Getty Image / Brandon Magnus
When the UFC began building their women’s divisions, they did it with the plan to capitalize on the popularity of one woman.
They began building a 135-pound division around Ronda Rousey.
That plan worked out pretty well for them. Rousey successfully defended the organizations bantamweight belt 6 times and became one of the biggest star the organization has ever seen.
She even managed to draw more than a million pay-per-views in the two worst performances of her career.
Those performances were a knockout loss to Holly Holm and a TKO loss against Amanda Nunes.
Since that loss to Nunes, Rousey hasn’t been seen inside the Octagon.
Instead, she went on to join the WWE. Now her WWE contract is set to expire this year and that has led to talk about her potentially returning to the UFC.
At today’s media day for Saturday’s UFC on ESPN 49, bantamweight Chelsea Chandler told reporters that she has been hearing that Rousey is coming back to the UFC and this time she would be moving up to 145.
Ronda Rousey return? Maybe UFC fighter Chelsea Chandler knows something we don't 🤔 #UFCVegas77 https://t.co/S92Pe0NScy
— MMA Junkie (@MMAJunkie) July 12, 2023
“I’ve been hearing Ronda is coming back,” Chandler said. “I’ve heard she’s coming back at 145. You never know.”
She also offered to welcome Ronda back and called her a one-trick pony.
“If I got out there and put on the performance I plan on putting (on), I’ll welcome her to 145. I think it would be a great fight. It has been a long time for her and things change, people get better, and I think people are on to her one-trick-pony armbar. Money talks, and she would bring eyes to the sport again. I feel like her time in WWE is starting to go down, so I’d like to see it.”
There has been talk of the UFC’s 145-pound division being dissolved after the division lost its champion to retirement. If there is anything that could save that division, it’s the return of Ronda Rousey.
She would be an interesting addition to that division with Nunes gone. It is by far the most shallow in the UFC and her one trick might actually be enough for her to have success at 145.
At a time when the UFC’s women’s divisions are light on star power, it sounds like they could be getting back one of the biggest stars they’ve ever had.