Ronda Rousey and Cris “Cyborg” Justino’s never-fulfilled rivalry was surprisingly rekindled today (Weds., Aug. 21, 2024).

Mixed martial arts (MMA) history can’t be told without the inclusion of two of its all-time most dominant fighters and champions. For both Rousey and Cyborg, Strikeforce was the launching pad and eye-catcher for the future when Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) inevitably bought and absorbed the company. Ultimately, Rousey became the biggest female star the sport has ever seen, and believed, at the time, she had to help save it from her fellow champion.

“People forget how fragile that situation was and how last-minute I was able to get us in,” Rousey told Chris Van Vliet of women in UFC (h/t MMA Fighting). “Strikeforce was the only organization that was really showcasing women and that was because of Gina Carano, because her dad was involved with the Nevada Athletic Commission and was able to sanction fights for her and all these things.

“When she was gone, Cris Cyborg’s pumped to the fcking gills with steroids,” she continued. “No one wants to watch that cheating-ass btch. Everything just tanked. The division was dying. The UFC bought Strikeforce and it was assumed they were just going to absorb all of the male talent that they liked and fold the whole organization because that’s what they did with PRIDE, that’s what they did with WEC, that was their business model. So there was a matter of time.”

Before Strikeforce was absorbed, Cyborg fought her final fight under the banner in a blistering 16-second knockout title defense against Japan’s Hiroko Yamanaka. Unfortunately for Yamanaka and the promotion, Cyborg tested positive for stanozolol and the bout was changed to a no-contest before Cyborg was stripped of the Featherweight title.

Seeing the comments from Rousey, Cyborg couldn’t help but laugh.

“[crying laughing emoji] does @RondaRousey realize she only has 8 fights in the ufc and only won 75% of them?! [clown and Earth emojis]” Cyborg replied on Twitter.

The positive test was the Brazilian legend’s only failure of her 30-fight career (27-2, 1 no contest). Meanwhile, Bantamweight’s Rousey went 12-2 before retiring in early 2017 on the heels of her losses to Holly Holm and Amanda Nunes.

“Once women were brought to the UFC, [Dana White] said, ‘This is an experiment, this is to see how it goes,’” Rousey said. “It got to a point where we had to see how it would go without me because it was so dependent on me.

“Whereas, I think if I retired undefeated and left, I don’t know what it would be like. Because they’ve already brought in the [145-pound] division and closed it. They’re not against closing divisions.”

Ronda Rousey never got her perfect storybook ending in the UFC.

Instead, it was a bit of a fall from grace for the seemingly unbeatable UFC women's bantamweight champion, which saw Rousey retire from MMA in 2016 after being handed her first and only losses to Holly Holm and Amanda Nunes.

Before her championship reign came to an end at UFC 193, Rousey went all the way up to 12-0 in her pro career, defending her title six times to become a trailblazing pioneer for women's MMA.

An Olympic Bronze Medalist in Judo, Rousey was on the top of her game for years and ran through the bantamweight division with super-fast finishes, leaving many to wonder what would've happened if she had decided to retire from fighting at the peak of her success rather than her downfall.

“I wanted to retire. I was trying to find a way out already. But, it was all dependent on me,” Rousey told Chris Van Vliet (h/t: Jed I. Goodman), when asked if she had thought about retiring when she was undefeated.

“I also realized that because what I learned from from pro wrestling is that retiring undefeated would have been such a selfish goal to be able to accomplish, because I would have taken all of that equity with me. And no one would have respected the rest of the women that I left behind.”

There wasn't a plethora of WMMA stars back when Rousey was on top, leaving “Rowdy” to think the UFC might do away with the women's 135lb division had their undefeated champion just walked away.

However, Rousey decided not to, taking inspiration from the WWE (where she spent her post-UFC career) to continue fighting in the UFC, not for just herself but for the rest of women's MMA.

“Nobody retires with a belt in the WWE. You have to give it away. So, I kind of learned that through WWE, which kind of helped me to get through a lot of that stuff and process it when it's about the division,” Rousey explained. “WWE was therapeutic to me in putting things in perspective. And it's about the vision and your legacy. And your legacy means nothing if you take it with you.”

“I didn't want what happened after Gina Carano left, to happen after I left. Whereas the division just faded and went away without her. If I retired undefeated, I think that might have been a real possibility.”

Before she went on to become an actress in Hollywood, Gina Carano was another undefeated WMMA star who held a record of 7-0, that is, until she ran into former UFC Champion Cris Cyborg in 2009, who Rousey labeled a steroid cheat during the same podcast. That was Carano's last pro fight, with Rousey saying she was brought in to replace Carano as the new face of women's MMA.

While Ronda Rousey didn't retire undefeated, there's no denying the UFC Hall of Famer paved the way for the sport of women's MMA for years to come.