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Ronda Rousey says she hid “concussions and neurological injuries” for years throughout her trailblazing run as UFC bantamweight champion.
American Rousey, 37, turned the primary lady to affix the UFC in 2012, defending her title six occasions earlier than defeat by Holly Holm in 2015.
Rousey says the loss prompted her to “self-assess” her profession for the sake of her long-term well being.
“It’s hard to look at footage of that match,” Rousey instructed BBC Sport.
“Because I can literally see in my eyes I’m suffering from a neurological injury decades in the making.
“It [ticks] me off when individuals see that and say, ‘that is Ronda being outclassed’. That is me with my mind not correctly working.”
Rousey, speaking following the release of her new book Our Fight, revealed how a decade’s worth of concussions suffered during her judo career, where she won Olympic bronze for the USA in 2008, affected her UFC run.
Rousey stops and takes a deep breath as she describes her wellbeing going into the Holm fight, which she lost via a head kick knockout in the second round.
“I used to be concussed going into that struggle – I fell down the steps and knocked myself out two weeks earlier than,” she recalled.
“However I had been hiding concussions and neurological accidents for thus lengthy that it simply turned a part of it. And that was the purpose I used to be pressured to actually self-assess and be like, ‘your mind has taken an excessive amount of harm for too a few years’.”
Rousey would fight once more in a stoppage defeat by Amanda Nunes 13 months after the loss to Holm, before retiring and later joining the WWE.
Rousey had previously dominated her opponents until the defeat by Holm.
During her 14-fight career, she earned nine armbar stoppages, with 11 of her wins coming in the first round as she deliberately pressured opponents to limit damage received.
“Once I got here into MMA I could not take any hits so I needed to develop a mode of combating that I consider is essentially the most environment friendly that is ever been made with the specific goal of avoiding harm,” she mentioned.
“It pressured me to be actually fast and environment friendly and attempt to end off individuals in a short time. It wasn’t an accident or luck, it was one thing I used to be doing very a lot on objective.”
Rousey paused with a solemn expression before adding: “Now faraway from it, I will be pleased with myself and be like no-one might even get near me till it bought to the purpose the place even being touched put me out.
“Even though it feels like everyone will always define me by my failures, I know I created the most efficient fighting style that ever existed and I’m proud of that.”
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