Outside Source
Ronda Rousey will undergo extensive medical testing prior to her return fight vs. Gina Carano. | Dave Mandel/Sherdog.com
A couple years ago, Ronda Rousey made a confession: That a history of concussions forced her to exit mixed martial arts.
Rousey hasn’t competed in MMA since a December 2016 loss to Amanda Nunes. During an Instagram Live session to promote her book “Our Fight” approximately two years ago, the Olympic judoka went in depth on her history of head trauma.
“My concussion history that I had to keep secret for years, so I would be able to continue to compete and perform,” Rousey said. “That’s basically why I had to retire.”
Rousey was particularly tight-lipped about those issues during her UFC tenure, even after a knockout loss to Holly Holm in November 2015. That philosophy continued when she transitioned to sports entertainment.
“I think that there was just so much to [that loss], that I couldn’t talk about it in the form of like an interview or an article or anything like that, or there would be several filters between my words and people reading it,” Rousey said. “So much had to do with having so many concussions when I was in judo before I even got into MMA, I couldn’t talk about it at all when I was doing MMA. Because it would literally put a target on my head, and I might not have been allowed to compete any farther.
“Same thing with WWE. They have a complicated history with their performers getting concussions, and it would be a bad look on them. So I felt like I really couldn’t talk about it at all. So I feel like this [is the] long form that I would be able to adequately address it.”
At the time, a Rousey comeback seemed unlikely. However, that all changed this week when Most Valuable Promotions announced that the former UFC bantamweight queen would face women’s MMA pioneer Gina Carano in a five-round featherweight bout on May 16 in Los Angeles. The fight between the two stars will mark Netflix’s first foray into broadcasting MMA.
Necessary Precautions
There’s also the question of the 39-year-old Rousey’s fighting fitness after those past revelations. Carano, meanwhile, is 43 and hasn’t fought professionally since 2009. In an interview with ESPN, California State Athletic Commission executive director Andy Foster revealed that both athletes will be required to undergo extensive medical testing ahead of their bout.
“We’re going to put [Rousey] through neurological and concussion battery testing and make sure she’s OK,” Foster said. “We’re going to have our doctors take a look. The fighters are going to have to do a lot of medicals, both of ‘em.”
According to Foster, there was never a consideration for CSAC to deny the fight when it was presented by the promoter. Now it’s simply a matter of Rousey and Carano receiving full medical clearance prior to May 16.
“As long as these women pass their medicals and pass all their neurological batteries and do the things they need to do,” Foster said, “there’s nothing wrong with this fight.”
This article first appeared at Recent News on Sherdog.com
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