Ronda Rousey has not been seen in the Octagon since Holly Holm kicked her into oblivion, and now UFC president Dana White has clarified exactly why.
Speaking to Colin Cowherd on Thursday on “The Herd,” White revealed Rousey was recovering from a number of small surgeries.
“Ronda had a bunch of minor surgeries and they’re healing up and when they are, I’m assuming she’s going to fight,” White said.
The news that Rousey is recovering from multiple surgeries finally sheds light on why the UFC’s biggest star hasn’t fought since November 2015, when she was destroyed by Holm at UFC 193 in Melbourne, Australia.
The damage Rousey took in the fight was so extensive that she was immediately assessed a six-month medical suspension by the UFC, which would have put her in line for a possible rematch with Holm at UFC 200 in July. But news on Rousey’s future went eerily quiet until White revealed in June that Rousey had undergone minor knee surgery and would be out for even longer than anyone imagined.
Fox Sports reported Rousey is in talks to return for a Dec. 30 pay-per-view card in Las Vegas, with new bantamweight champ Amanda Nunes a likely opponent at this point.
While Rousey sat on the sidelines recuperating, the UFC’s bantamweight division — which Rousey had dominated for years — was thrown into total chaos.
First, Holm got impatient, decided not to wait for a Rousey rematch, and lost to Miesha Tate in her first title defense. Then Tate, a journeywoman fighter whom Rousey destroyed on two separate occasions, talked a lot of trash and promptly lost the belt to up-and-comer Nunes. Finally, Holm lost in her comeback fight and the consensus best female fighter in the world, Cristiane “Cyborg” Justino, apparently figured out how to cut enough weight to get close to the 135-pound bantamweight limit.
Even though the bantamweight division is a total mess and a super-fight rematch with Holm is off the table, White is still extremely bullish on Rousey’s eventual return.
“I think Ronda Rousey’s return will be the biggest pay-per-view we’ve ever done,” White told Cowherd. “If you’d have told me 15 years ago that women would be fighting in the UFC, and if you told me that women would be as technically sound as the men, and the fights would be loved by millions of people all over the world, and it would be the hottest thing going on in the UFC, I would have never believed you.”
People can’t wait to watch this butt kick some *ss:Â