and the only thing they think you have to offer is how you fight,” Rousey explained. “It was actually my husband that taught me I’m so much more than just a fighter. I don’t have to fight myself into the ground to prove that I’m the greatest of all time when I already know that I am.”
In the end, Ronda Rousey knows walking away from the sport is tough but says she made the right decision.
“That’s something I really had to deal with stepping away from the UFC was finding my identity without it, because I got so lost in it,” Rousey said. “It’s tough, because you’re with these people and you’re like, ‘Oh my god, I got to live this journey with you, this is amazing’ and then you see some of these Bellator fights and you’re like, ‘Oh my god, this person’s still going?’ I can’t watch it. It makes me sad.”
