Ronda Rousey Reveals That Years of Concerning Concussions Led to Her Abrupt Retirement from Fighting 

Ronda Rousey is finally telling the world why she retired from MMA.

While promoting her upcoming memoir Our fight in an Instagram Live interview Thursday, the former UFC women’s bantamweight champion, 37, directly addressed why she suddenly left the sport in December 2016 following a TKO loss to Amanda Nunes.

“My history of concussions that I had to keep under wraps for years so I could continue to compete and perform, that’s actually why I had to retire,” she said on Instagram Live when her interviewer and sister, Maria Burns-Ortiz, (who co-authored the book) asked her to list facts her fans don’t know about her.

Prior to 2015, Rousey was an Olympic judo bronze medalist who had never lost a fight in MMA and had defended her UFC title six consecutive times. She suffered her first career loss against Holly Holm at UFC 193 in December 2015.

:Ronda Rousey hits FOX’s Stars On Mars “The Mars Bar” VIP red carpet in June 2023.

Frazer Harrison/Getty

Ronda Rousey hints at retirement with cryptic post on Instagram

Holm, 42, kicked Rousey in the head and knocked her out to win the fight.

On Instagram Live, the former WWE performer also finally spoke publicly for the first time about the loss.

“I think it took so much [my feelings about that loss]that I wouldn’t be able to talk about it in the form of an interview or an article or anything like that, because there would be a few filters between my words and the people who read it,” she said, adding that the reason she took on the loss was such a bad connection to her history diseases.

Ronda Rousey celebrates her victory in August 2015.

Josh Hedges/Zuffa LLC/Zuffa LLC via Getty

“There was so much to do with so many concussions when I was in judo before I even got into MMA, I couldn’t even talk about it when I was doing MMA because it would literally put a target on my head and I might not would be allowed to continue competing.”

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Rousey, who was a WWE entertainer from 2018 to 2023 after retiring from the UFC, said that even after she retired, publicly discussing her concussion history would jeopardize her place in the wrestling entertainment organization.

Maria Burns-Ortiz and Rousey.

Ronda Rousey/Instagram

“Same thing with WWE. They have a complicated history with their performers getting concussions, and that would be a bad look for them. So I felt like I really couldn’t talk about it at all,” Rousey admitted, adding that feels like the memoir was the only way she could talk about the end of her career.

At the end of the conversation, Rousey said her “body” decided it was time to retire after two straight losses, even though she appeared to be in the prime of her career.

Our fight it will be available on April 2nd.

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