Ronda Rousey returned to UFC and the Octagon on Friday, Dec. 30 for UFC 207. She challenged the women’s bantamweight champion, Amanda Nunes, in the main event. And just as she did in her last fight, a loss to Holly Holm, Rousey looked outmatched. She tried to box with the bantamweight champ and got absolutely lit up. 48 seconds into the fight, the referee stopped it as Rousey suffered her second-straight loss.
Considering her background in judo and the fact that she lost to Holm by trying to stand up, you’d think that Ronda Rousey would’ve learned her lesson heading into UFC 207. Instead, she seemed to learn nothing. After over a year off, she took almost the exact same type of loss—though quicker. Now you have to wonder what’s next for the woman who was once the face and most dominant figure in the sport.
Maybe, just maybe, that next step will be talking with the McMahon family and heading to WWE.
Throughout her MMA career, Rousey has never been secretive about her love for professional wrestling. She was present and part of the show at WrestleMania 31 and has been seen at numerous independent shows throughout the country. What’s more, her friend and fellow Four Horsewoman, Shayna Baszler, has recently been wrestling on the independent scene. Moreover, she’s long been rumored as someone that Vince McMahon covets to have be part of a WWE show. So the connection there isn’t hard to make.
Of course, the biggest roadblock between Ronda Rousey and WWE would be the simple fact that she’s still a UFC fighter under contract. While she may have lost some luster following the loss to Holm and this loss at UFC 207, Dana White still sees money in her. So him letting her go wouldn’t really be in the cards. In essence, she would have to walk away from the sport of MMA and retire for WWE to even be a possibility.
With that said, she could be an absolute star in the world of pro wrestling and WWE. Rousey has the looks and obviously the fighting background to make real waves in that avenue. As WWE has also increased their focus on women’s wrestling in the past year, that too plays in Rousey’s favor. She could come in with instant credibility as a physical threat and be potentially the biggest female star in WWE history—in theory of course.
The money would be there for Rousey in WWE in terms of her stardom, and in terms of what the McMahons would be willing to pay to get her under contract. However, it all depends on what the former bantamweight champ thinks she has left in MMA. If the Nunes loss at UFC 207 is any indication, though, WWE might actually be Ronda Rousey’s best option moving forward.