MMA has come along way. Once a polarizing spectacle on the shadowy fringes of the sports industry, it’s now a massive, mainstream sensation the world over. Of course, the sport still has its detractors.

In a recent interview for the upcoming film The Hurt Business (per FoxSports.com), former UFC women’s bantamweight champion and MMA superstar Ronda Rousey addressed the sport’s ever-dwindling skeptics.

“I think ignorance of the sport is the only real barrier that it still has to overcome,” she said in the interview. “I think that a lot of people that are ignorant of it think it promotes violence when it really is the most responsible outlet for it.” 

“It’s a human instinct to fight,” the former champ continued. “If you try to suppress it entirely and put everyone in a bubble wrapped society, that’s when people end up going nuts and shooting up movie theaters. If any of those people had any of that aggression built up in them had some sort of outlet, I think that we would have a lot more societal health because of it.”

“It’s not violence for the sake of violence,” Rousey also said. “The word ‘art’ is in it for a reason. When I go in there, yeah I’m fighting, but really what I’m trying to do is outsmart the other person. It’s a puzzle to be solved.”

“I’m not just going in there and spazzing out and swinging my hands and lifting weights so I can swing my hands even harder. It’s more mental and tactical than anything else and I think it’s the purest and most beautiful sport in the world.”

A well-worded rebuttal from the former champion.

Rousey has not stepped foot in the cage since losing her title to Holly Holm in late 2015. That said, the world remains eager for a possible Rousey comeback. Do you think the former bantamweight queen will ever return to the Octagon? Sound off, PENN Nation!