In her upcoming memoir, former UFC champion Ronda Rousey reveals that she hid a severe history of concussions which ultimately led to her retirement, and criticizes her time in WWE, blaming executives John Laurinaitis and Bruce Prichard for her decision to leave the company.
At the height of her UFC reign, Ronda Rousey seemed invincible. Alongside Conor McGregor, she was arguably the biggest name on the roster.
But, everything took a turn in 2015. Rousey lost her bantamweight title at UFC 193 to Holly Holm, courtesy of a brutal head kick. She returned to the UFC over a year later, only to be defeated within the first minute by Amanda Nunes.
In her forthcoming memoir, “Our Fight,” Rousey opens up about her losses. She admits to never fully addressing her defeat to Holm. The reason? A troubling history of concussions, dating back to her Olympic judo days.
“My concussion history that I had to keep secret for years, so I would be able to continue to compete and perform,” Rousey confessed during an Instagram Live session. She added, “That’s basically why I had to retire.”
Rousey had already suffered multiple concussions before stepping into the UFC octagon. She couldn’t risk this information leaking out, as it might have prevented her from being cleared to fight.
This fear played a significant role in her decision to stay silent about her loss to Holm. She feared that opening up about her concussion struggles could jeopardize her UFC career, or even her future in WWE.
“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,” Rousey explained. She added, “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.”
She also mentioned her stint with WWE. They have a complicated history with performers getting concussions. She felt she couldn’t talk about her issues there either.
Rousey’s departure from UFC was more about her long-term health than the back-to-back losses to Holm and Nunes. “A really hard decision to understand, but one that my body really made for me,” she said.
After UFC, Rousey quickly transitioned to professional wrestling. She became a big name in WWE, impressing fans and critics with her fighting style. She took a break after a year to focus on her family and have a baby with her husband, former UFC heavyweight Travis Browne.
Rousey returned to WWE in 2022 but left for good in 2023 after 19 months. She started appearing at independent wrestling shows, confirming her split with WWE.
She blames two WWE executives for her departure. She says she’ll likely never return due to the bad experience.
“[The book reveals] how much of an absolute s*** show it is at the WWE,” Rousey said. She added, “I don’t need anything from them, and I don’t intend on going back, so I can actually say everything that I think and feel, where everybody else that is still held captive by their organization cannot.”
Rousey had more to say about John Laurinaitis and Bruce Prichard. But, she had to cut it down due to word count restrictions.
Both Laurinaitis and Prichard have long histories with WWE. Prichard is currently an executive director at WWE, while Laurinaitis was the executive vice president of talent relations before leaving the company in 2022.
Laurinaitis and former WWE boss Vince McMahon are now facing a civil lawsuit. A former WWE wrestler accuses them of sex trafficking and sexual assault. Laurinaitis denies the allegations and claims he is also a victim of McMahon.
Rousey didn’t hold back when discussing Prichard and Laurinaitis in her book. She said they were the only people she had any real problem with at WWE.
“In MMA, I originally just started [beefs with my opponents] for publicity but those other b****** did not get the memo and so they became personal,” Rousey said. She added, “In WWE, it’s all fake, I love them. Except for Bruce Prichard and John Laurinaitis, they can go f*** themselves. That’s real.”
Rousey’s book will be available on April 2. The former UFC champ will embark on a nationwide tour to promote her memoir, conducting a Q&A at every stop to share more stories from her past.