It’s been nearly a decade since Ronda Rousey last set foot inside the Octagon. The once-invincible queen of the UFC bantamweight division walked away in 2016 after back-to-back knockouts left her questioning not just her fighting career but her happiness. Since then, she’s worn many hats: WWE star, author, mother, but one thing she swore she’d never be again was a fighter. Yet, something, or rather someone, has started to change that.

When Mike Tyson returned to box Jake Paul in late 2024, the world stopped to watch. The 59-year-old legend pulled in a record 108 million live viewers and a staggering $20 million payday. It wasn’t just a comeback; it was a cultural earthquake. And among those millions watching, one person felt something she hadn’t felt in years: the itch to fight again.

Ronda Rousey pulls back the curtain on how Mike Tyson made her reconsider her MMA return

Appearing recently on The Breakfast Club, Rousey opened up about how Tyson’s return stirred something in her. Speaking about the rumors surrounding her return to combat sports, she confessed, “If I would, it wouldn’t be in a place to like where I’m trying to patch up my happiness and try to like find an antidote for it. I think that’s what it was before of like, oh, if I get this fight, if I win this, then I’ll be happy. You know, I think like if it would come from an entirely different space if it, ever, ever came at all.”

This time, Rousey’s perspective feels different, grounded, almost peaceful. She’s no longer fighting her past; she’s embracing her present. And part of that newfound clarity came from watching Tyson defy expectations as she continued, “Mike Tyson, he can never say never now. You got $20 million. That’s some s—. Baddest man on the planet, 108 million views. So f— comment whatever you want. That’s the most-watched fight of all time, and he was almost 60. Like that’s how much his legacy means, how much his name means, you know? Like that was really inspiring to me personally to see him do that.”

Mike Tyson‘s return wasn’t just a fight; it was proof that legacy doesn’t have an expiration date. For Rousey, who helped build women’s MMA from the ground up, the parallel is hard to ignore. Could she really step back into the cage at 38, after two pregnancies and nearly a decade away? Dana White isn’t ruling it out.

The UFC CEO recently confirmed that Rousey had visited the company’s Las Vegas offices and revealed, “I think she’s just training again. She just had two babies, and she’s in a whole other place in her life. But, I will say this, she’s just had another baby and she’s in great shape right now, she’s frigging ripped like she used to be, so I don’t know.”

The timing, in a poetic way, feels right. Women’s MMA has evolved since her reign; fighters like Zhang Weili, Valentina Shevchenko, and Kayla Harrison now carry the torch she lit back in 2013 when she became the first woman to headline a UFC card. She insists it’s not about the money or the fame, and maybe that’s what makes this moment so compelling. Could we see the return of ‘Rowdy’ one more time, not to prove a point but to close the book on her own terms?

Rousey’s return gets shut down by UFC veteran over health issues

However, not everyone is eager to see ‘Rowdy’ make that walk again. As fans buzz over Ronda Rousey’s cryptic training clips and Dana White‘s hints of her being “ripped like she used to be,” one voice in the MMA world has stepped in to sound the alarm: Din Thomas.

The former UFC fighter and veteran coach believes that beneath all the nostalgia and excitement, there’s a dangerous truth being ignored. Nearly a decade has passed since Rousey’s devastating 48-second TKO loss to Amanda Nunes at UFC 207. Since then, she’s been open about her history of concussions, something Thomas says should rule out any talk of a comeback.

In a recent conversation with MMA Junkie, he pointed out, “She shouldn’t even be cleared, how irresponsible would it be for a fight organization to hear all that then put her in a fight? To me, it almost sounds like you might’ve leaked that stuff in hopes they don’t put you back in a fight.”

In her 2024 book ‘My Fight’, Ronda Rousey admitted she’d “kept issues secret for years” because she feared being sidelined. For Thomas, that’s more than enough reason to draw a line as he continued, “You can’t play with those issues. It wouldn’t be good for the sport. It would be a real bad look on the sport to have some complaining about those type of issues, and then you, knowing that, you still put her in a fight.”

The pioneer who put women’s MMA on the map, returning for one final dance, it’s the stuff of Hollywood scripts. But for every fan who dreams of seeing ‘Rowdy’ throw one last armbar, there’s a Din Thomas reminding the world that the price of greatness shouldn’t be paid in concussions.