Ronda Rousey
Everything seems to indicate that Dana White missed the opportunity to bring Ronda Rousey back to the UFC octagon.
On Tuesday morning, MMA fans were surprised by the announcement of her return in a bout against Gina Carano.
The fight will be the first live MMA card on Netflix, in partnership with Most Valuable Promotions.
According to Rousey, the UFC president showed no interest in her proposal.
In an interview with ESPN, Ronda Rousey revealed that she always considered Carano the only athlete who could make her come out of retirement, and as she matured, she felt she needed to fight.
The former champion also revealed that she contacted Dana White to see if there was interest from the UFC, but the negotiations didn’t progress, which ultimately paved the way for the fight to take place outside the organization.
“I always said that Gina was the only person I would come back to fight. The more I thought about it, the more I realized: You know what? I needed that. I wanted that fight.”
and…
“So I got in touch with Dana and asked him if he would be interested in this. It didn’t happen with the UFC, but that brought us here today. I was nine months pregnant,” Ronda explained.
According to Rousey, the decision to return to MMA gained momentum after seeing a recent interview with Gina Carano, where her opponent appeared far from her best physical conditio
Seeing that, she related to her opponent, as she went through something similar during a difficult phase of her life. The former champion stated that she saw the fight as an opportunity to help her rediscover a new purpose and to feel passion for the sport again.
“I saw a video of Gina Carano giving an interview, and she didn’t seem well. She had gained an amount of weight that didn’t look healthy. The first thing I thought was: What can I do to help her?”
“When I was in a similar situation, I was depressed; I had given up on the world and on myself. What I needed was a goal, something that would reignite my passion again.”
“This had been in the works since I was pregnant, which was over a year ago. I told her that if she had to train to fight me, I would do that,” said the former UFC champion.
Rousey also added that both of them had to work together to overcome a series of obstacles for the fight to become a reality.
According to the UFC Hall of Fame member, the project was kept secret for a long time, and now she celebrates the fact that the fight is officially happening.
“We did it. We had to work together to overcome all the obstacles and get here. It was a secret for a long time. I can’t believe I can finally talk about this,” Ronda concluded.
