Ronda Rousey Not Participating in UFC 207 Build-Up

Former UFC women’s bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey will not participate in next week’s UFC 207 Ultimate Media Day during the event’s fight week in Las Vegas. On Friday, the fight promotion released the UFC 207 schedule of events for next week’s pay-per-view and Rousey’s name did not appear. Nor did that of current titleholder Amanda Nunes.

Ten fighters will participate in next Wednesday’s UFC 207 Ultimate Media Day, but neither of the main event competitors will be there. The rest of the main card athletes will be present and the headliners of the Fox Sports 1 preliminary card.

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The event poster reads, in bold black letters, “She’s Back,” referring to Rousey’s return to the octagon for the first time since being knocked out by Holly Holm at UFC 193 in November 2015. She’s been largely radio silent since the loss and has only done a couple of television show interviews leading up to next Saturday’s title fight.

In one of her rare appearances in the lead-up to her return, Rousey commented on her seclusion to ESPN, describing her newfound life as a hermit. “It’s like I’m doing the chick version of growing a beard and living in a cave, you know?”

It’s something she decided to do for this fight with Nunes because she doesn’t want to walk away from mixed martial arts simply as the fighter who ushered women into the octagon and had a good run. Rousey has always strived to win, and when she walks away from the sport, she wants to do it on her terms.

Right now, to her, that means she has to get selfish and focus on herself. In the past, she always did whatever it took to promote the sport and the fights, this time, she solely focused on her development and winning.

“I was just trying to make too many people happy,” Rousey told ESPN. “But when I try and do favors and make everybody else happy, at the end of the day, they walk away happy and I’m the one who has to deal with the depression. All the pay-per-views in the world, all the money in the world, it means (expletive) nothing to me because I lost.”

It’s unclear whether Rousey will participate in the event’s post-fight press conference following next week’s event at the T-Mobile Arena, but it’s surely something that doesn’t ever cross her mind right now.

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