Ronda Rousey Offered Role in ‘The Hunger Games: Catching Fire’

Feb 23, 2013; Anaheim, CA, USA; Ronda Rousey celebrates with fans after her fight with Liz Carmouche (not pictured) in their UFC women

UFC women’s bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey made history on Saturday night when her and Liz Carmouche became the first females to fight in the octagon and headline a pay-per view event. Rousey successfully defended her title by — you guessed it — first-round armbar and lived up to the hype and hopes that UFC president Dana White had for her in the cage.

Unfortunately for White, Rousey may have been too successful with the press coverage leading up to the fight and could receive some very intriguing offers outside of the octagon.

Remember Gina Carano? The female mixed martial arts that put women’s MMA on the map and was supposed to take the sport to the next level for the ladies? The same Gina Carano that left the sport stay in Steven Soderbergh’s move “Haywire?” Well, it looks like Rousey could be tempted with the same opportunities following her UFC 157 main event win.

Per Dave Meltzer, Rousey has been offered a role in “The Hunger Games: Catching Fire.”

Here is what Meltzer had to say:

"“There was a very good chance that the promotion of Rousey was TOO successful because she’s been offered a role in the next…whatever it is…the next Hunger Games movie that they’re going to film. And once that happens it’s like…you know, who knows?“She’s making a lot of money fighting, I don’t know what those numbers are going to be when they come out when they’re released. But she’s making a ton of money. They signed her to a hell of a contract because they really did believe…not necessarily that she’d be this giant PPV draw, but in other ways she’d be incredibly valuable to the company.“And so far she has turned out to be more valuable than they expected.”"

Let’s hope that Rousey is not tempted by the offer and sticks to fighting.

It is hard to imagine Rousey, who has been a fighter for most of her life to give up the sport to pursue acting. White has built the women’s UFC division around Rousey, and it would be a devastating blow for the future of women’s MMA in the organization if Rousey took time off to film the new Hunger Games flick. If Rousey can continue to be success in the octagon, bigger and better opportunities will come.

Right now, she is one of the most popular female athletes and at the top of the sport that she loves. Hopefully that will be enough to keep her in the UFC.

What do you think? Should Rousey test her acting chops or stick to fighting in the octagon?