Ronda Rousey shuts door on UFC return, says she is "not neurologically fit" to compete: "It's not happening"
Ronda Rousey recently opened up about her MMA career and shut the door on a potential UFC return. The former women's bantamweight champion noted that there have been frequent rumors surrounding a potential comeback, but explained what is preventing her from pursuing one.
The judoka-turned-MMA star notably suffered her first loss against Holly Holm, which saw her absorb several significant strikes to the head. Rousey then returned following a year long layoff and suffered a first-round TKO loss to Amanda Nunes in what ended up being her final MMA bout.
During her appearance on INSIGHT with Chris Van Vliet, 'Rowdy' opened up about her mental health following her career in combat sports. Rousey mentioned that she won't be returning to the UFC due to concussion-related issues that prevent her from competing at the highest level. She said:
"It's not happening. I'm just not neurologically fit to compete anymore at the highest level. I just can't. You just get to a level where the neurological injuries you take accumulate over time, they don't get better. And when I got into MMA, I had already had dozens of concussions that I trained through, like, not even stopped for...So when I got into MMA, it was really I was playing a game of zero errors." [31:20 - 31:59]
Check out the full interview with Ronda Rousey below:
Ronda Rousey describes her experience towards the end of her MMA career
In addition to opening up about her neurological injuries prior to transitioning into MMA, Ronda Rousey described what her experience was like competing towards the end of her career.
During the aforementioned appearance, the UFC Hall of Famer mentioned that she had got to a point where taking the slightest strike, like a jab, would affect her. She said:
"It got to a point where I was fighting more often than anybody. I had more outside of fighting responsibilities than anybody and it just got to be that lighter and lighter hits were hurting me more and more and more. It got to a point where I couldn't take a jab without getting dazed, without getting concussion symptoms. And it just got to a point where it just wasn't safe for me to fight anymore." [32:01 - 32:25]
Check out highlights from Ronda Rousey vs. Amanda Nunes below: