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Cape Town - On Saturday evening, Ronda Rousey made a comeback to the limelight following her sensational loss to Holly Holm back at UFC 191 in November when she was knocked out cold to the shock of millions of fans watching around the world.
According to Jim Edwards of MMALatestNews.com, Rousey made her return hosting Saturday Night Live, an American late-night television sketch comedy and variety show shot in New York. Her appearance had been in doubt, with the blizzard conditions in New York bringing a standstill to the rest of the city, however, the show did go ahead and Rousey thanked the audience in her opening monologue for attending:
"Thank you for coming out even though there is two feet of snow on the ground," she opened with. "They closed Broadway, they closed movie theatres, they even closed all the bars, but tonight we are literally the only show in town."
Following that introduction, Rousey then for the first time ever congratulated Holly Holm for her win. The fact she has never come out and publicly given props to Holm was something that had irked many fans, however, Rousey's shout out to the new champion came across at legitimate, albeit shortlived:
"This is the first time I'm talking to my fans since I lost to Holly Holm in November, which, by the way, was a fight Holly deserved to win," Rousey said. "And I just wanted to take a minute to sincerely congratulate her."
With that fleeting mention to Holm, the show went on and Rousey, decked out in a stunning black and white dress, then proceeded to rattle through a four-minute opening monologue, her smiling beaming like we hadn't seen since before that terrible KO loss back in the Octagon in November.
Throughout the rest of the show, Rousey was joined by the other guest host Selina Gomez and was then seen in recorded sketches and other set up comedy pieces live from the New York studio.
Most of the feedback from fans online was positive, however, her longstanding MMA rival Cris Cyborg couldn't help but tweet her own dig at Rousey, harking back to Rousey's previous inability to deal with Holly Holm's boxing skills by questioning her 'standup skills' during this comedic appearance.
Although Rousey has now re-entered the celebrity spotlight following her loss, fans are going to have to wait a while longer to see her back in the UFC Octagon due to her filming commitments prohibiting her from fighting until much later into the year.
When she does return, it's likely that Rousey will walk straight back into a rematch with Holm, though whether this will be for the UFC bantamweight championship will be determined by whether Holm can defeat Miesha Tate at UFC 197 on March 5th.
