Ronda Rousey has just decided to make a return to both Jiu-Jitsu and striking training, doing it with her former rival and fellow women’s MMA legend Cat Zingano. Both women were pioneers in the sport and were fighting at a professional level when opportunities for women were few and far between. Although they both eventually had long and storied careers in the UFC alongside each other, their careers actually predate the very existence of women’s divisions in the promotion. They took different paths to get there but they both made their UFC debuts in 2013 with undefeated records; Rousey at 6-0 and Zingano at 7-0.
Rousey was the bigger star at the time due to her bronze medal from the Olympics as a Judo competitor and her penchant for quick finishes, so she was actually awarded the UFC bantamweight title before she ever set foot in the octagon. She rattled off another four finishes in her first four fights though, while Zingano was working her way up to a title-shot against her with a pair of finishes of her own. The two women met in the cage in the main event of UFC 184 in 2015 and although Rousey won that fight, she went 1-2 after and retired from the sport altogether whereas Zingano continued competing for many years after.
Rousey moved to a lucrative WWE career and has taken some time to start a family, so it’s surprising to see that she’s picked up combat sports again. She’s still one of the biggest stars in the history of MMA though and there have been rumors circling about a potential return in the past, but that looks incredibly unlikely now at the age of 38. Zingano on the other hand eventually left the UFC to work her way up to a title-shot at Bellator in 2023, and she currently holds a 14-5 professional record. She has never stopped training and improving, and was even promoted to BJJ black belt just a matter of months ago.
Ronda Rousey shared the footage of her returning to Jiu-Jitsu and striking training with Cat Zingano in a recent post to her official Instagram account:
