If you were in any doubt about whether Ronda Rousey is still a major star in the wake of her loss to Holly Holm in November then the news that she’ll be hosting an episode of NBC’s ‘Saturday Night Live’ on January 23rd should tell you all you need to know.
Rousey will be the first MMA fighter ever to appear on the long-running comedy show and only the second combat sports star to do, following in the footsteps of legendary boxers Marvin Hagler and George Foreman.
Recent hosts on the show include some of Hollywood’s biggest stars like Mathew McConaughey, Ryan Gosling, Chris Helmsworth while even controversial presidential candidate Donald Trump featured earlier this season.
This will be Rousey’s highest profile appearance in public since her devastating KO loss, having largely kept a low profile over the past couple of months.
It looks like she’s now ready to get back to business, though at this stage it’s still unclear whether she will be ready to rematch Holm at UFC 200 in July as the promotion had been hoping.
Late last week Holm signed a lucrative new multi-fight deal with the UFC and the rumor now is that the new bantamweight champion may first defend her title against another opponent at some stage in the next few months.
“We have nothing done yet,” Dana White said when asked by the LA Times about the rematch. “We have a lot of work to do,” he continued, while adding that it was “possible” that Holm would fight again before a Rousey rematch.
