Ronda Rousey’s Future Remains A Mystery With Latest Instagram Post

Ronda Rousey’s future still seems to be up in the air as the fighter’s latest Instagram post suggests she is still on a spiritual journey of sorts. Rousey’s first knockout loss to Holly Holm in 2015 sent her into a deep depression, but Ronda’s second loss seems to have awakened another side of her — the philosophical side.

Ronda has been media silent since her loss to UFC bantamweight champion Amanda Nunes in December. Many have questioned if Rousey will ever fight again after her shocking 48-second knockout loss to Nunes and several within the UFC have speculated that Ronda has made her last trip into the Octagon.

At the peak of her UFC career, Ronda Rousey was 12-0 and seemed unstoppable. Rousey’s last two fights have ended in losses by knockout leading some to speculate Ronda is on the verge of retirement.

According to MMA Weekly, Dana White said last week that a phone conversation he had with Ronda suggested to him she might be done with her mixed martial arts career.

“I think she’s probably done and she’s going to ride off into the sunset and live her life outside of fighting,” White had said of Rousey.

During the press conference following her beatdown of Ronda, Amanda Nunes suggested that Rousey step away from the sport stating that Ronda was getting older, had made a lot of money, and there was no need for her to continue to jeopardize her physical health as Rousey had already achieved so much. Ronda’s mother has also been very vocal about her hope that Rousey would hang up the gloves and move on to something less taxing on her body.

That being said, Rousey hasn’t seemed to have made a definitive decision one way or the other, even alluding to the fact that she was going to use that loss to Nunes as a means of building herself from the ground up.

One surprising person who is rooting for Ronda’s return to the Octagon, however, is former UFC bantamweight champion Holly Holm. Holm was the first one to ever beat Ronda Rousey and took the title from her in a shocking second-round knockout. According to Rolling Stone, Holm thinks Ronda is like many other fighters who consider retirement but ultimately miss the competition so much they return.

“Ronda might be done, but she really accomplished a lot. She might feel like, ‘You know what: I did a lot in the sport, I’m a legend in the sport. I can hang up my gloves.’ She might think that and say she’s retired, but then in two years she might think, ‘I’ve had enough of this other life. Fighting is what I want to do again.’ It’s a thin line. I’ve seen fighters retire multiple times,” Holm told Rolling Stone of Rousey’s leaving the sport.

While Ronda’s future in the sport remains a mystery, she has been making some notable waves in regard to social justice issues. Last month, DAPL protesters were surprised when Rousey showed up on the front lines to show support for the cause.

According to TMZ, Rousey vowed to protesters that she would return to Standing Rock and face pepper spray if necessary. Considering that the Trump administration has authorized the continuation of the pipeline, it’s possible Ronda may be asked to make good on that promise. And it seems that opposition to Trump’s policies may be something Ronda is genuine about. Following President Trump’s executive order banning certain countries from entering the United States, the recently quiet Rousey used her Instagram to let him know her thoughts on the matter.

While we know that Ronda has been filming several movie projects and working on other things, perhaps Rousey really is retiring from MMA and venturing into a new form of fighting — social activism.

[Featured Image by David Becker/Getty Images]