Ronda Rousey explains what inspired her MMA comeback

Photo by Brandon Magnus/Zuffa LLC/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images

There are a few different things that have put the idea of fighting back in Ronda Rousey’s mind.

Although she recently lost the backing of Dakota Ditcheva, Rousey remains one of MMA’s most influential figures, inspiring countless athletes throughout her career.

After a decade away, ‘Rowdy’ will make her return by headlining the first-ever live MMA event on Netflix later today.

Both Rousey and her opponent Gina Carano are trailblazers in their own right. But it was the actions of another prominent woman in combat sports that helped bring this fight together.

Ronda Rousey wanted to blow her own purse record out of the water after Amanda Serrano beat it

Photo by Sarah Stier/Getty Images for Netflix

Mike Tyson’s return to the ring wasn’t the only thing that pulled Ronda Rousey back into fighting. There were other moves in combat sports that played a role in her decision.

One of those moments came when she learned that Amanda Serrano’s trilogy with Katie Taylor would set a new record for the highest single-fight purse earned by a female athlete, surpassing Rousey’s previous mark.

“I was never a money motivated person in fighting so I didn’t really give a s—, I was just kind of like whatever, I’ll just keep winning fights and money will come, I don’t care,” Rousey told the Pound 4 Pound podcast. “But, then I never realized that I put like a cap on the women.

“I was always thinking like I’m busting all these ceilings, I didn’t realize that I created one and I was like, man, that’s really not a very impressive record to beat and it should be much higher than that and I felt like oh, I could totally blow that out of the water today if I wanted to.”