While former UFC women’s bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey has said that her December 30 fight against Amanda Nunes won’t be her last, she has made it clear that she won’t be fighting for much longer.
Following her first career loss to Holly Holm last November, Rousey took an extended period of time away from mixed martial arts. In fact, her fight against Amanda Nunes will be the first time that she’s stepped inside the Octagon since the loss to Holm. During that time, many — including her biggest rival , Miesha Tate — questioned if she would ever fight again.
No one, perhaps with the exception of Rousey herself, knows how much longer the ex-bantamweight champ will fight for. However, whenever she does finally hang up her gloves, she’ll have a WWE gig waiting for her.
While speaking with Sportsmail following the announcement of WWE’s United Kingdom tournament, Triple H said that he wouldn’t be surprised if WWE end up being a part of the “what’s next for Ronda Rousey” conversation after she wraps up her mixed martial arts career.
“Never say never with us. Ronda’s done things with us in the past. She’s a huge fan. She had a blast when she did it. I wouldn’t be surprised at all if, as she begins to wrap up her UFC career, as she’s looking to do other things, if we’re a part of that conversation for her.”
As Triple H noted, Rousey is a huge WWE fan, and she’s attended some of the company’s biggest events. There has been some talk in the past of her doing a match with Stephanie McMahon at a future WrestleMania .
Last October, Ronda Rousey said that she does want to be the WWE Divas Champion someday. Of course, the Divas Championship no longer exists, as it’s not the Women’s Championship. But it is quite clear that Rousey is very interested in doing something with WWE after her mixed martial arts career comes to an end.
Unlike Rousey, fellow UFC megastar Conor McGregor has never done anything with WWE. In fact, he’s actually gone out of his way to bash the company, saying that he would “slap the head off” everyone in the WWE locker room. Of course, most people recognized his comment as a publicity stunt, but it did irk some of professional wrestling’s top stars like Kurt Angle, Roman Reigns, AJ Styles, and Ric Flair.
While McGregor may not be the most popular guy in the WWE locker room, he is quite popular with Triple H, who said during the aforementioned interview with Sportsmail that he’d be willing to talk to the UFC’s first ever double champion about coming to WWE.
“[McGregor’s] very calculated in the things he says and does. He doesn’t mention us because it just came out. He has made his point. I have made my point when I have been asked about it. He is a business man. I am a business man. If the time is right for us to sit at the table, if there is an opportunity that we have or he wants to have, then we’ll discuss it. For them and for us, then who knows, you know? We’ll see. We’re wide open.”
Triple H attended Conor McGregor’s fight at UFC 205 . It was the first time that WWE’s chief operating officer had ever been to a UFC show, and after the show, he told ESPN McGregor “has it all” and that WWE would be open to talking to him about possibly doing a match at some point in the future.
UFC president Dana White has never let any of his contracted fighters do a professional wrestling match. However, the UFC and WWE are on good terms right now, so there’s a good chance that he’ll let McGregor do something with WWE if they can work out a deal.
[Featured Image by Matthew Stockman/Getty Images]
