Ronda Rousey
Ronda Rousey
Ronda Jean Rouseyis an American mixed martial artist, judoka, and actor. Rousey was the first U.S. woman to earn an Olympic medal in judo, which she won at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. She is the former UFC Women's Bantamweight Champion, as well as the last Strikeforce Women's Bantamweight Champion. She won twelve consecutive MMA fights, six in the Ultimate Fighting Championship, before suffering her first and only loss to Holly Holm; she won eleven of those fights in...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionMMA Fighter
Date of Birth1 February 1987
CityRiverside, CA
CountryUnited States of America
The Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue really sets the social standard for what people expect the perfect woman's body to look like, and a lot of those bodies usually look the same.
If you're fighting with emotion instead of structure... it's always going to be a mistake.
My father would say, 'Ronnie, you're going to be someone special. Whatever it is that you want to do, you're going to be the best in the world at it.'
We were in the middle of a sandbar in the middle of the ocean with no one around, and still someone was following me from New York, and was hiding in some bushes like a mile away with a long lens, so he still got pictures. It was really an eye opener to how you really have to be careful about being followed everywhere. I was trying to go to the most remote place in the world, I was out on a sandbar in the middle of the ocean, and they still found me. It was definitely a very new experience.
Everyone wants to win. But to truly succeed - whether it is at a sport or at your job or in life - you have to be willing to do the hard work, overcome the challenges, and make the sacrifices it takes to be the best at what you do.
I'm living such a lucky and blessed life and I'm trying my best to deserve it.
Judo taught me that I am capable of anything... I can mentally push past anything and be victorious.
I'm the most dangerous unarmed women in the world, I've prepared my entire life to be that way.
When I looked at the state of women's MMA, what I saw was that it was missing rivalries or anything theatrical about it. Everybody was trying to be Miss America, unwilling to go under any kind of criticism, and taking the safe answers. I thought I needed to do whatever I could to get attention.
Everything happens for a reason... even if you don't know it.
I feel like when I fight it's an art, and Art isn't supposed to be 'nice', it isn't supposed to be liked. It's supposed to make you feel something.
There have always been people who have written me off. They're not going away. I use that to motivate me. I'm driven to show them just how wrong they are.
Sports are a metaphor for life.
A belt does nothing but hold your gi together. A belt has assigned significance, a belt is someone else saying you're good, you don't need other people saying that you're good in order to be good.