In what will be her most public appearance since losing by knockout (and relinquishing her UFC women’s bantamweight championship belt) to Holly Holm on Nov. 14, Ronda Rousey will host Saturday Night Live on Jan. 23. The show made the announcement Tuesday morning.
Excited to kick off 2016 with Adam Driver, @ChrisStapleton, @RondaRousey and @selenagomez! #SNL pic.twitter.com/J346nqL81z
— Saturday Night Live (@nbcsnl) January 5, 2016
As MMA Fighting points out, Rousey will be the third fighter to host SNL in the show’s 41-year history, joining Marvin Hagler and George Foreman. (How has Mike Tyson not hosted? He must have been asked at some point, right?) Of course, plenty of professional athletes have hosted the show, including Michael Jordan, Peyton Manning, Derek Jeter and Wayne Gretzky.
But if Rousey can appear on SNL and show some comedic chops, that could go a long way toward humanizing her and getting people to forget about her loss. (She has not scheduled her next fight yet, so her movie career might be the focus now.) Not to mention it would show her versatility as an actor.
Rousey has several acting roles lined up, including a reboot of 1980s cult classic Road House, a film adaptation of her memoir My Fight/Your Fight, and Mile 22, an action film with Mark Wahlberg. She has also been attached in rumors to The Athena Project, about a team of all-female Delta Force commandos, and publicly campaigned to play superhero Captain Marvel. But in terms of comedy, she only has the Entourage movie on her resume. It was certainly funny watching Rousey beat up Turtle, but what if she’s capable of more?
Personally, I’d love to see Rousey tangle with Leslie Jones on SNL. That could practically be a reboot of Saturday Night’s Main Event. At the very least, she’s going to flip someone, right? Which current male cast member will have the honor of getting the Aaron Tru treatment? Get ready to be thrown down, Taran Killam.
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About Ian Casselberry
Ian is a writer, editor, and podcaster. You can find his work at Awful Announcing and The Comeback. He's written for Sports Illustrated, Yahoo Sports, MLive, Bleacher Report, and SB Nation.