Ronda Rousey appears to be well on her way to making weight for her highly anticipated return to the Octagon.
The former UFC women’s bantamweight queen hasn’t been seen inside the Octagon since losing her belt to Holly Holm head kick at UFC 193. After that thunderous head kick heard around the world shattered the invincibility myth, Rousey stayed out of the spotlight and we have had precious few updates on her development as a fighter bar a few grainy sparring clips.
Holm lost the coveted strap in her first defence to Miesha Tate at UFC 196 in arguably the greatest title fight the division has ever seen before it fell into Amanda Nunes’ hands when she annihilated ‘Cupcake’ in UFC 200’s main event.
It was subsequently announced that Rousey would be matched up against Nunes in UFC 207’s headliner, set to go down at Las Vegas’ T-Mobile Arena on December 30. Rousey will be hoping that she will emerge from the fight remaining the only fighter to ever successfully defend the title.
Rousey is back in action on December 30 https://t.co/OaGx5fAFvE
— FootballJOE (@FootballJOE) October 17, 2016
Ronda Rousey was arguably the sport’s biggest superstar before she took her break. She had fully broken into the mainstream with her appearances on huge talk shows such as Ellen and her cameos in Hollywood blockbusters including Furious 7.
However, when she started shying away from the media, people started having their concerns. At first, these were mainly to do with her development as a fighter. Considering how much the sport has evolved in the last year alone, fans feared that she may have fallen behind. Many saw the loss to Holm as confirmation that elite strikers were her kryptonite.
Another worry fans had was whether she was training sufficiently for combat. A heartbreaking defeat can have a huge impact on an athlete’s mindset to the point where they may lose their passion for honing their skills or even just keeping in shape. However, judging by reports of her walking around weight, she has at least made an effort to stay in peak physical condition.
According to MMA Fighting’s Ariel Helwani, Rousey was walking around at 140 lbs just 24 days before fight night. In previous fight camps, Rowdy would normally be in the low 150s at this point, so she’s well on her way to making the 135 lb weight limit.
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