UFC 207: Is This The End For Ronda “Rowdy” Rousey?

A Much Anticipated Fight With A Quick Finish

Whether you waited a couple of hours at your local bar past midnight or paid the steep PPV price to watch the fight at home, chances are you felt robbed. The 48-second UFC 207 Bantamweight Championship fight between Ronda Rousey and Amanda Nunes seemed a lot shorter than that. Worse of all was Ronda’s inability to fight back. She was completely dominated from start to finish. This was a comeback fight that most UFC fans have been waiting for over a year. We expected an all-out war between the two fighters. But what we got was more of a defenseless Ronda getting rocked around the Octagon. She looked shaken and overwhelmed by Nunes’ power and constant striking. This was not the type of performance from a fighter who defended the women’s bantamweight title six times and was undefeated during her first 12 fights.

What Went Wrong During The Fight?

That is the question that most UFC fans keep asking themselves after the fight. The answer is simple. Ronda Rousey is not a boxer. During the championship fight, Ronda stood up toe to toe against Amanda. The same mistake she previously made against Holly Holm during UFC 193. She fought to Nunes’ strength and her own biggest weakness. I must say, she did attempt to clinch Amanda Nunes but it was already too late. If you take a look at Ronda’s MMA record out of her 12 wins she has 9 by arm-bar submission. That is her signature move. Ronda Rousey has incredible judo and submissions which are what makes her a tough opponent. Why change her winning formula all of a sudden? Most would say her long-time boxing trainer Edmond Tarverdyan is to blame. That explains why Amanda Nunes’ walked over Rousey’s corner after the fight and exchanged some words with him. Amanda also stated during the post-fight interview.

“Yeah, because she thinks that she’s a boxer, you know? He like put this thing in her head and make the girl believe in that. I don’t know why he did that. She have great judo, and she can go far in this division, but he put some crazy thing about boxing, and her career started to go down. And if I win that, I am the real striker. This is the only thing I wanted to look at him, to say it.”

What’s Next For Ronda Rousey

Following the fight, Ronda quickly disappeared skipping the post-fight conference. On Saturday afternoon Ronda released a statement to ESPN ending with:

“I need to take some time to reflect and think about the future. Thank you for believing in me and understanding.”

The truth is that nobody really knows at this point if she will be coming back to the sport or not. A couple of things to keep in mind is the fact that Ronda has a current net worth of $12 million including the $3 million she was paid just to show up to UFC 207.  She does not need to fight for a living anymore and has other options available to make an income. Ronda has co-starred multiple Hollywood films including The Expendables 3 and Furious 7. She also has commercial partnerships, taken part in WWE, guest hosted multiple TV shows and modeled for many magazines. Whether she decides to retire from the sport or not, Ronda Rousey without a doubt will go down in history as of the most iconic and influential women in MMA history.