Ronda Rousey is just 10 days removed from the worst beating of her career and the match that many are speculating will be her final appearance inside the octagon.
Until today, her fans did not have much to go on regarding the former UFC Bantamweight Champion’s future, and while Monday’s Instagram post did not quite clarify any of that, it did offer a glimpse of where she’s at mentally.
To get across the point, Ronda Rousey channeled her inner Harry Potter with this quote from the J.K. Rowling novels.
“And so rock bottom became the solid foundation on which I rebuilt my life.”
Ronda has certainly been at rock bottom following two consecutive knockouts — the first in November 2015, and the second to Amanda Nunes at UFC 207.
As with the 12 consecutive wins that launched Rousey’s MMA career, neither of her losses lasted very long. Holm dispatched her inside of a minute into the second round, while Nunes only took 48 seconds.
In between those two fights, there were 13 months of near radio silence from Rousey, and even more speculation as to how much longer she would be in the sport.
Now that Ronda Rousey has broken her social media silence, fans are hoping that she will follow it up with something more substantive in the not-too-distant future.
Thus far, the post has garnered more than 238,000 likes and close to 12,000 comments. Aside from the inevitable Ronda trolling — “Biggest fraud in any sports history. Society don’t need people like you. Stay under that rock,” and other similar comments pepper the feedback — there are many voicing support for the breakthrough athlete.
Perhaps the most surprising from that number is her longtime rival Cris Cyborg. Over the years, the two have traded not-so-friendly insults with one another.
Ronda Rousey has been the guiltiest, painting Cyborg as a steroid abuser and a cheater while Cyborg frequently accused Rousey of ducking her and took great joy in the Holly Holm loss on social media.
Cyborg (real name Cristiane Justino) always wanted a big money fight with Ronda, but was never granted the opportunity. But despite the bad blood, she does not seem to like the place where Rousey currently is, so she shared these words of encouragement via Yahoo News.
“I was sad to see the loss of the sports star. But you [Ronda Rousey] have so much ahead of you and [are] blessed with the financial security to pursue all your passions. You opened the door for more promotion and grew into a sport icon. [Enjoy] the next chapter of life and know you’ve got amazing opportunities to continue changing the world.”
Ronda has not responded to the comment, and likely will continue to keep a low profile until she decides what the next move for her career will be.
Thus far, she has had supporting roles in two big budget movies — The Expendables 3 and the seventh Fast & Furious — and has written a bestselling memoir.
While fans of Rousey believe she can continue in both career paths, fellow MMA fighter Chael Sonnen took an opposing view in a recent episode of his You’re Welcome podcast — the one with Michael Rappaport — stating that the Nunes loss will “parlay a domino effect” that will jeopardize the rest of her career choices.
“None of this would be here without @RondaRousey !” – @danawhite #ArmbarNation #RouseyEffect pic.twitter.com/q7PjTv4Gnb
— Team Rousey (@ArmbarNation) January 3, 2017
But what do you think, readers?
Is Ronda Rousey done in the sport of MMA, and if so, what do you think her best options are moving forward? Sound off in the comments section below.
[Featured Image by UFC ]