Women’s MMA superstar Ronda Rousey admitted that she was injured heading into her fight against Gina Carano on Netflix.
Rousey submitted Carano in just 17 seconds in the main event of MVP MMA: Rousey vs. Carano, which took place this past Saturday at Intuit Dome in Inglewood, California. It was a vintage performance by Rousey, who immediately took Carano down to the mat and tapped her out with an armbar just 17 seconds into the fight.
What makes the victory even more impressive is that Rousey apparently had an injury going into the fight.
Ronda Rousey Reveals Injury Before Gina Carano Fight
Speaking to reporters after she submitted Carano in the main event of the MVP MMA card, Rousey admitted that she was injured heading into the fight.
“I sprained my ankle or foot pretty bad like two-and-a-half weeks ago. This made me think of my first injury. As a kid, I broke my big toe in judo, and my mom made me run laps around the mat for the rest of the night, and she said, ‘You don’t know if you’re going to get hurt on the most important day. You could get hurt the day of the Olympics. You could get hurt when it really matters, and you need to know that your body listens to you, not the other way around,’” Rusey said (via MMAjunkie.com).
“I was like, ‘Man, thanks for the trauma, mama (laughs).’ Right when it happened, I’m like, we had two-and-a-half weeks left, and I’m like, ‘Well, looks like I’m doing this with my ankle messed up.’ But I basically never had a fight where I wasn’t injured in some way, you know? I didn’t ever pull out of a fight because I’d never been injured. I just never pulled out of a fight because I always fight anyway. So, that’s just part of it. And when it happened, I’m like, ‘This is part of it, and I’m the (expletive) best at this.’ I pushed through.”
What’s Next for Ronda Rousey?
After the fight with Carano was over, Rousey said that she was happy to walk away from MMA again and have more children with her husband, former UFC heavyweight Travis Browne. The couple has two children already, plus Browne has two kids from a previous relationship. Rousey said she plans on moving their family to Hawaii, where Browne is originally from, and settling down there, having more children with him as they look to grow their family.
That being said, she did make $2.2 million in disclosed pay for this fight with Carano, and it’s hard to turn down huge paydays if they’re out there. Given how easily she beat Carano, perhaps Rousey would consider one more MMA fight. If that’s the case, then fighters like Cris Cyborg have already thrown their name into the hat, plus former rivals like Holly Holm and Cat Zingano are out there. Most likely, Rousey is done and will head back into retirement. But you never know, and if the money is right, maybe she’ll compete again.
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