Ronda Rousey on WWE move: ‘I was always meant to be at WrestleMania’

At some point in her MMA career, Ronda Rousey transcended the small amount of fame that mixed martial arts alone can provide. She did talk shows, had book deals, appeared in blockbuster movies. Even beyond metrics like PPV buys and fight purses, MMA revolved around her in a way that had never been equaled before and has only been matched since by Conor McGregor.

It was a meteoric rise that was snuffed out just as quickly. For someone who so clearly had become more than just an MMA fighter, it was remarkable how much her profile was tied to her success in the cage. Losses to Holly Holm and Amanda Nunes were each followed by months of radio silence. Talk around multiple future movie deals largely dried up (she’s still in Mile 22 coming out sometime in 2018). And what public appearances she did make came with the provision that MMA was not to be mentioned.

“I remember my last fight, walking away thinking ‘God hates me.’ I had nothing left in me,” Rousey revealed in a recent interview for the WWE, the new home of the former UFC superstar (transcript via MMA Fighting).

When Rousey did eventually reemerge as a celebrity figure, earlier this year, it was with the long teased news that she would be joining World Wrestling Entertainment as a performer. She previously had a guest appearance at WrestleMania 31 in 2015 – at the height of her UFC run – and had often spoken of her pro-wrestling fandom. Eventually, it sounds like the decision was exactly what she needed.

“I’m not afraid to care anymore,” Rousey said. “I needed to be miserable then to be truly happy now. It’s all led to this and I didn’t even realize that I’ve always been on this path.”
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“I thought the Olympic gold medal was all I was ever gonna care about,” Rousey explained. “But life happens and things change. Then UFC was all I thought I was ever gonna care about. And then life happens and things change. Winning in WrestleMania, it feels like all I’ve ever cared about. I’ve been accumulating all the skills along the way to be the best at this. I was always meant to be on this stage. I was always meant to be at WrestleMania.”

Rousey also gave credit to her husband, UFC heavyweight Travis Browne, who she said reminded her after her losses that she had more to offer than just her talents in MMA. Since her public contract signing at the Elimination Chamber PPV, Rousey has had multiple appearances in WWE Raw, all building up to WrestleMania 34 on April 8th in New Orleans, LA. Now it just remains to be seen if she can recapture the kind of success in the ring that she had in the Octagon.