UFC Hall of Famer Ronda Rousey has stirred fresh speculation about a possible return to the Octagon after years away from competition.
Nearly a decade since her last fight at UFC 207 against Amanda Nunes, Rousey has been back in training, sharing glimpses of her workouts that quickly went viral. Fans and even UFC CEO Dana White have taken notice, with White praising her for looking “jacked like she used to be.”
Rousey, who walked away from MMA after back-to-back losses to Holly Holm and Nunes, insists her recent return to training isn’t necessarily about mounting a comeback. For her, it’s about rediscovering the joy of movement and reconnecting with the sport she’s loved since childhood.
“I have a cage in my garage. It’s not like I went anywhere,” Rousey said with a laugh on *The Breakfast Club* podcast. “I really did mosey on out there to train. It’s awesome that I get to be kind of a spoiled brat now, where I’m like, ‘I just want to build a cage in my backyard and bring my friends over to do some karate.’ I’m just having fun with it again.”
Rousey admitted that, for a long time, fighting lost its spark.
“It got to a point where it kind of got hijacked from me,” she said. “I was fighting and training for reasons other than my own. After having my last baby, I just wanted to get my bodily identity back, not just being a vessel for creating another person. I wanted that freedom of movement again.”
At 38, Rousey is far from done athletically. Inspired by Mike Tyson’s 2024 return to the ring at age 58, she sees herself as someone who could still compete if she ever chose to.
“They’re like, ‘You look so good!’ Because I’m the greatest ever,” she said. “Of course, this is what happens when I train! I look great. Sorry. I don’t have to have a plan for world domination in mind. But Mike Tyson coming back and being the biggest fight of last year just kind of proves that I don’t think anyone’s ever really done.”
Her training journey started casually when a close friend asked for her help earning a black belt in judo. “I had a couple of mats in my garage, he would come over, and I’d show him some judo,” she said. “Then I started enjoying it again. He does wrestling and jiu-jitsu, and we’d roll around a little bit. My strength and conditioning coach had been coming through the years too, and he’s like, ‘How about you hold some paddles and hit some mitts?’ So it just kind of came from a place of joy.”
Rousey has been open about the toll of her fighting career, including the concussions that influenced her decision to step away from the sport. After her losses and eventual move to WWE, she avoided MMA altogether until she was inducted into the UFC Hall of Fame in 2018.
Now, she’s not promising a comeback, but she’s also not ruling one out. “It’s what my body really wants,” Rousey said. “It’s what I’ve been training to do my whole life, and I just feel healthier and better. I want to train again.”
For now, Ronda Rousey is content simply being back on the mats, reigniting her passion for MMA on her own terms.
“It makes me happy,” she said. “It’s really funny, I’m training and everyone’s like, ‘What are you training for?’ I’m like, for my own joy. Is that bad?”
