Ronda Rousey is falling back in love with the sport of MMA almost nine years after she left the sport following two violent losses.
Rousey was the second biggest name in the sport for years and carried the women’s bantamweight division on her back for years after the UFC added females to the sport in 2013. But a bad knockout loss to Holly Holm and a quick stoppage against Amanda Nunes in 2016 pushed her to retire. She later said that concussions suffered through her entire combat sports career left
her unable to even take a jab.
But after giving birth to her second child at the beginning of 2025, Rousey started training again to get back into shape. Now she’s fighting fit and continuing to train. For what exactly? Rumors have her positioned to fight Kayla Harrison, and her latest social media postings aren’t going to quiet that speculation.
The new video from Rousey shows her working on her striking, contrasting a video she took after giving birth to how she’s performing now.
“From 8 weeks after having a baby and 8 years of stepping away from MMA to 8 months postpartum and finding my love for it again,” Rousey captioned the video. “The first clip is my first session working with AJ Matthews. I was super self conscious, embarrassed of how much I regressed, and honestly trying my very best not to pee my pants throwing punches so soon after having baby Pā’ū.”
“Second clip was yesterday, I’ve never laughed or smiled so much on the mat as I do these days. The last 6 months have been an absolute blast, feels like I have so much left to grow, and without the weight of the world on my shoulders nothing is holding me back.”
So could we see a UFC return from Rousey? Current UFC women’s bantamweight champion Kayla Harrison has hinted that “Rowdy” could be her opponent at the big UFC White House card at the end of June.
“After I whoop up on Amanda, I’m going to fight hopefully someone in particular at the White House, and I think it’s going to really play out nicely, it’s going to be sick,” Harrison told ESPN. “I can’t say [who] yet because it’s not all in my control. Some things have to happen in order for this plan to happen, if that makes sense. You’ve got to be in the right time, right place. Give it time, let it simmer.”
As for what Ronda has said of a return, she’s implied that the right opportunity for the right amount of money could draw her back. The only issue? She is about as far from a Donald Trump supporter as possible, once saying Dana White asked her not to trash talk his buddy in public.
“I’m not fighting at the White House,” she declared in a recent podcast appearance. “After Mike Tyson being in the biggest fight of the year, you never say never. But I ain’t fighting at the f–king White House … I got better s–t to do. My kid needs pasta.”
It seems like nothing is easy for UFC when it comes to setting up fights involving its biggest names. Fortunately, the UFC already has Conor McGregor and Jon Jones clamoring to fight at the White House. And if they want to splash Rousey with cash in 2026 for a return fight, maybe we get that on another date.
