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Ronda Rousey says she hid “concussions and neurological injuries” for years during her trailblazing run as UFC bantamweight champion.
American Rousey, 37, became the first woman to join the UFC in 2012, defending her title six times before defeat by Holly Holm in 2015.
Rousey says the loss caused her to “self-assess” her career for the sake of her long-term health.
“It’s hard to look at footage of that match,” Rousey told BBC Sport.
“Because I can literally see in my eyes I’m suffering from a neurological injury decades in the making.
“It [ticks] me off when people see that and say, ‘this is Ronda being outclassed’. That’s me with my brain not properly working.”
Rousey, speaking following the release of her new book Our Fight, revealed how a decade’s worth of concussions suffered during her judo career, where she won Olympic bronze for the USA in 2008, affected her UFC run.
Rousey stops and takes a deep breath as she describes her wellbeing going into the Holm fight, which she lost via a head kick knockout in the second round.
“I was concussed going into that fight – I fell down the stairs and knocked myself out two weeks before,” she recalled.
“But I had been hiding concussions and neurological injuries for so long that it just became part of it. And that was the point I was forced to really self-assess and be like, ‘your brain has taken too much damage for too many years’.”
Rousey would fight once more in a stoppage defeat by Amanda Nunes 13 months after the loss to Holm, before retiring and later joining the WWE.
Rousey had previously dominated her opponents until the defeat by Holm.
During her 14-fight career, she earned nine armbar stoppages, with 11 of her wins coming in the first round as she deliberately pressured opponents to limit damage received.
“When I came into MMA I couldn’t take any hits so I had to develop a style of fighting that I believe is the most efficient that’s ever been made with the express objective of avoiding damage,” she said.
“It forced me to be really quick and efficient and try to finish off people very quickly. It wasn’t an accident or luck, it was something I was doing very much on purpose.”
Rousey paused with a solemn expression before adding: “Now removed from it, I can be proud of myself and be like no-one could even get close to me until it got to the point where even being touched put me out.
“Even though it feels like everyone will always define me by my failures, I know I created the most efficient fighting style that ever existed and I’m proud of that.”
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