The UFC raised a lot of eyebrows on December 28th – less than an hour after a title fight with Miesha Tate that was undoubtedly the hardest of her career, the UFC hastily printed off a poster for a new Ronda Rousey fight. UFC 170: Rousey vs McMann, just fifty-six days later.

Is the UFC burning out Ronda Rousey?

2013 was a whirlwind year for Rousey. As her star rocketed more and more demands made of her. After her first UFC fight, and the first women’s fight in UFC history, in February Rousey had just a few months off before beginning filming of The Ultimate Fighter in May. Rousey was vocal about her disdain for The Ultimate Fighter experience, and like Brock Lesnar and Matt Hughes before her the coaching experience just didn’t seem to suit her. “You couldn’t pay me ten million dollars to do it again,” she told reporters at a premiere screening in August. That screening was perhaps the first sign of the mental toll that Rousey’s schedule was taking on her: she seemed stand offish and abrasive, openly stating that she did not want to be there and had only been told about it at the last minute.

The TUF premiere screening took place while Rousey was filming The Expendables 3 in Bulgaria, and she had flown in for the Fox Sports 1 launch event. Despite the best attempts of UFC president Dana White to get something out of Rousey she did not appear too willing to engage with the media, and the media described the appearance as awkward to say the least. While often Dana White will be somewhat more forceful in engaging his fighters in these PR events, White was markedly more gentle with Rousey on this occasion.

Speaking of movies, Rousey filmed Expendables and Fast 7 back to back, both while in training camp for her re-match with Miesha Tate. Throughout the season of The Ultimate Fighter and the promotion for their fight at UFC 168, it was very clear that Miesha Tate, intentionally or not, had seriously got under Rousey’s skin. Early in the season when Rousey accused Tate of “crying at my girl’s pain”, it became apparent that Rousey was not someone who dealt well with losing even when she wasn’t the one competing. Barely an episode would go buy without Rousey crying or cursing out Tate and her team with regular heated confrontations between them, and there comes a point when you have to ask – is it okay for us to be watching someone go through this? Or is her clear emotional nature being manipulated to provide good value reality television for the UFC and Fox?

After all of the tears and the drama, filming two movies, the death of her friend Paul Walker, we came to the now infamous Jon Anik interviews at the TUF 18 Finale. Rousey could not even look at Miesha Tate, and barely gave any kind of answer to the questions she was being asked. Anik tried his best, but there was little that could be done to get the women’s bantamweight champion to actually promote what the UFC hoped would be their biggest card since UFC 100. After the broadcast the pair were interviewed again, and Rousey eventually excused herself before the interview was over.

There are two types of aggression in UFC fight hype, and I like to characterise them by their two archetypes. There’s the Chael Sonnen model – carefully constructed rivalries to create interest, and make yourself a bigger star than you possibly are – and there’s the Nick Diaz model – stream of consciousness aggression, quips and generally entertaining statements. After the events of the last few months of 2013, I strongly believe Rousey falls into the second category.

But who could blame her, after the year that she had? A historic first women’s fight in the octagon, a season of TUF, a promotional tour with someone you hate, two movies, a friend dying and a fight camp – that’s enough to put anyone under a lot of stress and pressure.

Dana White has on countless occasions rebuked reporters at post-fight press conferences for asking about the next fight for someone sitting up on the table after a win or a loss. White will tell us that he lets the fighters go away, rest and heal, and then talks to them about who to fight next. If that is truly his rule it is one he broke with Ronda Rousey, approaching her even before the Tate fight happened to see if she would be interested in fighting Sara McMann on UFC 170, should she beat Tate. So before any reporter even got a chance to ask White about a next fight for his women’s bantamweight champion, the poster was already printed.

Back into fight camp Rousey went, and on Saturday we will see if not being able to truly have any real break in nine months has affected her in any way. If she wins, I have no doubt it is in spite of all of this. Hopefully, once she has had this fight, the UFC will allow her some time away from the spotlight – but with White touting Rousey as one of their biggest stars ever, that seems depressingly unlikely.