Ronda Rousey sat down with ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne for their ESPN cover story and she has her sites on a return to the octagon.
“I need to come back,” Rousey said. “I need to beat this chick. Who knows if I’m going to pop my teeth out or break my jaw or rip my lip open again. I have to f*cking do it. It doesn’t matter. I have to do it.”
SportsCenter host Scott Van Pelt read off some of Rousey’s recollections of the fight:
“She was hit with a Holm punch 30 seconds into the fight and she never felt the same after that. She said she wasn’t thinking clearly and didn’t have her legs, but told herself it would all be OK if she just kept fighting. Rousey even said that she spit blood onto the floor, not into the bucket in her corner, for the first time ever.”
Rousey is very open about her emotions regarding the loss but in none of those statements did she give an ounce of credit to Holm for being prepared and capitalizing on her mistakes. It all revolved around Rousey, like the division itself has since it’s inception.
“I just feel so embarrassed,” Rousey said. “How I fought after that is such an embarrassing representation of myself. I wasn’t even f*cking there.”
Between now and her rematch with Holm, Ronda will have to look herself in the mirror and take accountability for her loss. That is the only way that she’ll be able to step back into the octagon with a skill set equipped to beat Holly Holm. If she is naive enough to believe that she can go in the with the same game plan and exit with the belt then she may as well retire now and pursue acting full-time.
