RIO DE JANEIRO -- UFC featherweight champion Jose Aldo doesn’t think bantamweight star Ronda Rousey will return to the Octagon.
Four days after Rousey’s devastating loss to Holly Holm in Melbourne, Aldo spoke to the media at Nova Uniao about the shocking upset in Australia, and discussed why it wasn’t surprising for him.
"It’s normal. There are wins and losses," Aldo said. "Holm was a multiple-time champion in boxing and was able to do her thing standing, and I knew Holm would win if she kept it standing."
Aldo is a fan of women’s MMA, but sees it on a different level when compared to his gender.
"Ronda is a great champion, I respect her, but I think men’s (MMA) is at a higher level," he said. "(Male) athletes aren’t separated by one martial art only, like ‘I’m a judoka and I only catch arms’. There’s no such thing as this one who survives. Athletes have to be good standing and on the ground today. You have to be good wherever the fight goes and that’s how I try to be. I like to watch women’s MMA more than men fighting because they always do their best and fight hard."
While fans and fighters discuss what Rousey should change in order to regain her belt in the future, the Brazilian star believes she won’t get back inside the Octagon.
"I think it’s really hard for her to return to fighting," Aldo said. "Her career has taken a different direction. If I’m making a lot of money doing movies or something else, I’d go that direction too. Am I going to mess my face up getting punched in the face? You’re crazy [laughs]. In my opinion, I don’t think (she fights again). If she comes back, of course she can (win the title). She was always a fighter, but if I were her, I wouldn’t come back.
"I see this as Gina’s situation," said Aldo, comparing Rousey’s loss to Cris Cyborg’s win over Gina Carano at Strikeforce. "Gina was a great fighter and went her way to become an actress after she lost to Cyborg, and she’s getting more attention than if she was still fighting. No diet, not getting punched in the face, nothing."
And if Rousey never returns to the UFC, Aldo believes she has already made a huge impact on the mixed martial arts world.
"I think the legacy Ronda leaves behind is that she changed women’s MMA," Aldo said. "She put it where no one ever imagined, where even Dana White said it would never be, and it is now. That’s her legacy. She has done a lot for women’s sport."
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