Ronda Rousey is the first superstar that the world of MMA produced. The Judo bronze medalist rose to fame quickly, after becoming the inaugural bantamweight champion in the women’s division in the UFC and going so far as to defend her title staggering six times.
But Rousey’s ego quickly got the best of her and she succumbed to the ego curse – forgoing her judo skills in order to ‘stand and bang’ and deliver highlight reel finishes in the cage.
Prior to her 7th title defense Rousey went on a talk show and did a very interesting interview.
“She’s the type of fighter you have to be very patient with. She’s going to try to keep distance and keep far away from me and keep me frustrated and to the point where I’ll make a mistake and she’ll try to kick me in the head—but it’s not going to go like that.”
Sadly for Rousey, that’s pretty much exactly how it went. And her lucrative career was basically over. She was rumored to have broken her jaw in defeat and would go missing from the promotion for a year – at which point she would mount a comeback against Amanda Nunes and once again lose in a spectacular fashion.
Nowadays Rousey is making guest appearances on WWE and streaming video games in her free time. She welcomed first child with husband Travis Browned back in 2021.
Prior to her defeat, many MMA insiders believed she could dominate both men and women in the 135lbs division including longtime commentator Joe Rogan.
“I’m not happy that Ronda Rousey lost, but in a way, it makes things easier because there was a bunch of f**king people going, ‘Oh yeah, what about Ronda Rousey?’”
“And I made the mistake saying – hyperbole. I’m the master of hyperbole. I exaggerate all the time – I was like, ‘She could probably beat half the men bantamweights in the UFC.” Rogan said.
Joe Rogan changed his mind about the controversial claim but maintained there was some truth to it – the 54-year-old said that Rousey will still beat any non-professional men with the same weight.
“That’s definitely not true. I shouldn’t have said it at the time. Now it’s definitely not true. She could beat a few that aren’t good outside the sport.” Rogan said.
He added,