Former UFC champion Ronda Rousey made the jump to WWE with a surprise appearance at the Royal Rumble last night.
Once considered one of the most dangerous women in MMA, Rousey is now fully committed to wrestling.
Rousey appeared to a roaring crowd of fans after the women’s Royal Rumble in Philadelphia, and pointed to a WrestleMania sign — scheduled for New Orleans in April — as Joan Jett’s ‘Bad Reputation’ blared through the arena.
Rousey said:
This is my life now. Yeah, they have first priority on my time for the next several years.
This is not a smash and grab, this is not a publicity stunt.
When I first met with Triple H, I told him, ‘There are other things I can do with my time that’ll make way more money, but I won’t enjoy nearly as much.’
The 30-year-old Californian was the first American woman to earn an Olympic medal in judo and won 12 consecutive MMA fights, six in the UFC.
Her appearance at the Royal Rumble came as a shock because she previously ruled it out in an interview and posted an Instagram video of her at the weekend in Colombia enjoying a night out with the crew filming her latest movie Mile 22 with Mark Wahlberg and John Malkovich.
Rousey has been having regular meetings with WWE executive Paul Levesque, aka Triple H, to discuss her interest in the deal.
We haven’t seen Rousey fight since she suffered a 48-second loss to Amanda Nunes at UFC 207 in December 2016.
Rousey lost two straight bouts in 13 months and took a break to extend her entertainment credits, including some time as team coach in the reboot of ‘Battle of the Network Stars’.
The MMA star would not commit to saying she’s retired from UFC when she was asked directly by ESPN.
She said:
That’s what everybody else seems to say — I mean, I never retired from judo. So that’s what you guys want to think.
All I know is I really want to devote 100 per cent of my time to wrestling right now and whatever people want to call that they can call it.
UFC President Dana White said Rousey will never fight again for the company, and Rousey said she hasn’t followed MMA in the past year.
Ronda Rousey adopted the ‘Rowdy’ nickname from WWE Hall of Famer ‘Rowdy’ Roddy Piper.
Rousey famously stood with Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson as they fought off the villainous Triple H and McMahon in a segment at WrestleMania in 2015.
Good luck to her!
