While many members of the MMA community believe that it is time for former UFC women’s bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey to retire following lopsided back to back losses to Holly Holm and Amanda Nunes, former UFC light heavyweight kingpin Jon Jones believes that it would be good to see Rousey return to the Octagon to defend her legacy.
He spoke to TMZ:
“I think it’d be great to see her come back, absolutely,” he said. “I think it would be important for her legacy – it would show people her courage and her strength and her resiliance. I think she needs to stick to fighting. I believe she still beats 90 percent of the division. Maybe she’s not going to be the invincible, unbeaten person peopel thought she was. But whether she fights again or not, she’s still going to go down as an absolute legend. I do believe she could regain the belt and beat any of the other girls (in the division) at any given time.”
In addition, Jones discussed the reason why Rousey has dropped back to back fights, explaining that in a way, Holly Holm laid out the blueprint for how to stop Rousey from using her dominant Judo to dominate fights.
“I don’t agree with (Rousey being overrated),” Jones told TMZ. “I think the sport is kind of catching up with her talent level and people are realizing she’s not as good a striker as she is a ground specialist.”
“I think Holly Holm kind of laid out a blueprint of how to beat Ronda, and it works,” Jones said. “One thing about martial arts is none of us are invincible. The lesson you learn in Ronda’s situation is to always evolve.”
Following the loss, Rousey issued a statement in which she explained that she was going to take some time to process the loss before making any decisions about her future.