Ronda Rousey says Ricky Lundell is now part of her training camp for the May 16 Netflix fight against Gina Carano, a sharp turnaround from where their relationship started during The Ultimate Fighter 18. Lundell coached against her during the Rousey-Miesha Tate season, and Rousey says she saw him as fake and patronizing at the time. Now he is helping prepare her for her first MMA fight in years, another notable turn in a comeback already surrounded by scrutiny over her recent comments about the UFC, her post-fighting public profile, and the unresolved friction still attached to her name from the back end of her time at the top.
That larger comeback conversation has only grown after Rousey blasted the UFC for losing its way and after renewed debate around her past claims in women’s MMA. This coaching change fits into that same broader run of Rousey stories, where old history keeps getting dragged back into the present.
Rousey described the old tension directly on her YouTube vlog.
“We were mortal enemies.”
“Started off as mortal enemies. He was coaching against me on ‘The Ultimate Fighter’ and he was so nice I was like, ‘This motherf***er is so patronizing and fake.’”
“And I hated his guts. It was like the monkey in the closet from ‘Family Guy.’ That was me to Ricky all the time.”
The backstory reaches into one of the most important stretches of Rousey’s UFC rise. She was not just a champion then. She was the face of the women’s division, the company’s biggest crossover star, and a central reason the promotion’s women’s business exploded. Her rivalry with Miesha Tate helped fuel that run, and the TUF season built around them turned every camp interaction into content.
Ronda Rousey’s UFC history and public fallout still follow her
According to Rousey, the relationship with Lundell changed later when he was training Travis Browne and spending more time around her circle in Glendale before Browne and Rousey eventually married. Over time, the hostility faded and Lundell moved from being an opponent’s coach to someone Rousey now trusts in camp for Gina Carano.
Lundell described the relationship very differently from the way Rousey remembered it.
“I have to say that I’ve always loved Ronda’s technique.”
“It was an honor to even be a part of the first Ultimate Fighter ever to feature women. I was just so excited. I was getting to see women’s MMA step into a new stage.”
“Just even be a part of that on either side and to be able to support that was just so exciting for me.”
“And then, as time progressed, I was just so excited to be able to even hang with Ronda, because she’s so talented. She’s so good.”
“And so time just kept going by, and I was always excited to learn, to learn things from Ronda, and experience time with Ronda on the mat. I’m very thankful for that.”
The timing of this story also pulls older Rousey issues back into view. Her late UFC years were not just about losses. They were tied to bigger questions about pressure, burnout, the company’s handling of stars, and how fast the relationship between Rousey and the UFC cooled once the belt was gone. Her recent criticism of the promotion reopened some of that, with Rousey arguing that the UFC lost sight of fighters and became too comfortable during its rise. That same stretch has also been folded into newer coverage, including Kayla Harrison’s public shot at one of Rousey’s old stories.
Rousey’s profile also moved far beyond MMA when she was at her peak. She crossed into film, mainstream media, and wider celebrity culture, and her stature was big enough that she was invited to the White House. That part of her history still matters because it explains why stories around her return keep carrying more weight than a standard comeback update. Carano has her own place in the history of women’s MMA as one of its first crossover names, but Rousey became the athlete who pushed that visibility into a different tier.
This is why Lundell’s role matters. It ties the comeback to the same era that built Rousey into a UFC powerhouse and eventually left her at odds with parts of the fight business around her. The coach she once viewed as fake during one of the defining chapters of her rise is now helping prepare her for the next chapter against Carano. And with major comeback headlines still dominating the sport, every small camp detail is going to keep drawing attention.
Watch the full vlog below.
