Ronda Rousey continues to do a lot of soul searching after her shocking loss to Holly Holm at UFC 193, and apparently, this will continue for the next six months or so.
As speculated by many, Rousey is still humbled by the whole ordeal, something she wasn’t expecting, but unfortunately happened. Was she oozing with so much confidence considering that her past fights saw no one last more than a round? Perhaps.
Of course all those are now in the past, and Rousey needs to disappear from the limelight for a bit and gather herself.
For someone who has been at the top for a while and in the middle of all those bright lights, a knockout loss like that from someone who was technically not given a chance is indeed a lot to take in.
How Rousey will be able to get up from her tumble remains to be seen, but the road towards re-establishing herself is by no means a long climb up.
She details all the stuff that happened before, on and after her fight with Holm via ESPN, and summing it all up, the humbling experience is a lot to digest for now.
"I just feel so embarrassed. How I fought after that is such an embarrassing representation of myself. I wasn't even [expletive] there."
Rousey will get the chance to redeem herself, something that will most likely happen around July at UFC 200. In a way, she is pressured to win that one not just to reclaim her status but to prove to one and all that she is still one of the bankable fighters the UFC has to offer.
"I need to come back. I need to beat this chick. Who knows if I'm going to pop my teeth out or break my jaw or rip my lip open. I have to [expletive] do it," says Rousey.
What if she fails to even up the score with Holm? What happens next?
Another defeat by Rousey at the hands of Holm in 2016 may well signal something that Rousey's fans will dread – retirement.
Be that as it may, even Rousey admits that such could be the case if she fails to even up the score.
"I guess it's all going to be determined by what happens in the rematch," she says. "Everything is going to be determined by that. Either I'll win and keep going or I won't and I'll be done with everything."
Recall that Rousey did toy with the idea of retiring before the age of 31 during an interview with MMA Junkie, which is more than two years from now. In the event that she loses, retirement could be fast-tracked a bit but with good reason.
However, until UFC 200 happens and the two face off until the final bell, Rousey will still be around. Her future does not depend solely on Holm but on how she is able to regroup and come back strong.