Ronda Rousey’s Medical Suspension Has Her MIA — Holly Holm Talks ‘UFC 200’ Rematch [Video]

Ronda Rousey’s medical suspension may have the UFC women’s bantamweight fighter out for two-to-six months, but Holly Holm is already talking about a rematch. Rousey has also been conspicuously silent since her loss to Holm, and even tried to hide her beat up face from reporters, but it turns out Rousey planned on disappearing for a while after UFC 193 was over.

In a related report by the Inquisitr, UFC president Dana White said the damage to Ronda Rousey’s face is fairly extensive. She was transferred to a hospital in Melbourne, Australia, for a split lip, but doctors reportedly said she may need plastic surgery for her face. When Rousey landed in Los Angeles, she covered up her face with a hood and sunglasses, and used a pillow to block any shots from photographers swarming the LAX airport.

Holly Holm says she has not spoken to Rousey since they both arrived in Los Angeles, but the new UFC champion defended Rousey against anyone who might criticize Rousey’s loss.

“She’s been pretty vocal in her career, so I think it’s easier for people to want to pick at things,” Holm said during an interview on The Dan Patrick Show. “I think she’s strong enough. She can handle that, but I hope people don’t get too brutal with it.”

Holm even complimented her opponent for the courage it takes to maintain the “hard job” that is MMA. She called the octagon “one of the loneliest places in the world” and claimed that a “lot of people wouldn’t even have the nerve to be able to get in and just put it all on the line.”

As soon as Ronda Rousey’s medical suspension is over, Holm is ready for a Ronda Rousey Vs. Holly Holm rematch. Holm would prefer to face off with Rousey sooner than UFC 200, claiming she is willing to fight as soon as Rousey’s health recovers.

“If you’re the champ [and] you lose your belt, I think the only logical thing is to be able to have a rematch and avenge the loss,” Holm said. “[The UFC can be] a brutal place to be, but that’s what makes winning that awesome … And if you’re a fighter, you’re always chasing that feeling of victory, so that’s why we do it.”

Ronda Rousey’s Medical Suspension And UFC 200

Normally, a state-based athletic commission releases medical suspension information to the public, but since Australia doesn’t have such an organization, this time the UFC revealed Ronda Rousey’s medical suspension, along with many other injured MMA fighters. In the worst case scenario, Rousey will not return to MMA fighting for a maximum of six months, but this period of inactivity may be alleviated depending on the results of a CT scan.

To put Rousey’s injuries in perspective, a 180-day suspension is the maximum the UFC is known to hand out. The first 45 days of Rousey’s suspension includes no further MMA training and complete rest. The medical suspension also requires her to go for 60 days without any fighting and 45 days without any aggressive physical contact.

Fortunately, this means Rousey should be ready in time for the UFC 200 date, which is set for July 9, 2016, at the Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. Presuming the six-month medical suspension period started ticking down earlier in the week, Rousey should be cleared to fight again by May of 2016.

Ronda Rousey Disappears As Planned After UFC 193

Despite the health issues, some UFC fans may think it is odd how Ronda disappeared from the public eye so quickly after her loss at UFC 193. So far, the only interview or message from the former UFC champion came from Ronda Rousey’s Instagram account.

“I just wanted to thank everyone for the love and support,” Rousey wrote. “I appreciate the concerns about my health, but I’m fine. As I had mentioned before, I’m going to take a little bit of time, but I’ll be back.”

It turns out that Rousey went MIA on purpose. Days before Holly Holm’s UFC championship match, Rousey announced that she was planning on taking some time to herself.

“I’m selling a product and I have to be out there; I don’t have the option not to be,” she said, according to Rolling Stone. “But after this fight, I’m definitely going to let some people miss me, for sure. Believe me, there’s nothing I would like to do more than disappear for a while…. I have to be out there to sell these fights; it’s not because I really enjoy getting made up and going to work every day.”

Both fans and Holly Holm may have hoped for a quick turnaround on a Rousey Vs. Holm rematch, but it seems we were all fated to wait until UFC 200. Rousey plans on “keeping busy” with her movie career until UFC 200 comes around. To her, filming movies is another way of disappearing from the public eye.

“When I’m filming it’s kind of weird, I’m on camera the whole time, but nothing really goes out until a year or two later,” she explained. “It is kind of like disappearing in a way.”

Fame is not the objective of fighting, according to Rousey, who described her MMA career as just a job “because it helps me make a living and not because I’m so extremely vain that I want to see my face everywhere.” Holm, on the other hand, made it quite clear beforehand that she was ready for the “limelight that comes with being champion.”

The former UFC champion also made it quite clear that she “would like to wait until UFC 200” before fighting again. Of course, this was said before Ronda Rousey’s medical suspension was announced after a major loss, but it seems everyone will need practice the art of patience unless Rousey feels pressured into a rematch between May and July of 2016.

[Photo by Quinn Rooney/Getty Images]