Ronda Rousey says age and damage were key factors in her decision to walk away from fighting: "You never know when you take one hit too many"

Ronda Rousey recently explained how age and damage were key factors in her decision to walk away from fighting. She noted that she witnessed the effects that it had on older fighters when interacting with them long after their careers were over.

The UFC Hall of Famer walked away from MMA in favor of a move to pro wrestling following her bout with Amanda Nunes in 2016 and has since cited her struggles with concussions being a factor. Despite still being among the top 135-pounders in the sport at the time of her final bout, Rousey decided to explore other interests to ensure she didn't experience the same fate as others who fought too long.

During her appearance on INSIGHT with Chris Van Vliet, 'Rowdy' said:

"I just felt like it was my responsibility to age gracefully because I'm a representative of my sport. And I'm like, people look at me, you think of women's MMA and if I'm rolling around in a wheelchair, people aren't going to let their little girls go and do it. And you never know when you take one hit too many until it's decades later." [32:56 - 33:19]

Check out the full interview with Ronda Rousey below:

Ronda Rousey describes what it was like to walk away from fighting

During the aforementioned appearance, Ronda Rousey mentioned that she realized that her career was over when she lost to Holly Holm at UFC 193, which made it more difficult to deal with. She said:

"It was really tough and I think that's why I took that first loss [to Holm] so hard, is because I knew it was over. I knew I'd reached that limit and I was in denial about it and I tried to come back again with a lot of rest and better weight cut, not doing the extra stuff, extra press...If I could just touch that moment where they say, 'go,' and I fight, I fu**ing love that so much." [35:54 - 36:22]

Check out highlights from Ronda Rousey vs. Liz Carmouche below: