Ronda Rousey took loads of arduous hits close to the top of her time contained in the octagon and till not too long ago she had no concept the total impact the harm finished was having on her.
It’s been over eight years since Rousey final competed, together with her legendary UFC run ending with back-to-back knockout losses to Amanda Nunes and Holly Holm. Rousey, now 38, has often been criticized for the way she dealt with her departure from MMA. Following a surprising loss to Holm, Rousey disappeared from the general public eye for a 12 months solely to return and undergo one other devastating loss by the hands of Nunes. It was the final time Rousey would struggle within the UFC.
In current interviews and in her memoir, Rousey blamed a lot of her well being points on a historical past of concussions courting again to her days competing in judo lengthy earlier than she determined to compete in MMA. With the help of UFC CEO and shut buddy Dana White, Rousey has realized lots about her lifelong neurological points, which stem from extra than simply concussion-inducing blows contained in the cage.
“I don’t have any regrets or something like that,” Rousey informed UNTAPPED. “Thankfully, I’ve much more data now about what was occurring with me. I simply felt like I couldn’t be sincere about what I used to be bodily going via with out folks feeling like I used to be making excuses for myself. I additionally really feel like I didn’t owe anybody any clarification particularly in the event that they had been going to shit throughout it. So yeah, I wanted to determine what was occurring first.
“Dana despatched me to this long-term fighters’ neurological examine they usually truly made some—I wouldn’t name them breakthroughs, however truly had been capable of diagnose quite a lot of the stuff that was occurring with me and I assume nonetheless is. I simply didn’t have all the data at the moment. So, I couldn’t hand that data to me then to elucidate issues higher now, so no, I don’t dwell on that in any respect. It was the very best I may do with what I had.”
In keeping with Rousey, a historical past of epilepsy in her household exacerbated any newly occurring neurological harm from her dive into full-contact fight sports activities. It was an issue she thought had gone away when she was youthful, however talking to a physician on the Cleveland Clinic offered some actual solutions to what may need been incorrect together with her.
“He was saying that individuals that get migraines are literally extra vulnerable to concussions and the extra concussions that you just get, the better it’s for these impacts to set off a migraine,” Rousey mentioned. “And he was saying that not all migraines contain a searing headache, the headache half isn’t a part of all of it and so what we expect was occurring was we type of ended up on this suggestions loop of the extra concussions I used to be getting the better it was to set off these migraines and so in these fights—go determine, two of my triggers is brilliant lights and head impacts—so I’d get hit and I’d mainly lose large chunks of my imaginative and prescient and my depth notion and my capability to trace actions shortly and make snap selections, which is mainly all of the issues that I want and I assumed I’ve a concussion, I’m out on my ft, however I wouldn’t be stumbling round. I didn’t lose my steadiness. This was like, I needed to retire as a result of this stored occurring to me increasingly more typically to the purpose the place I might get a jab and I might mainly go blind.
“[The doctor] mentioned what he thinks is going on is these impacts, now due to all of the concussions, are setting off these migraine occasions, which is like my neurons get overly excited after which they shut down. So it may very well be a sport changer as a result of there may truly be some options to it. Earlier than I used to be like, ‘Oh, it’s simply inevitably declined and I inevitably declined till I used to be shitting my pants. Nice. That is my life now.’ I used to be like, I have to cease this or else I’m simply rushing this up.”
Previous to her last two fights, Rousey emerged as one of many greatest stars in MMA historical past, successful her first 12 professional bouts and defending the UFC bantamweight title six consecutive occasions. Rousey additionally authored a number of memorable moments throughout that stretch, together with a run of title defenses during which she completed a number of of her opponents in underneath a minute. Following her last struggle in 2016, Rousey went on to a profitable skilled wrestling run with the WWE.
Rousey is now in the midst of consulting migraine specialists and neurologists to raised perceive her situation, and whereas it’s unlikely she ever fights once more, she’s optimistic that she will enhance her high quality of life going ahead.
“Now that I’m type of getting some assist in prognosis and stuff like that, I’m way more hopeful than I’ve ever been and as an alternative of simply being like, ‘OK, that is simply a part of it, I’ve simply acquired to stroll away earlier than it will get worse,’ probably there’s one thing I can do to make it higher,” Rousey mentioned. “I simply didn’t have this data again then. I didn’t know what to say aside from there’s one thing occurring with me and I can’t struggle anymore due to it.”