Ronda Rousey is taking WWE by storm, but that’s generally
her approach to things. Once the world’s most dominant female fighter, taking
down opponent after opponent via armbar within seconds, she’s widely credited
with establishing and elevating women’s mixed martial arts.
But her accomplishments also include a bronze medal in Judo
at the Olympics and now a burgeoning career with the WWE. Never mind that she’s
one of the more recognizable athletes on the planet.
Here are 18 things you probably didn’t know about the ex-UFC
champion and current wrestling star Ronda Rousey:
1. Rousey was
born in Riverside, California, in February of 1987, the third daughter of
AnnMarie De Mars and Ron Rousey. She almost died
at birth from lack of oxygen, caused by the umbilical cord
wrapped around her neck. The mild brain damage she suffered prevented her from
speaking actual words until the age of six.
2. Rousey’s
mother, AnnMaria De Mars, won a gold medal in the 56kg weight class at
the World Judo Championships in 1984, the first American to do so. Her
father, Ron Rousey, was a soldier. He committed suicide in 1995
after learning that a sledding accident that broke his back would eventually
leave him a quadriplegic.
3. Growing up, Rousey
split time between Southern California and Jamestown, North Dakota. She
struggled in school and was homeschooled for parts of her education. Her mother
pushed her to take up judo as a way to deal with her
frustrations. Rousey eventually dropped out of high school to focus on her
training, later earning her GED.
4. Rousey holds a
4th degree black belt in Judo. She began learning Judo from her mother at age
11. At 17, she qualified for the 2004 Athens Olympics, becoming the youngest
judoka in that year’s games. Rousey didn’t medal in Athens, but she did take gold in that year’s
World Junior Judo Championships and Pan American Judo Championship.
5. At the 2008
Summer Olympics in Beijing, Rousey became the first America woman to medal in judo. (Judo became a women’s
Olympic sport in 1992.) Competing in the 70kg division, she won five matches, with one loss, including the bronze-medal
finals over Germany’s Annett Boehm.
6. After the
Olympics, Rousey cast about for direction in her life, sharing in apartment in
Venice Beach, California, and working
multiple jobs as a bartender and cocktail waitress. She and her
dog also lived out of her 2005 Honda Accord for
a time.
7. Rousey has
been a pro wrestling fan for most of her life. And a lot of the
promotion techniques she ended up using in her MMA career were borrowed from
there. Early in her amateur career, before her first fight, she met the
wrestling legend ‘Rowdy’ Roddy Piper and asked him if she could borrow his
nickname. He agreed, brushing it off like a minor detail, but that exchange launched
the resurgence of the nickname.
8. Rousey is a
gamer, and her favorite games, at different times, have included Dragon
Ball Z, Just Dance, Mario Kart and World
of Warcraft. She also loves Pokemon, her favorite character being Mew.
9. She made
her amateur MMA debut in August of 2010 at an event in
Oxnard, California. Rousey submitted her opponent, Hayden Munoz, with an armbar
in 23 seconds. She submitted her next two opponents, Autumn Richardson and
Taylor Stratford, in 57 and 24 seconds respectively.
10. Rousey
debuted in professional mixed martial arts in March of 2011,
defeating Ediane Gomes in 25 seconds. Two days before the fight, she broke up a
dog fight between her mastiff and a pit bull and sustained cuts to her foot
that required stitches. Fighting with stitches is not allowed under athletic
commission rules. So the budding fighter created a brouhaha by insisting at the
last minute on weighing in naked. The resulting confusion distracted officials
from her injury.
11. While
training and fighting, Rousey also
worked at CARE (California Animal Rehabilitation), doing physical
therapy for dogs. That included acupuncture, underwater treadmill, ultrasound
and other techniques.
12. Her Strike force debut came in August of 2011 against Sarah
D’Alelio, whom she submitted via armbar 25 seconds into the match. She went on
to win the women’s bantamweight title, defeating Miesha Tate, again in the
first round with an armbar.
13. Rousey signed
with Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) in November 2012, becoming the
promotion’s first female fighter ever. (UFC had purchased Strike force the previous year and let it
continue to operate as a separate entity.) Soon after, UFC president, Dana White,
named her the champion of the 135-pound class.
14. Her first UFC fight — and UFC’s first-ever women’s fight —
happened three months later against Liz Carmouche, an ex-Marine. Rousey won
again, in typical fashion, with an armbar, through the match lasted most of the
first round.
15. After
multiple title defenses, none lasting more than 1:06, she lost her first match.
In November of 2015, Holly Holm defeated Rousey in the second round by
knockout. A year later, Rousey lost her
comeback match to defending champion Amanda Nunes in under a
minute.
16. Rousey is married to UFC fighter Travis Browne. The couple wed in
August of 2017 at an outdoor ceremony in Hawaii, the state where he was born.
The two had been dating for two years prior.
17. Rousey made
her WWE debut early in April of 2018, teaming up with Kurt
Angle to beat Stephanie McMahon and Triple H at WrestleMania 34. She had
previously appeared at Royal Rumble earlier in the year, indicating that a
WrestleMania appearance might be in the offing. Rousey signed her contract (in
storyline) a month later at Elimination Chamber.
18. In early July
of 2018, Rousey was inducted into the UFC Hall of Fame, the first woman to receive the honor. Her
acceptance speech focused on acknowledging the fans and the state of the sport
that she helped establish.
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