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.”