It’s been greater than 11 years since Ronda Rousey helped usher in a brand new period of ladies’s sport after she debuted within the UFC with a win over Liz Carmouche at UFC 157.
Till that evening in Anaheim, Calif., girls had by no means competed within the UFC, however Rousey’s magnetism and star energy lastly satisfied Dana White to launch a division largely primarily based round her presence. Greater than a decade later, girls are cemented as superstars and equals on the UFC roster, however it began with Rousey.
Sadly, her exit from the game ended with a dramatic thud after Rousey suffered back-to-back knockout losses and successfully retired from the game earlier than ultimately being inducted into the UFC Corridor of Fame. Regardless of all her accolades, Rousey has admitted that she has a troublesome relationship with MMA as of late, and went so far as saying she’d count on a damaging response if she ever walked into an enviornment for UFC occasion.
Whereas she actually can’t inform followers how they need to really feel, Carmouche — the opposite half of that historic 2013 battle — provided nothing however reward when addressing Rousey’s MMA legacy.
“I’d hope with what she’s performed within the historical past of this sport, whether or not it ended on a very good notice or it ended on a nasty notice, she completed a lot and made girls’s MMA what it’s at this time, and we must always present her the respect that she earned,” Carmouche informed MMA Preventing. “Let her shut it that approach.
“Now, if she’s again right here speaking, ‘I hate MMA followers, I hate MMA,’ that’s a bit bit totally different, however I believe we have to give her credit score the place credit score is due.”
Rousey blamed an extended historical past with concussions as the key contributing issue to her UFC exit. She dated her first concussion all the way in which again to childhood swimming, however the issues solely multiplied after years spent competing in judo after which doing MMA.
Rousey believes definitely that her concussions struggles performed an element in her remaining two knockout losses by the hands of Holly Holm and Amanda Nunes in consecutive fights.
After all, many consider Rousey addressing her points now appears like an excuse for her losses, however Carmouche understands simply how debilitating a concussion will be for a fighter.
“I actually understand how a lot concussions can actually change an individual,” Carmouche stated. “It modifications their chemistry, the whole lot. So if she has proof of that and that’s what’s been taking place, then I want she would have gotten the assistance she wanted from the start to hopefully change how she went out from her MMA profession, to have the ability to go to a unique chapter.”
Nonetheless, Carmouche says Rousey’s contributions to the game are plain. In actual fact, Carmouche admits that as a lot as she wished to win again in 2013, she’s undecided girls’s MMA would’ve ever reached the heights it did until Rousey was the face of all of it.
“Girls’s MMA wouldn’t be the place it’s [without Rousey],” Carmouche stated. “As a lot as I can look again and be like, ‘I want it had been a unique end result and I received the belt,’ I don’t assume it might have performed out the way in which it did if Ronda hadn’t been the one who received the belt.”
Whereas Rousey hasn’t competed since 2016, Carmouche hasn’t slowed down one bit.
On Friday, Carmouche competes within the semifinals of the continued 2024 PFL flyweight match, when she faces Taila Santos with an opportunity to maneuver into the championship spherical, the place the winner earns a title belt and a $1 million prize.
Carmouche is aware of she’s traveled a troublesome highway to get right here — together with a pair of rematches she needed to endure simply to make it to the PFL playoff format — however she expects being battle-tested to assist her in ways in which cruising to the playoffs might damage another fighters.
“You’ll be able to’t actually argue on the subject of the outcomes that I’m getting,” Carmouche stated. “With my wins, I really should be the place I’m at, whereas you’ll be able to’t at all times say that about different folks.”
