Ronda Rousey refused to participate in any of the standard pre-fight media obligations ahead of her UFC 207 main event bout against Amanda Nunes.
Really, we hadn’t heard much from Rousey since her loss to Holly Holm last November.
One day after she was TKO’d by Nunes in 48 seconds, Rousey broke her silence.
“I want to say thank you to all of my fans who have been there for me in not only the greatest moments but in the most difficult ones,” Rousey said in a statement to ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne. “Words cannot convey how much your love and support means to me.”
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Rousey engaged in a complete MMA media blackout in the lead-up to UFC 207 in order to focus on her fight with Nunes. “I don’t care about anything but winning this fight and I’m not spending energy on anything else,” she said in an episode of UFC Embedded several days before her fight.
Outside of Hollywood talk show hosts Ellen DeGeneres and Conan O’Brien, Shelburne, who wrote a lengthy feature on Rousey in a recent issue of ESPN The Magazine, was one of the only members of the media Rousey spoke to in 2016.
“Returning to not just fighting, but winning, was my entire focus this past year,” she continued in her statement. “However, sometimes — even when you prepare and give everything you have and want something so badly — it doesn’t work how you planned. I take pride in seeing how far the women’s division has come in the UFC and commend all the other women who have been part of making this possible, including Amanda.
“I need to take some time to reflect and think about the future. Thank you for believing in me and understanding.”
Rousey, 29, has accumulated an 12-2 record in MMA en route to becoming one of the biggest stars in all of sports.
