Ronda Rousey has not gotten back into the octagon since her stunning defeat at UFC 193 when Holly Holm knocked her out. That was the first time that Rousey had lost as a UFC fighter, so she understandably took it hard and decided to take some time off.
Rousey's plan is to return to the octagon at the end of this year, presumably around October or November. As for who she will fight, that is still a mystery, but there have been questions about whether Rousey would ever fight again since her loss to Holm. It is very likely that Rousey will fight again, but nobody knows how much longer.
Bantamweight champion Miesha Tate, who took Holm's belt in her first defense, has a guess for how much longer Rousey will fight. Tate believes that if Rousey loses her next fight, she won't ever fight again, but if she wins, she will fight one more time after that and then call it quits. The 29-year-old champ clearly doesn't think that Rousey is long for the sport and has even gone as far as questioning where her mind is at since the loss.
Of course Tate said some incendiary things about Rousey's admitted suicidal thoughts in the past, so there is no love lost between them, but she may have a point in this case. Rousey has said that she doesn't want to fight until she is old in the past and has made her desire to be a mother and do other things clear, so retirement for her truly may not be all that far away.
When Rousey does fight next, though, there will obviously be a lot of eyes on that match to see how she recovers from the loss. As for who and where she will fight, that remains a question mark, but there are plenty of possibilities. Cris "Cyborg" Justino has scheduled her UFC debut and said that after she wins that fight, she wants to take on Rousey in the UFC's New York debut. A fight between Rousey and "Cyborg" has been teased for quite some time, so that is certainly a real possibility.
Another possibility would be a title fight against Tate, whom Rousey has already beaten twice. Tate, though, has said that she doesn't want to wait until November to defend her title. One last possibility for the next Rousey fight is a rematch with Holm. Holm recently turned down a fight with Justino because she has her heart set on either a rematch with Tate for the title or a rematch with Rousey to see who gets the next shot at Tate.
The UFC has some really solid options for Rousey's next fight and will surely look to capitalize by picking the opponent that they think will draw the most attention. Every Rousey fight has always been must see, but now they will be even more so because we just don't know how many more times she will step foot into the octagon.
