Ronda Rousey Refuses to Retire but Dana White Doesn’t Want Her to Fight Again

Dana White discusses the latest with former champion Ronda Rousey

All signs are pointing towards Ronda Rousey never fighting again but the former UFC women’s champion still isn’t ready to declare her retirement.

Rousey hasn’t fought since last December when she suffered a stunning first round knockout to current champion Amanda Nunes. That fight came 13 months after Rousey was knocked out by Holly Holm in the fight that cost her the UFC women’s bantamweight title that she had previously defended on six occasions.

Following the loss to Nunes last year, UFC president Dana White said that he expected Rousey to retire from the sport and call it a career but she still hasn’t gone through with that just yet for whatever reason he’s not sure.

“She has not retired. USADA is still popping up at her house testing her. She refuses to retire,” White said about Rousey on Tuesday. “She’s not ready to say ‘I quit’. She’s not ready to say ‘I’m done’ for whatever reason.

“She doesn’t tick like everybody else ticks. We found that out over the years.”

Despite Rousey’s defiance regarding her retirement, White says that he’s seen all he wants out of the former champion when it comes to her fighting career.

“I wouldn’t want to see it,” White said about Rousey returning to fight again. “I don’t want it to happen. I care about her and she’s got enough money and all that stuff. I don’t want to see it happen.”

Rousey has largely shied away from the public spotlight since her loss to Nunes last year outside of her recent wedding to UFC heavyweight Travis Browne and popping up for appearances on TV series such as “Blindspot” on NBC or sitting ringside to watch her friend and fellow UFC veteran Shayna Baszler compete as a professional wrestler in WWE.

White says more than anything, Rousey is just enjoying life as a regular person these days, which is not something she was afforded after taking up judo as a kid and the continuing on as an athlete in the Olympics before becoming a UFC champion.

“She’s good. She’s happy. She’s happy doing her thing,” White said about Rosuey. “If you look at Ronda Rousey, where she is now in her life, she accomplished everything she ever wanted to accomplish and now she wants to have a life, like a personal life. Enjoy all the hard work she put in. She’s been working since she was a kid.

“She’s achieved everything she wanted to do, she made a s–t load of money and now she wants to actually have a life.”

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Damon Martin is a veteran mixed martial arts journalist who has been covering the industry since 2003 with bylines on FOX Sports, CNN, Bleacher Report and numerous other outlets.

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