Ronda Rousey’s Return: Insert Hyperbole Here

We all knew it was going to happen.

Even if we didn’t want it to happen, we all knew it was going to happen.

Even if we thought it made no sense for it to happen, we all knew it was going to happen.

Even if we wrote entire columns that questioned the purpose or futility of such a fantastical scenario playing out for real, especially when given zero reason to think otherwise for so long, we all knew it was going to happen.

Ronda Rousey’s back, you DNBs. Or at least, we think she is.

Now, as of this writing, Ronda herself has yet to address the news that Dana White dropped this past week, and had been rumored about for a while, that the face of the MMA women’s “revolution” will be making her long-awaited return to The Octagon at UFC 207 against the current UFC Women’s Bantamweight Champion, Amanda Nunes.

Of course, there’s the chance she may finally speak on the subject either Monday or Tuesday, and then I’ll look like a fool for not discussing her remarks, which will make me look uninformed and then all the commenters will call me a jackass and a hack (per usual), and all will be right in the world of anonymous Internet hatemongering.

But, as of right…………………….now, she hasn’t said anything. So, while she’s coming back in the literal sense, we don’t know if she’s truly “BAAAAAACK!” yet.

Please read that last part in Mike Goldberg’s voice for added effect.

There’s no question that what Ronda is coming back from could be described in no less terms than one of the most embarrassing moments in professional sports history.

Ronda entered her UFC 193 title defense against Holly Holm as the most dominant, most indestructible force the sport had seen to that point.

Ronda worked hard to gain everything she had and, in one night, she saw it all fall at her feet. Her winning streak snapped, her aura of invincibility vanished, her flaws as a fighter made painfully clear for everyone to see.

Countless fans and media who had proclaimed her as a God among women completely turned their back on the mortal who flew too close to the Sun for too long and finally crashed back to Earth.

And, once Ronda had her feet back on solid ground after 2+ years in the stratosphere, it was hard for her to adjust.

As the mocking and ridicule continued to ramp up with no signs of slowing, simple humiliation quickly turned into suicidal thoughts and depression, which, considering what she had and what she lost on that night in Sydney, is not that ridiculous of an overreaction.

I mean, yeah, walking through an airport with a pillow over your face is pretty silly after a single loss, something that every fighter experiences at some point in their careers, but losing the way she did was never going to be easy for her, let alone anyone else, to deal with.

After years of suffering in her personal life and in her life as an Olympic judoka, she finally found something she excelled at better than anyone else. Nobody could touch her in MMA for years and, in one fight, not only did somebody touch her: somebody knocked her out, something she had never experienced before.

I can only imagine how scary that first knockout must feel, and to experience that feeling at the highest level of the sport, in the main event of one of the most watched, highest attended events in company history?

Yeah, let’s see how well you handle that.

And all fighters are going to handle it in their own way. Ronda has faced some criticism for how she’s handled it, since the default response for most fighters coming off a loss is to get back in the cage as soon as possible. It’s what Holly Holm did after suffering her first professional MMA defeat to Miesha Tate. It’s what Conor McGregor did after suffering his first UFC defeat to Nate Diaz.

Nobody wants to experience the pain of losing. All fighters jones for the euphoria, the pure joy, of victory, so it makes sense that so many want to just move on and try to get that feeling back immediately, even if it makes more sense to give it time, which may have been what Holm needed, following up the Tate loss with a lackluster performance against Valentina Shevchenko.

Ronda obviously needed time after the loss to Holm. She needed time to process the loss. She needed time to understand that it happened, that it’s not the end of the world, and that she can learn from it and come back better.

She also needed time to shoot some movies and heal some nagging injuries, but she really needed time to get her head back in the game, to find her love and desire to fight again, and get the motivation to prove to herself that 193 was nothing more than a fluke, a mistake, a wrong that needs to be righted.

Whether that’s what Ronda has done this past year, and whether Ronda is truly ready to get going again, is the big question to be answered with her return.

There’s obviously a financial benefit to Ronda coming back but do we know if she really is ready to fight? Do we know if she wants to compete and be Queen Bee again, or is she only doing it to replenish her bank account and make Dana White and the fans happy?

We’ll only know once the cage doors close on December 30, when Ronda is, once again, staring face to face with her own MMA mortality.

She can continue to live and thrive in this world or she can wither and die. It all depends on what she wants to do, especially since Cyborg is going to be pissed no matter what.

Don’t anger the beast, Dana. Not unless you’re okay living with the repercussions. Or the lack of Payperview buys.

Evan Zivin has been writing for 411 MMA since May of 2013. Evan loves the sport, and likes to takes a lighthearted look at the world of MMA in his writing…usually.