In a sobering reminder of the fallacies of the sport we all love, Ronda Rousey, in her new book has spoken about concussions that forced her to step away from the octagon. The former UFC champion has claimed that the effects of this could be seen in her fight against Holy Holm. Following the revelation, she has been receiving a lot of flak from fans but former Daniel Cormier stands firmly with her.
In the book, Rousey has claimed that any connection to her head would knock her out so she had no option but to step away from the sport. Former Olympic wrestler and UFC heavyweight champion, Daniel Cormier, amid all this controversy, believes Rousey is telling the truth.
‘DC’ sat for an interview with MMA Junkie, where he said,
“The only mistake she made, to me, is by saying it later….I don’t disagree with her as much as most might because all she’s doing is telling her truth.”
Daniel Cormier has had a similar path to the UFC as Ronda Rousey, from Olympic-level wrestling to MMA. So if anyone knows what that journey is like, it’s him.
‘DC’ believes there may be some truth in what Rousey is saying because he knows how grueling the training sessions are and he has had multiple concussions himself throughout his career.
Rousey’s career went sideways after her loss to Holm. The former UFC champion recently went on a podcast and even gave a detailed explanation of what happened to her during the fight.
Ronda Rousey claims she couldn’t judge distance against Holly Holm
In a recent interview with Valeria Lipovetsky, posted by Chris Nowinski on X, she spoke about the fight saying,
“I was out on my feet for the entire fight, I was just trying to make it look like I wasn’t hurt, but I wasn’t there cognitively. I couldn’t think as fast, I couldn’t judge distance.”
Ronda Rousey on how #concussions ended her career.
“Your brain doesn’t callus. It doesn’t heal back stronger after a break.”
“I had taken so much neurological damage, I couldn’t take it anymore. Suddenly everything I accomplished meant nothing.” pic.twitter.com/4apP3c2RQp— Chris Nowinski, Ph.D. (@ChrisNowinski1) April 4, 2024
Rousey doubled down on her concussion claims but stated that despite having a lot of concussion trouble, she returned to the Octagon because she felt like she owed it to the fans. Ronda Rousey claims her cognitive abilities diminished from the slightest connection.
Regardless of how she is perceived by fans now, the fact remains that she put women’s MMA on the map. As a matter of fact, before Conor McGregor was the biggest name in UFC, Rousey was. She was on Conan and Fallon, she did the interviews, the press and TV commitments and she won fights like it was nobody’s business.
