Ronda Rousey caused a stir when she said last week that she might retire from MMA in two years. Rousey’s comment came in the context of her newfound acting career — she has roles in “The Expendables 3” and “Fast & Furious 7.” The UFC women’s bantamweight champion is not transitioning from fighting to acting yet, but she said she might be ready to move on to the next phase in her life in two years.
UFC boss Dana White says that’s not happening.
“There’s no way in hell [she retires in two years],” White said at a UFC press conference in Boston on Thursday, per MMA Fighting.
White then repeated the same line he has used in the past when confronted with the possibility of losing one of his stars to the movies.
“I don’t care what Hollywood offers, they’re ain’t paying what we’re paying,” White said. “These guys, when they go out and make a movie, they’re not paying what we are.”
White may be confident that Rousey, 26, is not retiring in two years, but Rousey is thinking about her long-term prospects. Why fight for a living if she can make money acting?
“I think one profession has a much-longer shelf life than the other,” Rousey told MMA Junkie last week. “My last fight, I was kind of forced to face my mortality a little bit. I had an air of invincibility about me, and I was kind of forced to realize statistically there is a chance you could get permanently hurt or even die. There’s only so many times you can roll the dice.”
Rousey says that she wants to have an exit strategy in place for MMA because she knows it’s a short-term career. She also noted that she has experience as an Olympian and is used to working in four-year spans. In two years, her most recent four-year span of competing at a high level will be over.
I don’t think that Rousey will be done fighting in two years, but I think this is an indication that we should prepare for the likelihood that she won’t stick around the sport for too long. Since she’s one of the biggest figures in the sport, White will do almost anything to keep her around.
