Ronda Rousey is looking to kick back up a revolution, but let’s face it — things are different than they were in 2013

If Carano was a pioneer in women’s MMA, Ronda of course was the revolution.

Right place, right time, right skill set.

Ronda Rousey sounds exactly like her old unstoppable self, but the world she’s returning to has long since moved on without her.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

(Sarah Stier via Getty Images)

So much of the “it” factor was in her attitude, too. The same attitude she carries into the here and now, into a different place, a different time, with a skill set that no longer calls for hyperbolic Tyson comparisons. If anything, after her “long weekend” away from MMA, Rousey’s confidence feels almost anachronistic, belonging to another day, to another generation.

Because it does. Much of what we’re dealing with is her residual greatness, which makes appreciation for her the game within the game.

“So now, me and Gina are smashing the record for the most women have ever been paid in combat sports,” she continued on. “Who’s to say we can’t parlay the success of this into me and her making a genre-shattering martial arts film with Netflix after this? Who’s to say that the success of this fight can’t create the rival that the UFC needs and give fighters the bargaining power that they’ve never had?”

For those who saw her then, that’s vintage Rousey. Big picture. Determined. Optimistic. Unapologetic. She’s always said what’s on her mind. She was so far ahead of the field that people lost their heads a little bit.

At UFC 175, for a pay-per-view title fight against Alexis Davis – yes, Alexis Davis headlined a PPV – I saw young girls crying when Rousey walked into the room. She was a deity above measure until Holly Holm kicked her senseless in Melbourne. That’s when Ronda hid her face from the cameras. Everyone who’d watched her handle success with the deftness of a superstar now saw something far less admirable in defeat.

It was like a revelation.

In the decade since her final UFC fight against Amanda Nunes, she’s been a complicated subject. Old feelings linger. She never asked for forgiveness, so you can forgive the diehards who were around then for being slow to welcome her back in 2026. After all, Rousey herself didn’t seem all that happy with MMA fans through those intervening years, either. She wasn’t doing herself any favors.

Maybe that’s why some fans aren’t sold, even if the Rousey of 2026 is talking like the Rousey of 2013, only this time instead of being the face of women’s MMA she’s talking about taking over the sport as we know it.

“Hell, if we knock this out of the park, I could become the face of MMA – of MVP and MMA – and become the most powerful figure in this sport since [UFC CEO] Dana [White],” she said. “I’m not chasing greatness? Motherf***er, I am greatness. These b****es are chasing me.”

She said it like Ronda Rousey might’ve circa 2013, but people don’t listen like they used to.