Ronda Rousey Is One Tough Mother: MMA Star Opens Up About Returning to the Octagon After 2 Kids (Exclusive)

To fans, mixed martial artist Ronda Rousey will always be the Baddest Woman on the Planet. But the trailblazing athlete, who was inducted into the Ultimate Fighting Championship Hall of Fame in 2018, hasn’t competed professionally since 2016 and expressed no desire to be back at it. Then that changed.

On May 16 at L.A.’s Intuit Dome, Rousey, 39, will step back into the octagon (streaming live on Netflix, 9 p.m. ET) against fellow retired legend Gina Carano. In 2023, Rousey told Us that the only way she’d be back would be if she could fight Carano, 44, whom she’s never competed against: “She’s a pioneer for women’s MMA, and I can’t think of a better way to say thank you than to whoop her ass.” To get her chance, she’s partnered with controversial boxer and digital creator Jake Paul’s Most Valuable Promotions. “It’s not the promoter’s job to be universally liked,” she says of Paul’s reputation. “It’s the promoter’s job to get people to watch fights.”

Rousey has never been one to care what people think, but since becoming a mom, doing things her way is especially important. She has two little girls — La’akea (a.k.a. Pō), 4, and Liko’ula, 15 months — looking up to her; and she’s stepmom to boys Keawe and Kaleo, whose dad is her husband, former UFC heavyweight Travis Browne. Speaking up has become Rousey’s signature, like being open about her challenging stint with the WWE (she wrestled with the organization from 2018 to 2023), and publicly calling out UFC commentator Joe Rogan. (“He’s not an expert,” she’s said, “he’s a fan with an audience.”)

In an exclusive interview, Rousey tells Us how she’s managed to balance it all and why she’s not afraid to be loud.

What has motherhood taught you about yourself?

Man, I have infinite energy for my kids and not as much for myself. It’s so much easier to dig deep for your kids and your family than it is for yourself. I have an extra reserve of something that is infinite for them. For some reason, in my left arm I can hold my baby forever. If I switch to the right arm, it’s maybe two minutes, but I have infinite baby-holding strength on the left arm. I would not f***ing drop this baby, even if my arm is going numb. I don’t know what it is, there’s just something in your primal instinct. … I believe I could lift a car off my kids one hundred percent.

How has fight prep been different with little ones around?

It’s definitely more fun because we’ve made having fun the priority, instead of just making it all about the result, experience be damned. It’s leading to better results than I ever could have had otherwise. Every day is fun. I feel like I have energy, and I’m not digging deep every single second of the day. It’s really a great time to share with them.

Do the kids get involved at all?

Pō loves being on the mat. She’s gonna be so sad when we take the cage out, because it’s like a gigantic playpen for them, and she loves to watch me train. … She’s usually such a hyper kid. When I was a kid, my mom said the only way she would be able to sit down was if she put me in a box and sat on it. That’s how my daughter is. I was cursed to raise a child with as much energy as me, but man, when I’m training, she just sits there and watches, transfixed. She definitely wants to fight and has been asking me to. She saw some kids doing jujitsu and said, “I want to do that.” I was like, “You will.” I don’t want to push her in it too early.

You’ve been outspoken about lots of things recently. Was there a mindset shift where you just thought, I’m going to say whatever I want and people can deal with it?

I think it was when I was able to shift from working for a promoter, whether WWE or UFC, to being the promoter. Then it was like, “Oh, I can promote this event however I want. I actually have power here to dictate who’s part of this event and how to run it.” It wasn’t a eureka moment, but it was like, I don’t have these things on my mind, like, “What is so-and-so going to say to me?” I’m leading the way, and I’m dictating what this promotion is going to be in the space of MMA. What do I want that to be? What do I feel like is missing? I’m trying to exemplify or embody everything I’ve seen gone missing in MMA.

Like what?

I think a lot of fighters don’t understand that a quarter of their job is to show up and win. The other quarter is to have an exciting fight that people enjoy watching. The entire other half of the job is promotion, and a lot of people are showing up and only doing a quarter of their job. I hope people are taking notes instead of just being comfortable with where they’re at. If you check all the boxes, that’s why they pay you the big bucks.

The buzz for the fight is palpable. After a decade away from the sport, that has to be rewarding.

It’s really validating. I think we’re at a crossroads for the entire industry, and being able to be at the forefront of it just makes it feel like what we’re doing and what we’re striving for is something important. This isn’t a cash grab. This isn’t nostalgia bait. This is altering the trajectory of the entire future of the sport.

How much thought have you given to what comes next?

Me and my husband want to try for two more kids. I just want to make more little people. … Professionally, I feel like there’s nothing else I could really do that is worth taking time away from my family ever again.