Ronda Rousey reflected on the highs and lows of her MMA career following her victory over Gina Carano on Saturday night, saying she now believes her losses late in her UFC run ultimately benefited the sport.
Rousey (13-2 MMA, 6-2 UFC) returned to competition for the first time in nearly a decade to headline Most Valuable Promotion’s inaugural MMA event, which streamed live on Netflix from Intuit Dome. In familiar fashion, the former UFC bantamweight champion needed just 17 seconds to submit Carano (7-2), a performance she said marked the final fight of her career.
The victory capped an iconic combat sports journey that saw Rousey become one of the biggest stars in MMA history. After beginning her professional career with 12 consecutive victories, Rousey captured championship gold in Strikeforce before becoming the UFC’s inaugural women’s bantamweight champion.
Her UFC career, however, ended on a difficult note after consecutive knockout losses to Holly Holm and Amanda Nunes nearly a decade ago.
Speaking during the post-fight press conference after Saturday’s event, Rousey said she has come to view those defeats differently with the benefit of hindsight.
“I think this is much better than retiring undefeated,” Rousey said. “I think I didn't really learn until I went into pro wrestling and saw that, oh, if you retire with the title, you take all of that equity with you.”
Rousey explained that remaining undefeated and retiring on top could have harmed the long-term growth of women’s MMA, particularly the divisions she helped build.
“It would have been to the detriment of the division if I did that,” Rousey said. “And I think that's part of one reason why the 145-pound division is gone in the UFC. It retired with Amanda and I think it needs to be passed on and that was a really selfish goal for me to have.”
The former champion added that she is now grateful her legacy continued beyond her own reign, helping establish credibility for women’s MMA after her departure from the sport.
“I'm glad that my equity was able to live on past me and continue to give credibility to the division,” Rousey said. “And if I retired undefeated, I would have taken the credibility with me, and so it was the best thing for the sport.”
