“I’ll Always Be Your Girl” – Promise to Dana White Forced Ronda Rousey to Fight Despite a Concussion and Knee Injury

The concussion problems that Ronda Rousey revealed have been in the headlines for some time now. She continued to stay active as a competitor and fought a lot of fights, even though she was dealing with her medical issues. But why did Rousey do that? Didn’t she worry about her health? ‘The Baddest Woman on the Planet’ recently answered those questions in a recent interview.

After Holly Holm derailed her undefeated momentum at UFC 193 in just a minute, Ronda Rousey’s MMA career went into a downward spiral. It’s common knowledge for fight fans. But what fans don’t know is that ‘Rowdy’ battled through the pain, especially because she made a promise to Dana White.

Ronda Rousey was the UFC’s old reliable

During a recent interview on ‘The Chris Cuomo Project‘ on YouTube, the former UFC women’s bantamweight champion confessed that she started becoming aware of her concussion issues when even minor hits felt too impactful to her. Ronda Rousey said, “I was starting to get concussions with easier and easier hits. Lighter and lighter hits were giving me these symptoms.”

If those problems weren’t enough, Ronda also injured her knee weeks before the fight against Holly Holm. She happened to fall down the stairs in her residence – “Two weeks beforehand [before the Holly Holm fight] I slipped down the stairs, going to the car to get my scale, knocked myself out on the stairs, and tore my knee out again.”

Robbie Lawler, who was scheduled to fight against Carlos Condit at UFC 193 pulled out due to a thumb injury. Ronda Rousey came in as a replacement because she had given her word to Dana White that she would always be there whenever he needed her.

“I was already a replacement for like… Robbie Lawler that pulled out of the fight and I told Dana, ‘I’ll always be your girl, I will always fight, you know, when these guys won’t, I will,'” Rousey further stated. Moreover, there were other uncomfortable circumstances through which ‘Rowdy’ had to fight to make it to UFC 193.

No rest for Ronda Rousey

Ronda Rousey’s UFC 190 fight and her UFC 193 fight were just over three months apart. As such, Rousey did not get enough time to rest and even train well for Holly Holm. This was also one of the reasons for her lackluster showing against ‘The Preacher’s Daughter.’ The 37-year-old claimed that almost everything went to shambles before that upset loss.

“I was already filling in as a replacement. I already had my rest time completely cut from my last fight and went straight back into the training camp and then was going in already concussed… It was like one of those things where everything went wrong,” Rousey added.

Rousey had finished her fight against Beth Correia in under a minute at UFC 190. She barely took any damage but two consecutive training camps were taking their toll on her. Besides, her mouthguard was not a perfect fit for this fight and the first clean hit knocked her teeth loose and left her with a concussion. So yes, everything that could go wrong probably went wrong for the former champion in this one.

Ronda Rousey’s achievements and her work to uplift women’s participation in MMA will always be unmatched. But those achievements came at a price. Now Rousey seems to be in a great place with a happy family with her husband, Travis Browne, and their daughter. What do you make of the ‘Baddest Woman on the Planet’s recent revelation? Let us know in the comments down below.