Is A Ronda Rousey Appearance At The Mae Young Classic An Indication Of Her WWE Debut?
In spite of her intense training routines, Ronda Rousey hasn’t performed well in her last attempts to regain her UFC belt, and even UFC President Dana White doubts the MMA fighter will be returning in the future. While Rousey’s absence from a recent UFC event all but confirmed her retirement from MMA fighting, Ronda did spur rumors about a potential WWE debut with an appearance she did make.
Is Ronda Rousey Leaving The UFC For The WWE?
For women of the UFC, the biggest night of the year was recently held — a banquet to honor the female MMA fighters. As MMA Junkie reports, the event, which focused around a “Women of UFC” discussion panel to celebrate Fight Week, drew in professional fighters from all over. The massive draw only made Ronda Rousey’s absence from the event that much more noticeable, leaving many to wonder if her snub of the UFC event was confirmation of her retirement from the sport.
It has long been suspected that Rousey would not be returning to fight, following her latest defeat and her failure to reclaim the women’s bantamweight title. Dana White, president of the UFC, has also expressed his remorse at suspecting that Ronda would not be back.
Yet, it seems Ronda may already be planning on jumping into another kind of ring.
This year, the WWE kicked off a new kind of event, titled the Mae Young Classic. A 32-woman wrestling tournament, the Mae Young Classic may become an annual competition, which may explain why the WWE sent out invitations to this year’s debut. Among the invitees was Ronda Rousey, and while she may have snubbed the UFC’s Fight Week events, she showed up with a gleeful smile for the Mae Young Classic.
Ronda Rousey Could Be A Promising New WWE Wrestler
As a big wrestling fan, Ronda has often done her part in fueling rumors that she would consider a WWE career, though, previously, those rumors seemed to die off without coming to fruition. Forbes reports that there may be more truth to the gossip, now that Rousey seems to have given up on her UFC dreams.
Rousey did make an appearance at WrestleMania 31, but has yet to fully commit to joining the organization as a wrestler. Now that Shayna Baszler, Ronda’s former training partner, has signed up to wrestle for the WWE, Ms. Rousey might be more willing to compete herself.
The prospect is appealing for both Ronda Rousey and for the WWE, which may explain at least a partial motivation for her invite to the Mae Young Classic. For Ronda, it would give her an opportunity to launch a new career and her past training regimens have certainly prepared her for the rigors of wrestling.
For the WWE, they would be getting a popular fighter with a large following, something that would boost interest in the Mae Young Classic, as well as in their women’s division in general.
It may only be a matter of time before Ronda Rousey officially announces her first WWE match.
[Featured Image by David Becker/Getty Images]
