Ronda Rousey suffered a stunning defeat to Amanda Nunes at UFC 207 in Las Vegas Saturday in her long-awaited return to the Octagon after enduring the first loss of her career to Holly Holm one year earlier.
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In her first comments to the media, Rousey expressed severe disappointment and said she would be taking some time to contemplate her future in the sport.
"I want to say thank you to all of my fans who have been there for me in not only the greatest moments but in the most difficult ones," Rousey said per ESPN's Ramona Shelburne. "Words cannot convey how much your love and support means to me. Returning to not just fighting, but winning was my entire focus this past year. However, sometimes even when you prepare and give everything you have and want something so badly, it doesn't work how you planned. I take pride in seeing how far the women's division has come in the UFC and commend all the other women who have been part of making this possible, including Amanda. I need to take time to reflect and think abut the future. Thank you for believing in me and understanding."
That future, to many, is now in doubt. After steamrolling through her first 12 professional fights, winning each by either knockout or submission, her ability to intimidate opponents has vanished. Holm was the aggressor in her first loss, which ended in the second round, and in this bout, it took Nunes all of 48 seconds to knock Rousey out.
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Nunes, for one, believes this was Rousey's swan song.
"That's it for her, for sure," Nunes said after the fight. "She can't take anymore. If she wanted a rematch, it'd be the same thing."
Not only that, Rousey's mom, AnnMaria De Mars, wants her daughter to hang it up.
"I would like to see her retire," De Mars told TMZ.com. "I would have liked to see her retire a long time ago. Who wants to see their kid get hit? Cause she's got a lot of talent in a lot of other things. Movies, writing, producing, she's really, really smart. I told her that at the beginning when she started this.
