The Top 4 Opponents for a Ronda Rousey Return to the UFC

It's getting to be a long time ago.

Believe it or not, it's been nearly nine full years since Ronda Rousey took a competitive step in a UFC cage and more than 10 years since she last won in one.

But that doesn't stop the internet, which had a predictable reaction to videos showing that the promotion's former bantamweight queen and current Hall of Famer was back in fighting shape after making the rounds as a WWE performer, a movie star and a mother to two daughters and two stepsons.

And once fellow UFC alum Chael Sonnen weighed in, there was no turning back the reality meter, which was all the excuse the B/R combat team needed to give its two cents on who it could and probably will be facing her in a return bout, who we wish it would be and what out-of-the-box choice might stretch the limits of modern bandwidth.

Take a look at what we came up with and drop a thought in the app comments.

Who It Could Be: Miesha Tate

Josh Hedges/Zuffa LLC/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images

OK, we're just spit-balling here. But if you're in your late 30s and have been away from the game for a while, do you really want to jump right in with a kid or even an older opponent who's still in the prime of her career?

Our guess is no.

So, toward that end, we closed our eyes, threw a dart and came up with the idea of Tate, who's actually a smidge older than Rousey at 39, has won just two of six fights since dropping the bantamweight belt at UFC 200, and has already shared the cage with her a couple times—losing by armbar submissions in 2012 and 2013.

For Rousey, it's a slower transition into the big time to see if she still has what it takes. For Tate, it's a chance at third-time 's-a-charm redemption with a foe whose name recognition still dwarfs nearly any other UFC athlete.

Given that Tate's got one fight remaining on an octagonal contract before what's likely to be her own retirement, it makes sense.

Who It Probably Will Be: Kayla Harrison

Elsa/Getty Images

If Sonnen is to be believed—and we'll state again that that's a huge if—then Rousey's would-be comeback is aimed at only one rival: Kayla Harrison.

Currently ruling the promotion's bantamweights after a thrashing of Julianna Pena in June, the 35-year-old is no stranger to Rousey, having lost to her at a world judo competition as a teenager before ascending to Olympic gold medals in 2012 and 2016 while the "Rowdy" one was making her name in the cage.

Rousey was long gone from the UFC by the time Harrison debuted there in April 2024 with a second-round submission of Holly Holm, who'd paved the way for Rousey's departure with a shocking second-round TKO when they met in 2015.

Harrison is prepping for a possible title defense against the second of Rousey's two UFC conquerors, Amanda Nunes, and it's easy to see why she'd welcome a challenge from Rousey to complete a victory lap against the company's all-time greats.

"Nobody is perfect. We're all doing the best we can," she said. "But there's going to be a new face of women's MMA very soon."

Who We Wish It Would Be: Nobody

Ethan Miller/Getty Images

Come on, we appreciate a good comeback story just as much as anyone. But when it comes to combat sports in general and the UFC specifically, perhaps less is more.

Not only is Rousey 38 and more than 10 years removed from a UFC victory, but it's not as if she walked away at her competitive peak.

Holm outclassed her in less than six minutes in what amounted to a kickboxing match when they met at UFC 193 in Australia, and Nunes did the job in less than a minute when Rousey tried to regain the title at UFC 207 just 13 months later.

Since then, the closest she's come to a genuine competitive outlet is the WWE, where her wins and losses were scripted and her injuries, while certainly legit, were the result of accidents rather than animosity.

That's not an ideal prelude to returning to an environment where the violence is real and the foes she'd encounter would probably relish a chance to build their brands at the expense of a well-known but ill-prepared legend.

Sorry to spoil the party, but it's a no from us, dawg.

What Would Break the Internet: Floyd Mayweather Jr.

Ethan Miller/Getty Images

What do you get when you take a couple of combat sports legends, mix in a little past animosity, and blend with the boredom of a prolonged retirement?

The sort of thing that would blow browsers to smithereens, that's what.

It seems nonsensical to even consider an encounter with Mayweather, who has not fought professionally since 2017.

Until you hear the news that the now-48-year-old has put the idea of a comeback "on the table" after an exhibition event with Mike Tyson that's planned for next year, and you remember that Rousey herself opined on an MMA-style clash when answering questions at a press conference several years ago.

In other words, why not?

"Floyd would box the hell out of me if we were in a boxing match. But I think that boxing is a limited form of fighting and we're in a much less limited form of fighting," she said. "And so I've trained my whole life to prepare for things that, you know, he hasn't been prepared for. I mean, he when he's fighting (Marcos) Maidana, he got kneed in the head and taken down. I mean, it's just not something that he's been trained to look out for."

Remember where you heard it first.