Ronda Rousey issues WWE challenge, teases future wrestling match to signal end of UFC career
The Ultimate Fighting Championship legend appears in social media video calling out WWE’s Charlotte Flair as switch to wrestling ring looks imminent
Ronda Rousey appears to have all but confirmed she is swapping the mixed martial arts octagon for a wrestling ring.
The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) icon, who is reported to have begun wrestling training, attended the July tapings for World Wrestling Entertainment’s (WWE) “Mae Young Classic” tournament.
And she appeared in a short video clip on WWE’s social media channels this week teasing a future match.
Rousey, alongside her former MMA teammates Jessamyn Duke and Marina Shafir, was cheering on Shayna Baszler in the all-female competition, which is showing on the WWE Network.
And the trio took part in scripted backstage segment where they challenged WWE stars Charlotte Flair, Becky Lynch and Bayley.
“You name the time, you name the place,” Rousey told Flair, daughter of legendary professional wrestler Ric Flair. “We’re waiting to hear from you.”
Rousey, Baszler, Shafir and Duke dubbed themselves the “Four Horsewomen” of MMA, in a nod to professional wrestling’s legendary “Four Hoursemen” group of which Ric Flair was a member.
WWE appears to be keen to set up a confrontation between Rousey’s group and their very own “Four Horsewomen” – Charlotte Flair, Lynch, Bayley and Sasha Banks, who have helped revolutionise the perception of women’s wrestling in the company in recent years.
UFC president Dana White has hinted Rousey, who wed fellow mixed martial artist and UFC star Travis Browne last month, is unlikely to fight in the octagon again.
“I don’t know if I’d want her to,” White told ESPN. “The way she came in, the way everything went – it was perfect.”
Rousey was 12-0 in her career and undefeated in six UFC fights as she revolutionised women’s MMA before a stunning bantamweight title loss to Holly Holm in November 2015 derailed her momentum.
She failed to recapture the belt in a brutal first-round technical knockout loss to Amanda Nunes at UFC 207 last December and has not competed since.
