Ronda Rousey returns to MMA with stronger assist system

Ronda Rousey (L) and Gina Carano (R) face off in entrance of Jake Paul (C) in the course of the Most Precious Promotions (MVP) and Netflix 5X5 Skilled MMA certain pre-fight press convention exterior the Intuit Dome in Inglewood, California on March 10, 2026. Rousey will face Carano on Could 16, 2026. Each fighters shall be returning after prolonged retirements. (Photograph by Patrick T. Fallon / AFP)

INGLEWOOD, California — Ronda Rousey takes the framed newspaper down off the wall. She smiles warmly whereas she reads the headlines celebrating her wonderful, dominant victory over Gina Carano — in a struggle that’s nonetheless a month away from really occurring.

Later that week, Rousey and her group maintain a full costume rehearsal at her non permanent coaching base in Las Vegas for her combined martial arts comeback. Sporting her fight-night gear, Rousey goes by means of her warmup earlier than making a cage stroll full with loud music and brilliant lights in an elaborate visualization train to organize her 39-year-old physique and her migraine-prone mind to thrive at showtime.

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“It simply makes all the pieces actually particular and enjoyable,” Rousey instructed The Related Press. “It’s so good that all the pieces is taken into account.”

These psychological workouts are only a fraction of the huge upgrades in Rousey’s coaching routine as she prepares to tackle fellow MMA pioneer Carano on Saturday evening at Intuit Dome in Inglewood, California.

Almost a decade after she left the game on the peak of her fame and the nadir of her private happiness with MMA, Rousey now has a cadre of top-notch coaches and assist workers, a world-class coaching setup and full psychological assist for her return.

That’s noteworthy as a result of Rousey grew to become arguably essentially the most well-known athlete in girls’s fight sports activities historical past regardless of having a fraction of the teaching assist and outside-the-cage construction given to many prime fighters.

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Rousey beforehand skilled out of a storefront struggle membership in Glendale, California, with Edmond Tarverdyan, the coach to whom she remained intractably loyal whereas the complete sport questioned his data and suitability — to the purpose the place Rousey’s personal mom, AnnMaria De Mars, publicly known as him an fool.

When requested how she seems again on her years with Tarverdyan, Rousey mentioned: “We achieved lots, however I feel we went so far as we may collectively.”

A few years later, Rousey has skilled what’s potential exterior these self-imposed boundaries, and he or she hopes to indicate it in opposition to Carano.

Ronda Rousey speaks throughout a information convention at All Metropolis Boxing Membership in Los Angeles. (Hans Gutknecht/The Orange County Register through AP, File)

When Rousey started to discover the opportunity of an MMA return final yr, her husband — former UFC heavyweight Travis Browne — inspired her to group up together with his longtime coach, Ricky Lundell. Rousey really hadn’t preferred Lundell of their preliminary encounters, however the enthusiastic coach shortly received her over.

And once they started working, Rousey lastly acknowledged all the pieces she didn’t have in her first time round.

She is getting progressive teaching from a group led by Lundell, the achieved grappler and jiujitsu athlete who has coached Jon Jones and Frank Mir. The upgrades in Rousey’s bodily coaching services are huge as properly, with entry to a contemporary array of machines, sparring companions and restoration gear. Lundell even ripped out his personal storage to put in a sauna alongside his five-person chilly tub and hyperbaric chamber.

Lundell and his group present her with information she had by no means seen earlier than, together with a written debrief of each coaching session. They maintain common video calls to investigate her progress. She is aware of extra about her strengths and weaknesses than ever earlier than.

“He all the time retains me in an excellent thoughts house,” Rousey mentioned. “He retains it very constructive whereas nonetheless difficult me and giving me what I want. I’ve by no means seen a cat that’s so organized. … A whole lot of coaching camps are very disjointed, and there’s loads of egos pushing in opposition to one another. Ricky is actually nice at simply group constructing and maintaining everyone on the identical web page and coordinated.”

The pretend newspaper, which is modified out for every of her coaching journeys to Vegas from her household farm in Riverside County, California, is an easy motivational system. It’s additionally a heat, constructive affirmation of Rousey’s arduous work.

And most significantly, it represents the kind of considerate assist that she virtually by no means received again when she felt alone and overwhelmed, when she fought from darker psychological locations.

“It takes a lot off my shoulders that was on you earlier than,” Rousey mentioned. “It simply makes all the pieces as simple and satisfying as potential.”

When Rousey misplaced her remaining two UFC fights and realized she wanted to prioritize her well being, together with her rising susceptibility to concussions, she left the highlight of the cage for appearing {and professional} wrestling, adopted by marriage and two youngsters.

“I needed to enable my physique to relaxation and heal,” Rousey mentioned.

Rousey spent a few years away from competitors, however not from her sport.

She mentioned she discovered a psychological peace and a maturity to deepen her connection to martial arts, which had been her central purpose for being ever since her mom taught her judo three many years earlier. She nonetheless saved her abilities sharp with occasional exercises, however she mentioned that’s all secondary to general health and an improved psychological outlook from the time away.

“As a martial artist, I’m not simply memorizing strikes,” Rousey mentioned. “I’m studying ideas and philosophy, and people issues by no means go away or change, you recognize? If something, you continue to develop them over time, and it’s not one thing that will get misplaced. If something, it will get extra solidified into what you really are, as an alternative of those sorts of superfluous little methods and different issues that take up your bandwidth while you’re (coaching for a struggle).”

Rousey recounts a dialog with movie director Taika Waititi during which he described his screenwriting course of to her: He writes a script, units it apart after which writes it once more from reminiscence, realizing that the strains and plot factors that he can bear in mind essentially the most clearly are the really necessary elements.

“That’s how I consider martial arts,” Rousey mentioned. “The core of what issues, the core of the philosophy is what it all the time sticks. That’s all the time in there.”