Though it will have been over 13 months between fights for Ronda Rousey, the galvanizing former bantamweight champion says fans might want to catch her while they can.
Rousey, who has a chance to regain her title on Dec. 30 against Amanda Nunes at UFC 207, was a guest on Ellen on Tuesday. She broke her relative silence on the issue of what the future has in store when asked how long she was going to stick around the fight game.
"Not that long, I’m wrapping it up," the 29-year old Rousey said. "This is definitely one of my last fights.
"So everyone better watch. The show isn’t going to be around forever."
Rousey (12-1) was the force behind getting women into the UFC, which she single-handedly did back in 2013 when she made her debut against Liz Carmouche. At the time, Rousey was the Strikeforce 135-pound champion, and was already a star. She headlined UFC 157 and soon thereafter began to transcend the realm of fighting, appearing on covers of magazines, in pop culture references, in movies, and even making an appearance at the WWE’s SummerSlam 2014.
She defended the 135-pound belt six times between 2013-2015.
In November of last year, Rousey the previously undefeated Rousey lost her title against Holly Holm at UFC 193 in Melbourne. She has since taken a break from fighting to focus on movies and to restore her appetite to return to the Octagon.
When talking about the grind of fighting, and all the psychological tolls, Rousey said it was the waiting that bothered her the most.
"I think it’s more of the build-up that’s more tiring than anything else," she said. "Like, if we had a fight right now, I’d be like, I’d fight right now and I’ll go get dinner, and I wouldn’t feel like really tired about it. It’s the weeks and weeks of build-up beforehand, and you know you’re fighting this one person, and it’s this showdown, the most important thing in your life, and millions of people are watching.
"It’s that build-up for weeks on end. If it just happened right now, I wouldn’t be nervous at all. It’s the waiting."
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