Ronda Rousey: Best in the World
Ronda Rousey isn’t tired. She doesn’t have time to be.
Even amid an unrelenting schedule that includes appearances on The Tonight Show and The View, not to mention a tête-à-tête with New York Governor Andrew Cuomo regarding sanctioned recognition of Mixed Martial Arts in the Empire State (“I walked out of that room feeling like he was in our corner,” she assures), the 28-year-old UFC Women’s Bantamweight Champion seems eternally at ease. As she explains while en route from ESPN HQ in Bristol, Connecticut to her NYC hotel – where she’ll rest up before stopping by Good Morning America – that ability to remain relaxed and rise above has become fundamental to being Ronda Rousey.
“I know how to put my nose to the dirt and just work when the work needs to get done,” she says.
She didn’t always have such heady concerns, or as busy a schedule. Just a few years earlier, her legacy was secondary to that of her mother’s, former World Judo Champion AnnMaria De Mars. Not that Ronda was any slouch, having taken home a bronze medal in judo competition at the 2008 Summer Olympics and set MMA abuzz with her transition into the hybrid sport in 2010. But global fame, the kind that transcended her mother’s and arguably even female-fighter predecessors including Laila Ali and Gina Carano, truly descended on Rousey after she signed on with UFC in 2012 – just as more eyes were turning towards the company’s product and MMA as a whole.
And since the moment she retained the aforementioned Women’s Championship (which she brought over from rival promotion Strikeforce after its absorption by UFC) via her signature armbar submission against Liz Carmouche in February 2013, Rousey has been thrust into dual roles as elite athlete and ambassador for ass-kicking women the world over. She doesn’t cower from her reputation or responsibility in either capacity, and that’s precisely what’s distinguished her as the consensus face of MMA.
“I’m glad I could fill both those roles,” she insists. “There are a lot of things I’d like to see changed, and I’m glad that I could actually do something about it. I’ve been unemployed before, so I’m never unhappy about having a little too much work.”
Naturally, heavy is the head that wears the crown. Rousey’s coronation came with its share of detractors, notably past and future adversaries such as Sarah Kaufman and Cristiane “Cyborg” Justino, who’ve openly dismissed her success as being more marketing-driven than merited. But two-plus years into her UFC title run, Rousey no longer feels compelled to apologize for having the total package of talent, attractiveness and charisma (which has also led her to the cover of ESPN the Magazine and Maxim, in addition to movie roles in Furious 7, The Expendables 3 and Entourage and the imminent publication of her memoir), because her in-ring reign speaks for itself.
“I’m first and foremost a fighter,” she says defiantly. “No one would give a damn about how I look if I wasn’t. When I was bartending, you know what my looks got me? Tips. You know how many magazine covers I was on? Zero. There are prettier models out there, there are better actresses out there, but there are no better fighters out there.”
Not surprisingly, the only attribute of Rousey’s more reputed than her lethal armbar is her legendary gift for talking shit. After it was announced last month that the champ would defend her gold against Brazilian badass Bethe Correia (pronounced Betch Co-hey-ya) at UFC 190 on August 1, Rousey invoked Jay Z when she quipped on The View that, “I got 99 problems but a Bethe ain’t one.”
It was an almost too-perfect nugget of trash, but its author takes audible offense at the suggestion that anyone else scripts her punch lines.