USA TODAY International Edition
Which Rousey will we see next?
Anticipated return, title opportunity come in December
Ronda Rousey, according to the official UFC rankings, is the third- best female combatant in the organization’s bantamweight division. She is not one of the two women in the overall top 15 pound- for- pound ratings.
The last time most of the public saw Rousey, she was flat out on the canvas in Australia after getting knocked out by Holly Holm. Rousey has barely said a word in public since.
Yet there is no other athlete in fight sports who could generate the flurry of focus sparked when Ultimate Fighting Championship President Dana White said Wednesday that Rousey’s return, long rumored and much debated, was imminent.
It will happen Dec. 30 at UFC 207 in Las Vegas and will be the start of the next chapter in the Rousey saga. Whatever happens in her title fight vs. champion Amanda Nunes, it will make for fascinating viewing. Whether you like Rousey’s no- nonsense, uncompromising approach or bristle at her forthright and unapologetic tone, she’s one of those rare sports figures that you can’t ignore, not that you’d want to.
That’s because the latest chapter promises to be even more compelling than what came before it. There was something remarkable about Rousey when she looked utterly unstoppable in rolling to 12 consecutive wins from March 2011 to August 2015. She was a genuine superhero, with the look, the attitude and even her own signature move, the armbar, capable of snapping the ligaments and psyches of opponents in an instant.
Now things are different, in- triguingly so. Now she has been shown to be fallible. Never again will Rousey enter the cage with an overwhelming sense of invincibility.
Nunes ( 13- 4) is a powerful and confident Brazilian who wrenched the bantamweight title from Miesha Tate at UFC 200 in July. Rousey will be the favorite, but Nunes is a live underdog with a point to prove and plenty of confidence.
So many questions beckon. Will Rousey’s cockiness have been dented irreparably by her crushing defeat to Holm? Did that result expose weaknesses that had previously remained unearthed? Or was it a welcome wake- up call that will make her better than ever?
Quite clearly, the women’s bantamweight division has made rapid strides in terms of technical progress. Nunes is proof of that. Always strong and fearless, Nunes was once ragged and inconsistent before sharpening her game and rattling off three wins in a row against current top- eight opponents. Rousey, previously so indestructible, knows she will need to keep evolving to remain at the top.
Rousey’s success from this point will hinge on what lessons she has learned. She became overwhelmed by the media whirl before the Holm beatdown and got too wrapped up in hyping the fight, including a manic outburst at the weigh- in that indicated a mind ill at ease.
If it had all became too much, it would be understandable.
On top of shouldering more promotional responsibility than any other UFC fighter, she also signed on to star in several movies and television commercials and was even rumored to be in line for a temporary switch to boxing. Money flowed in, more than she could count, more than she could have dreamed of while tending bar and smoking pot a few years earlier.
Indications are that the humbling loss has provided perspective. Rousey has scaled back on her external commitments and will be taking no chances with Nunes. It is a different Rousey perhaps, but with the same irresistible gravitas.
Whether she gets back to being the all- conquering marauder of old or is a more beatable imitation, the plot merely thickens, and the anticipation builds.