Ronda Rousey wants a piece of Cris Cyborg at some point, according to a 6abc Philadelphia report published Monday. That’s a strange thing to say about a woman who retired from MMA earlier this year, but here we are.
Cyborg, for her part, sat down with MMA Sucka for an exclusive interview the same day. She addressed the calls for her to return and talked about her current work in boxing, RAF and Neuro42. She’s keeping busy outside the cage, and the rest of us are left reading tea leaves on whether she comes back to it.
Rousey’s last stop was a comeback fight against Gina Carano earlier in 2026. She retired after it, per ClutchPoints. So the Cyborg interest comes from someone who has already walked away once this year, and if you’re a promoter, you file that under maybe and keep your phone charged.
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Cyborg’s situation is murkier. She’s still listed as PFL women’s featherweight champion and sits No. 4 in Yahoo’s Uncrowned women’s pound-for-pound rankings for October. Her most recent fight was against Ketlen Vieira, who gave her some trouble in a bout pitched as possibly her final MMA appearance. Then she showed up next to Scott Coker at the launch of Ki MMA, which the Uncrowned panel took as a sign she isn’t done. Their verdict on a return was don’t doubt it.
The Rousey résumé
The timing of all this lines up with Dana White’s turn on The Diary of a CEO, where he told Steven Bartlett that Rousey talked him into opening the UFC to women in about the time it takes to order a drink.
“Ronda Rousey grabbed me at an event, said, ‘Hey, I’m Ronda Rousey. Can I get 15 minutes with you?’” White said. He added that minutes into the meeting he had decided to do it, and that she was the one to do it with.
White admitted he didn’t want women in the UFC at first because he was struggling to sell the men to networks and sponsors. “She is a f***ing unicorn,” he said.
The record backs him up. Rousey beat Liz Carmouche by first-round armbar at UFC 157 on Feb. 23, 2013, to become the first UFC women’s bantamweight champion. She defended the belt six times, still a record, then lost her seventh defense. After a year away, Amanda Nunes stopped her in the first round at UFC 207. She went to WWE, won titles there, and became the first woman in the UFC Hall of Fame.
Dan Hardy recently said he got the vibe Rousey wanted to be the face of the UFC someday. “I could see Ronda going for it,” Hardy said.
My take
I’ll believe Rousey vs. Cyborg when I see two names on a contract, and neither woman has signed anything that says so. Rousey retired months ago and Cyborg is spending her interviews on boxing and RAF. Still, Cyborg is the active champion here, ranked fourth in the world, and Rousey is the one doing the asking. If Rousey actually wants it, the guy to call is Scott Coker, who was sitting right next to Cyborg at the Ki MMA launch.
