It looks like Ronda Rousey’s sticking to her media blackout ahead of her highly-anticipated return to the Octagon.
Fight week for UFC 207 is in full swing and there’s no doubt over who is the event’s main attraction. With all the focus on Ronda Rousey’s return at the event, it would be easy for the non-educated fans to not realise that she is actually the title-challenger in the headline act as she takes on current champion Amanda Nunes.
It wasn’t long ago when Rousey was the biggest star in the sport as she cracked the mainstream, making appearances on huge talkshows like Ellen and Conan while landing roles in major blockbusters such as the Fast and the Furious and the Expendables franchises. She used to lap up the spotlight, but this time around she is shying away from it.
Fans weren’t expecting to see much of Rousey before the ‘just-for-show’ weigh-ins after the UFC confirmed she would not be partaking in the Ultimate Media day and this feeling was only intensified when she was a notable absentee in the first episode of the Embedded series.
However, she hasn’t been completely absent from fight week. The UFC’s official Twitter account shared a video of the former women’s bantamweight queen signing some posters ahead of fight night.
The return of @RondaRousey has begun! #UFC207 pic.twitter.com/eeDrfOw86S
— UFC (@ufc) December 27, 2016
Seeing Rousey participating during fight week came as a shock to a lot of fans, although many of them saw humour in the fact that she was allowed to do so in a fairly empty room with none of the other fighters on the card present.
https://twitter.com/T_RAV_4real/status/813619605059104769
https://twitter.com/tropicalshana/status/813619725351518208
@FrontRowBrian other fighter aren't even allowed to be in the same room when RR is signing posters
— SMG (@SMGathletes) December 27, 2016
bet the camera man and the person who posted this, are now on Ronda's bad side.
— Rayao' (@UnRayao) December 27, 2016
christ, she even signs posters by herself without anyone else on the card around?!?! This level of coddling is pretty ridiculous!
— Charlie Flood (@cflood03) December 27, 2016
"hey Ronda, could you look up for a sec?"….crickets.
— Lee (@leisure3000) December 27, 2016
she looks happy to be doing stuff for the fans
— Kyle (@Gelinas18) December 27, 2016