{"id":533261,"date":"2026-03-11T12:31:10","date_gmt":"2026-03-11T12:31:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/533261\/"},"modified":"2026-03-11T12:31:10","modified_gmt":"2026-03-11T12:31:10","slug":"ronda-rousey-on-return-to-mma-im-better-than-ive-ever-been","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/533261\/","title":{"rendered":"Ronda Rousey On Return To MMA: \u2018I\u2019m Better Than I\u2019ve Ever Been\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ronda Rousey has announced her return to professional MMA for a bout against Gina Carano on May 16, 2026. This contest marks Rousey\u2019s first appearance in the sport since December 2016, following a decade-long absence. While her initial UFC career\u00a0ended with consecutive losses to Holly Holm and Amanda Nunes, Rousey stated during an interview with\u00a0TMZ Sports<\/a> that she has become\u00a0a more capable fighter than she was during her original championship reign.<\/p>\n

A New Era of Mixed Martial Arts Coaching<\/p>\n

The landscape of the sport has changed since Rousey last competed as a bantamweight. During her original run, Rousey was famously coached by Edmond Tarverdyan at Glendale Fighting Club, a partnership that faced scrutiny following her loss of the title. In her recent discussion with TMZ Sports, Rousey highlighted the lack of specialized MMA coaching available during the early 2010s compared to the resources she has used for this upcoming camp.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m better than I\u2019ve ever been. I\u2019m definitely better than I\u2019ve ever been,\u201d Rousey told TMZ Sports. \u201cIt just really helps so much that the landscape of the sport has changed. People forgot that when I was competing before there were no coaches with MMA experience. There was no one with MMA experience with coaching experience. So usually the person with the most MMA experience on the team was the fighter. And everybody else had their own separate discipline and it was up to the fighter themselves to try and piece things together. Finally with this camp, I have help with that. I\u2019m not just guessing and having to go and spar over and over and over again and try and piece things together and figure things out. It\u2019s us as a team actually developing all of this together.\u201d<\/p>\n

Technique Over Explosiveness in Combat Sports<\/p>\n

Now approaching age 40, Rousey acknowledged that her physical attributes have shifted since her peak years in the UFC. Known for her rapid armbar finishes and Olympic-level judo. However, she noted that her technical proficiency and understanding of the sport have reached new levels. She believes her \u201cfight IQ\u201d is the highest it has ever been as she prepares to face Carano, who herself has not competed in MMA since a 2009 loss to Cris Cyborg in Strikeforce.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was more strong and more explosive and, more cartilage and collagen before. But always what set me apart is my technique and how skilled I am as a martial artist,\u201d Rousey explained. \u201cAnd I\u2019ve never been more skilled, my technique\u2019s never been better, I\u2019ve never had a better and higher fight IQ. This is definitely the best that I\u2019ve ever been.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ronda Rousey has announced her return to professional MMA for a bout against Gina Carano on May 16,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":533262,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[570],"tags":[64,63,786,785,15809,85],"class_list":["post-533261","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mma","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-fighting","tag-mma","tag-ronda-rousey","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/533261","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=533261"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/533261\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/533262"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=533261"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=533261"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=533261"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}