It was gently brought up during Thursday night’s MVP MMA press conference that somebody, with a name that rhymes with Mayla Farrison, had accused Ronda Rousey of chasing money instead of greatness for her comeback fight on Netflix.

If you weren’t around for Rousey’s heyday, her response was like being transported back to when she was dunking on poor souls like Miesha Tate.  

“This is a professional fight,” she said. “And there’s no such thing as discount greatness in professional fighting. The biggest money fight is the biggest fight, period. We obviously have very different definitions of greatness. Mine is making history, having a cultural impact and influencing the future of the sport. I’ve already won a record eight consecutive title fights. There’s nothing left for me to do there … ”

It’s been said that The Who would sometimes wait so long to come back out for an encore that half the crowd would leave, even if all the hits hadn’t yet been played. Since the band didn’t care all that much for encores, it was hard to know if they meant it when they said goodnight.

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The thing about Rousey is she never really said goodbye. She just kind of skulked out of the sport and into the world of pro wrestling, leaving a baffled fanbase to grumble. 

Now that she’s back nearly 10 years after her last pro MMA bout — for an encore performance against Gina Carano on Saturday night — half the fanbase who adored (and/or hated) her have long since hit the exits. MMA’s fanbase has undergone a constant auto-shuffle, beginning around the time of the pandemic, to the point that I’ve seen a good many noobs refuting Ronda’s claim that she was being compared to Mike Tyson at the height of her run as the UFC’s women’s bantamweight champion.

Not only was she being compared to Tyson, she was being compared to Bruce Lee, Royce Gracie, freaking Elvis, Sgt. Pepper, Nijinsky, you name it. Clay Travis wanted her to fight Floyd Mayweather, and he was convinced she could win. It’s difficult to explain to MMA’s come-latelies that she was the sport’s first transformative star. A seismic happening. To be around for her reign from 2011-15 was to see true transcendence. 

If Carano was a pioneer in women’s MMA, Ronda, of course, was the revolution. 

Right place, right time, right skill set. 

Sarah Stier via Getty Images

So much of the “it” factor was in her attitude, too. The same attitude she carries into the here and now, into a different place, a different time, with a skill set that no longer calls for hyperbolic Tyson comparisons. If anything, after her “long weekend” away from MMA, Rousey’s confidence feels almost anachronistic, belonging to another day, to another generation.

Because it does. Much of what we’re dealing with is her residual greatness, which makes appreciation for her the game within the game.

“So now, me and Gina are smashing the record for the most women have ever been paid in combat sports,” she continued. “Who’s to say we can’t parlay the success of this into me and her making a genre-shattering martial arts film with Netflix after this? Who’s to say that the success of this fight can’t create the rival that the UFC needs and give fighters the bargaining power that they’ve never had?”

For those who saw her then, that’s vintage Rousey. Big picture. Determined. Optimistic. Unapologetic. She’s always said what’s on her mind. She was so far ahead of the field that people lost their heads a little bit. 

At UFC 175, for a pay-per-view title fight against Alexis Davis – yes, Alexis Davis headlined a PPV – I saw young girls crying when Rousey walked into the room. She was a deity above measure until Holly Holm kicked her senseless in Melbourne, Australia. That’s when Ronda hid her face from the cameras. Everyone who’d watched her handle success with the deftness of a superstar now saw something far less admirable in defeat.

It was like a revelation.    

In the decade since her final UFC fight against Amanda Nunes, she’s been a complicated subject. Old feelings linger. She never asked for forgiveness, so you can forgive the diehards who were around then for being slow to welcome her back in 2026. After all, Rousey herself didn’t seem all that happy with MMA fans through those intervening years, either. She wasn’t doing herself any favors. 

Maybe that’s why some fans aren’t sold, even if the Rousey of 2026 is talking like the Rousey of 2013, only this time instead of being the face of women’s MMA she’s talking about taking over the sport as we know it. 

“Hell, if we knock this out of the park, I could become the face of MMA — of MVP and MMA — and become the most powerful figure in this sport since [UFC CEO] Dana [White],” she said. “I’m not chasing greatness? Motherf***er, I am greatness. These b****es are chasing me.” 

She said it like Ronda Rousey might’ve circa 2013, but people don’t listen like they used to.