How long do you think it takes an athlete to return from a concussion? According to the Mayo Clinic, the normal time needed to recover and get back to doing your sport as an athlete can be as little as three months to up to a year, depending on how severe the concussion is.

Former UFC Bantamweight Champion Ronda Rousey is expected to make her return to the Octagon on December 30th in a UFC 207 matchup in Las Vegas against current champion Amanda Nunes. After nearly a year, Rousey is returning after her first career loss on November 15, 2015 to Holly Holm. In the Holm matchup, Rousey  suffered a severe concussion. Since then , Rowdy has not boxed in a match.

To truly earn her place back in the upper echelon of the sport, there is a list of things that Rowdy, her nickname, must do – and it does not begin with an immediate chance at earning her title back. If she satisfies the criteria that would be expected of any top notch fighter, then and only then should she be worthy of a title shot. First, she must beat the woman who beat her: Holly Holm. Holm waited for a rematch for four months, and after waiting that long,  she knew she was just wasting her time, so she accepted a fight against Miesha Tate on March 5th of last year.

Holm explained to Fox Sports News that the only thing she was doing while waiting for Rousey was letting her title belt melt to dust. She made it clear that she loves fighting, which is why she let go of the idea of a rematch. Even though she ended up losing her belt to Tate, Holm was proud of her decision of not waiting for Rousey to return since there was no timetable. She did not let her world revolve around one person and went out there to do what she does best and that is fighting.

After this fight with Nunes, which she is expected to win fairly easily, Rousey needs to fight with the fighter people call “Cyborg” –  Cristiane Justino. Justinio  made her UFC debut in May, 2016.After this match, which gave her her first career win, she said, “I want Ronda to come back,” Justino told FOX Sports after her latest win, a match in which Justino knocked out Leslie Smith in just the first round. “I think she should show people even when you lose, it’s not the end of the world. You cannot give up.” This fight has been teased for about 3 months, and even UFC President Dana White agrees that if this fight were to ever happen it would become  the highest- selling pay-per-view of all time.

On October 12th, Rowdy posted a tweet on her account with a hashtag #fearthereturn. And what was below it? A poster of UFC 207. Nunes and Rousey side-by-side with a date marked December 30, 2016. Her fight with Nunes will bring in tons of media and should be a powerful fight. Both boxers have similar attributes. While Nunes seems to have an advantage due to her longer leg reach of 41 inches and a defense percentage of 59.6% average, this fight should be easy for Rowdy, even though Nunes may put up a fight. If Rousey can get her leg game going early, it should be an advantage on her side. Whatever the result may be, hopefully this is not Rousey’s last fight.

The bottom line is, Ronda Rousey is a great fighter with qualities that one day may be as good as those such as Muhammad Ali or Mike Tyson, but there should be a ladder that she would have to climb in which after, she gets a title shot. This business of the UFC Is about money making, and this is the main reason that Rousey is getting her title shot. Her popularity, along with her record of 12-1, got her to this championship match but, in doing so, shines a bad light to other female competitors who are trying to work their way up to get a shot at the title.