%20%20--%3E%0A%3Csvg%20version%3D%221.1%22%20id%3D%22Layer_1%22%20xmlns%3D%22http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg%22%20xmlns%3Axlink%3D%22http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F1999%2Fxlink%22%20x%3D%220px%22%20y%3D%220px%22%0A%09%20width%3D%2239px%22%20height%3D%2240px%22%20viewBox%3D%220%200%2039%2040%22%20enable-background%3D%22new%200%200%2039%2040%22%20xml%3Aspace%3D%22preserve%22%3E%0A%3Cpath%20fill%3D%22%23FFFFFF%22%20d%3D%22M38.5%2C7H28.2v26h10.3V7z%22%2F%3E%0A%3Cpath%20fill-rule%3D%22evenodd%22%20clip-rule%3D%22evenodd%22%20fill%3D%22%23FFFFFF%22%20d%3D%22M26.1%2C25.5c0%2C5.8-4.1%2C7.5-12.9%2C7.5C3.9%2C33%2C0%2C31.2%2C0%2C25.2v-1.1h11.6%0A%09v2.4c0%2C0.7%2C0.1%2C1.4%2C1.2%2C1.4c1%2C0%2C1.2-0.4%2C1.2-1.3v-0.9c0-1.6-0.9-1.6-3.5-2.2C2.2%2C21.7%2C0%2C19.7%2C0%2C15.3v-0.9C0%2C9.3%2C5.5%2C7%2C12.9%2C7%0A%09c10.2%2C0%2C12.8%2C2.6%2C12.8%2C7.4v1.8h-11v-2.9c0-0.6-0.4-1.1-1.2-1.1c-0.6%2C0-1.2%2C0.4-1.2%2C1.1v0.9c0%2C1.5%2C0.9%2C2%2C3.3%2C2.5%0A%09c8%2C1.6%2C10.5%2C3.3%2C10.5%2C7.5V25.5z%22%2F%3E%0A%3C%2Fsvg%3E%0A)
The unbreakable Ronda Rousey is the world's most dominant athlete
This story appears in the May 18, 2015, issue of Sports Illustrated. Subscribe to the magazine here.
The first rule of celebrity is that you don't talk about celebrity. Don't mention its existence and, for the love of Yahweh, don't complain. Ronda Jean Rousey knows this. And she knows that it's especially so when the status change is sudden. You're a few years removed from living in the rented room you found on Craigslist? Stopping for a few selfies when you walk your dog, Mochi, around Venice Beach doesn't feel like such an imposition. It seems like yesterday that you feasted on 99-cent cans of corn drowning in sauce you may or may not have lifted from Chipotle? You're fine smiling at appearances until your jaw aches or signing autographs until your carpals require icing.
Rousey neither wants nor asks for your sympathy. But she does lodge one slight gripe. Her fame is such that she can't go on Tinder. She tried an alter ego—Brynn Campbell—but that didn't work. Her friends, male and female, have only to download the dating app, swipe a few times and ... action, or at least the potential for it. Rousey, 28, is left on the sideline, at home with Mochi. "S---," she says, "the only person I'm making out with is my dog."
Which goes to show, there are drawbacks to being the world's most dominant athlete in your sport. Otherwise, these are flush times for Rousey LLC. The UFC's women's bantamweight champion is cleaning out her division Tyson-style, her fights less competitions than exercises in performance art. Her last venture into the Octagon lasted all of 14 seconds, far less time than it takes to play her entrance song, Joan Jett's "Bad Reputation." Rousey felt a new sensation that night, something resembling guilt, as she considered her previously undefeated opponent, Cat Zingano, who had trained so hard only to be humiliated with such brevity. Then she watched a replay. "I'm dropping all modesty here," says Rousey. "That's the most brilliant f------ ninja shit I ever saw. Every single millisecond of that fight was something that has never been done before in MMA."
Ronda Rousey on 14-second fight: That's the most brilliant 'ninja s---'
When you've won your last three fights in a total of 96 seconds, free time is abundant. And Rousey makes the most of it. She takes a deep breath before ticking off her schedule over the past few weeks. She was in Brazil promoting her next UFC fight. Back in L.A., she promoted Furious 7—she had a scene-stealing role—and dealt with endorsements ranging from Metro PCS to Reebok. She was in New York, lobbying the state legislature in Albany to end its holdout as the lone state not to sanction mixed martial arts. She went to South by Southwest in Austin and then to the Bay Area for a cameo at Wrestlemania 31. Oh, and there was the jaunt that Rousey—whose trainer, Edmond Tarverdyan, is of Armenian descent—made to Armenia to mark the 100-year anniversary of the genocide.
In fact, forget for a moment about the mix of power, speed, technique and poise Rousey brings to bear when she competes. Her real gift might be managing her time and, in turn, her fame. The tattoo on the inside of her right foot reads EVERY SECOND, and she applies it to more than her fighting. Celebrity is like alcohol: Some handle it better than others, and Rousey's tolerance is heroic. She avails herself of the trappings of fame—the financial fruits and, also, what she calls "just the cool s---"—without it exacting a price in her day job as an athlete. She is everywhere; but she is also present and punctual, engaged in the moment. She has mastered that balance between being a superwoman and an everywoman, a champion but also a champion of the people.
Granted, he's not a man given to understatement, but UFC president Dana White proclaims, "She's the greatest athlete I've ever worked with. By far. Her personal life and professional life are as put together as anyone's. She'll do the work of 20 male fighters. She'll bury anyone. When guys turn stuff down, she's like, 'You p------, give it to me.' When you talk about a franchise player—anything we need, she's there for us." According to commission records, Rousey earned $130,000 for her last fight, a bargain for the UFC considering that she has become one of their top pay-per-view draws. Even allowing for the cars she's received as gifts from White, her UFC contract is dwarfed by her income outside the Octagon.
Gather round, and Rousey will share her secret. "What I realized is once you become socially unhealthy, it's impossible to stay psychologically healthy," she says. "[Celebrities] get surrounded by people that benefit off of them in some way. Every single person that they see in the day either gains financial stability, status, something from that person. And so the people around you reflect reality back to you.... I'm very lucky in that I'm surrounded by plenty of people that will not hesitate for one second to tell me to go f--- myself if I said something stupid. Or if I have an idea that's nuts, they'll tell me, 'That's a crazy idea,' and I'll have to have a debate with them and be able to justify myself."
Then she gestures around the Glendale Fighting Club, her voice thickening with emotion. "The gym calls me on my bull----. There's no acting here. There's no celebrity here. There's no show here. There's no image here. That's why fighting is the one thing that really centers me. I think one of the most pure things in the world is that there's no yes man that can yes your way into a win or yes your way out of getting your ass kicked. And it's so real that you can't forget reality in that setting."
On the day she explains this, Jon Jones—the only other UFC fighter who comes close to rivaling Rousey's star wattage—turned himself in to Albuquerque police for his alleged role in a hit-and-run accident, three months after failing a drug test for cocaine.
To spend a day with Rousey is to hear about underendowed ex-boyfriends and the myth of the brontosaurus—"They mixed up the brachiosaurus and stegosaurus skeletal remains"—and the pros and cons of various depilatory methods. Go to an L.A. dive bar with Rousey, and soon she's behind the bar, preparing her special drink, a concoction of raspberry vodka, lemon vodka, simple syrup and Chambord.
She is no holds barred. Which mirrors her sport. Oh, there are rules in mixed martial arts, but not many, and most relate to gouging eyes or attempting soccer-style kicks to the head of a downed opponent. On a typical card fighters win by all manner of punches, kicks, knees, neck cranks and chokes in varieties that include rear-naked, north-south, triangle and guillotine. (Heads are not actually severed from torsos, but not for lack of trying.)
Yet in this vast universe of violent possibility, Rousey's fights, almost inevitably, end the same way. She'll take an opponent to the ground and apply an armbar, a relic from her days as a judo star. It is her go-to move—Duncan off the glass, Rivera's cutter—that entails using leverage to isolate an opponent's arm and then essentially manipulating the elbow. When an opponent/victim defiantly refuses to "tap" (i.e., surrender), ligaments will begin popping like guitar strings. Rousey has her own imagery: "It's like pulling a drumstick off a Thanksgiving turkey."
It sounds excruciating. It is excruciating. But it's a hell of a rejoinder to any wrongheaded idea that women's MMA is akin to foxy boxing or roller derby or something you'd see under the YouTube search term "catfight." The armbar is all subtlety and strategy and technique, every bit as much "art" as "martial."
And, in deploying the armbar to such devastating effect, Rousey has transformed a sport. As recently as 2012, when she resembled an alterna-band, getting buzz by fighting for minor promotions at minor venues, White was asked repeatedly whether he could envision women in his organization. His face contorted as he shook his head. Women would enter the Octagon only when prancing in heels and micro-bikinis between rounds. "Ah, women are pretty" is how he once put it to me. "Who wants to see them getting all bloody?" To his credit, White eventually reversed his stance, unable to dismiss Rousey's skills and popularity. It's no exaggeration to say that it might be the savviest business decision he ever made. Like a fighter sucking wind after an explosive first round, the UFC has plateaued in recent years.
[pagebreak]
Rousey, who made her UFC debut in 2013, has given life to a sport in need of reinvigoration. White readily admits that there is no more valuable fighter in the organization. Maybe the best part: the novelty of a fighting female was short-lived. It may have been jarring at first, watching Rousey beat the holy bejesus out of someone. But the conversation soon veered to whom she might fight next and how, in theory, she could be beaten. We got the predictable and primitive yeah-but-how-would-she-fare-against-a-dude? speculation that plods along (brontosaurus style!) when women do well in sports. But in this case, even that was a triumph in its way. In the testosterone-drenched world of cagefighting, whoever thought that the sport's alpha male wouldn't be male at all?
Thanks to Rousey, the diversification of the sport's workforce was afoot. There are now two women's weight classes. One of the most exciting young fighters, Paige VanZant, is, richly, a former ring card girl. And MMA tribalists don't much care. It's about breaking resolve (and bones), not barriers. It's about exposing glass chins, not glass ceilings. "She's the reason [women] are in the UFC," says Julie Kedzie, a former fighter. "But if we're being honest, she's elevated the whole sport."
Classic Photos of Ronda Rousey
Ronda Rousey :: Jan. 23, 2016
Here are some candid and not so candid photos of UFC fighter Ronda Rousey, who hosted Saturday Night Live on Jan. 23. In this sketch she appears with Taran Killam as Dan.
Ronda Rousey :: Jan. 23, 2016
Kenan Thompson and Ronda Rousey during the City Council sketch on the Jan. 23, 2016 episode of Saturday Night Live.
Ronda Rousey :: Jan. 23, 2016
Ronda Rousey with SNL participants (from left) Jon Rudnitsky, Bobby Moynihan, Selena Gomez, Rousey, Aidy Bryant, Vanessa Bayer and Jay Pharoah during the monologue.
Ronda Rousey :: January 2016
Singer Selena Gomez, Ronda Rousey, and Cecily Strong are caught on stage in a practice for the Jan. 23 Saturday Night Live show.
Ronda Rousey :: Nov. 14, 2015
Ronda Rousey is attended to after suffering a second-round knockout at the hands of Holly Holm at UFC 193 in Australia.
Ronda Rousey :: Oct. 27, 2015
Ronda Rousey responds to questions during media day in Glendale, Calif., ahead of her showdown with Holly Holm.
Ronda Rousey :: Oct. 27, 2015
Rousey hosts Media Day ahead of her Nov. 14 fight in Australia.
Ronda Rousey :: Oct. 27, 2015
Ronda Rousey spars with a partner during a media training session.
Ronda Rousey :: Oct. 16, 2015
Rousey poses in front of a mural created in her honor in Venice, Calif.
Ronda Rousey :: Oct. 6, 2015
Ronda Rousey poses for a photo at the London NYC hotel ahead of UFC 193.
Ronda Rousey :: Sept. 17, 2015
Ronda Rousey poses with a fans during a UFC 193 Sydney fan event.
Ronda Rousey :: Sept. 16, 2015
Ronda Rousey and her November opponent, Holly Holm, take centre stage during a UFC 193 media event.
Ronda Rousey :: Sept. 16, 2015
Ronda Rousey takes selfies with fans during a UFC 193 media event at Etihad Stadium in Melbourne, Australia.
Ronda Rousey :: Sept. 16, 2015
Ronda Rousey arrives during a UFC 193 media event at Etihad Stadium.
Ronda Rousey :: Aug. 4, 2015
Ronda Rousey and her mother, AnnMaria De Mars (3rd from right), present a championship belt to a judo school and social project owned by Olympic bronze medalist Flavio Canto in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Ronda Rousey :: Aug. 2, 2015
Ronda Rousey after her 34-second victory over Bethe Correia.
Ronda Rousey :: Aug. 1, 2015
Ronda Rousey and Bethe Correia at their weigh in.
Ronda Rousey :: July 15, 2015
Ronda Rousey accepts the Best Female Athlete award during The 2015 ESPYS at Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles.
Ronda Rousey :: July 15, 2015
Former boxer Mike Tyson meets Ronda Rousey during a media training session at the Glendale Fight Club.
Ronda Rousey :: April 27, 2015
Ronda Rousey poses during a photo shoot for SI in Los Angeles.
Ronda Rousey :: April 27, 2015
Ronda Rousey trains during a photo shoot for SI in Los Angeles.
Ronda Rousey :: April 27, 2015
Ronda Rousey poses during a photo shoot for SI in Los Angeles.
Ronda Rousey :: March 23, 2015
Ronda Rousey talks with reporters after meeting with New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo and state leaders urging them to join the 49 other states in legalizing mixed martial arts.
Ronda Rousey :: April 4, 2015
Ronda Rousey attends an NHL game between the Los Angeles Kings and the Colorado Avalanche.
Ronda Rousey :: April 1, 2015
Rousey arrives at the 'Furious 7' Los Angeles Premiere at TCL Chinese Theatre IMAX in Hollywood.
Ronda Rousey and the Rock :: March 29, 2015
Ronda Rousey and the Rock at WrestleMania 31.
Ronda Rousey :: March 29, 2015
Ronda Rousey and Stephanie McMahon at WrestleMania 31 in Santa Clara
Ronda Rousey :: March 29, 2015
Ronda Rousey and Stephanie McMahon at WrestleMania 31 in Santa Clara.
Ronda Rousey :: March 26, 2015
Ronda Rousey and Robin Roberts on the "Good Morning America" set.
Ronda Rousey :: March 24, 2015
Ronda Rousey during her visit to "The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon" at Rockefeller Center in New York City.
Ronda Rousey :: March 24, 2015
Ronda Rousey shows Jimmy Fallon what an armbar is during her visit to the "The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon."
Ronda Rousey :: March 20, 2015
Ronda Rousey and Bethe Correia of Brazil face off during the 189 World Media Tour Launch press conference in Rio de Janeiro.
Ronda Rousey and Bethe Correia:: March 20, 2015
Ronda Rousey and Bethe Correia of Brazil pose for the media during the 189 World Media Tour Launch press conference in Rio de Janeiro.
Ronda Rousey :: March 20, 2015
Ronda Rousey with fans in Brazil during the the UFC 189 World Media Tour Launch press conference
Ronda Rousey :: March 20, 2015
Ronda Rousey poses for the media during the UFC 189 World Media Tour Launch press conference in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Ronda Rousey :: March 20, 2015
Ronda Rousey looks on during the UFC 189 World Media Tour Launch press conference in Rio de Janeiro.
Ronda Rousey :: March 14, 2015
Ronda Rousey speaks during a South by Southwest Sports panel at the Austin Convention Center in Texas.
Ronda Rousey :: March 10, 2015
Ronda Rousey is seen with Mario Lopez of Extra at Universal CityWalk in Los Angeles.
Ronda Rousey :: February 2015
Ronda Rousey speaks to members of the media at the Glendale Fighting Club ahead of her fight against Cat Zingano.
Ronda Rousey and Cat Zingano :: February 2015
Ronda Rousey and Cat Zingano face off during the UFC 184 Ultimate Media Day in Los Angeles.
Ronda Rousey :: February 2015
Ronda Rousey warms up in the locker room before her bout against Cat Zingano in Los Angeles.
Ronda Rousey :: February 2015
Ronda Rousey prepares to enter the Octagon in her bantamweight championship bout against Cat Zingano in Los Angeles.
Ronda Rousey :: February 2015
Ronda Rousey gets ready to fight Cat Zingano at UFC 184.
Ronda Rousey :: February 2015
Ronda Rousey enters the Octagon in her bantamweight championship bout against Cat Zingano in Los Angeles.
Ronda Rousey and Cat Zingano :: February 2015
Ronda Rousey grapples with Cat Zingano during UFC 184. Rousey won after Zingano tapped out 14 seconds into the bout.
Ronda Rousey and Cat Zingano :: February 2015
Ronda Rousey grapples with Cat Zingano during UFC 184. Rousey won after Zingano tapped out 14 seconds into the bout.
Ronda Rousey and Cat Zingano :: February 2015
Ronda Rousey grapples with Cat Zingano during UFC 184. Rousey won after Zingano tapped out 14 seconds into the bout.
Ronda Rousey and Cat Zingano :: February 2015
Ronda Rousey gets into position to put an armbar on Cat Zingano during UFC 184.
Ronda Rousey and Cat Zingano :: February 2015
Ronda Rousey puts the finishing touches on Cat Zingano to remain undefeated.
Ronda Rousey :: February 2015
Ronda Rousey celebrates her victory over Cat Zingano.
Ronda Rousey :: February 2015
Ronda Rousey consoles Cat Zingano after their bout.
Ronda Rousey :: December 2014
Ronda Rousey attends Reebok and UFC Long-Term Partnership Announcement at Industria Studios in New York City.
Ronda Rousey :: November 2014
Ronda Rousey is seen at 'Jimmy Kimmel Live' in Los Angeles.
Ronda Rousey :: November 2014
Ronda Rousey is seen at 'Jimmy Kimmel Live' in Los Angeles.
Ronda Rousey :: November 2014
Ronda Rousey arrives at the UFC Time Is Now press conference in Las Vegas.
Ronda Rousey :: October 2014
Ronda Rousey sighting in West Hollywood, Calif.
Ronda Rousey :: September 2014
Ronda Rousey attends FOX Sports 1's "The Ultimate Fighter" Season Premiere Party in Hollywood.
Ronda Rousey :: August 2014
Ronda Rousey arrives at the Los Angeles premiere of "The Expendables 3" in Hollywood.
Ronda Rousey :: July 2014
Ronda Rousey smiles at a weigh-in for the UFC 175 event at the Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas.
Ronda Rousey and Alexis Davis: July 2014
Ronda Rousey faces off with Alexis Davis during the UFC 175 weigh-in inside the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas.
Ronda Rousey :: July 2014
Ronda Rousey takes down Alexis Davis during their women's mixed martial arts bantamweight title bout at UFC 175 in Las Vegas.
Ronda Rousey :: May 2014
Kelsey Grammer, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Ronda Rousey and Sylvester Stallone pose during a photocall for "The Expendables 3" at the 67th edition of the Cannes Film Festival in Cannes, southern France.
Ronda Rousey :: May 2014
Arnold Schwarzenegger kisses Ronda Rousey during a photocall for the film "The Expendables 3" at the 67th edition of the Cannes Film Festival.
Ronda Rousey :: May 2014
Ronda Rousey attends a photocall for "The Expendables 3" at the Carlton Hotel in Cannes, France.
Ronda Rousey and Kellan Lutz :: May 2014
Actor Kellan Lutz and Ronda Rousey arrive for the screening of The Homesman at the 67th international film festival.
Ronda Rousey :: May 2014
Ronda Rousey attends "The Homesman" Premiere at the 67th Annual Cannes Film Festival inFrance.
Ronda Rousey :: May 2014
Ronda Rousey hosts #TheLinkParty at the IceLink Boutique West Hollywood benefiting The Special Needs Network.
Ronda Rousey :: April 2014
Ronda Rousey is seen filming a scene for the "Entourage" movie in Beverly Hills in Los Angeles
Ronda Rousey :: February 2014
Ronda Rousey knees Sara McMann in their bantamweight championship bout during UFC 170 in Las Vegas.
Ronda Rousey :: February 2014
Ronda Rousey at an open training session for fans and media in Las Vegas.
Ronda Rousey and Jimmy Kimmel:: December 2013
Ronda Rousey made an appearance on "Jimmy Kimmel Live" in early December 2013.
Ronda Rousey :: December 2013
Ronda Rousey poses for a portrait during a UFC photo session in Las Vegas.
Ronda Rousey and Miesha Tate :: December 2013
Ronda Rousey attempts to submit Miesha Tate in their UFC women's bantamweight championship bout during UFC 168 in Las Vegas.
Ronda Rousey and Josh Thomson :: July 2013
Rousey and UFC lightweight Josh Thomson pose for a photo during the UFC Fan Party in Las Vegas.
Ronda Rousey :: July 2013
Ronda Rousey signs an autograph during the UFC Fan Expo Las Vegas 2013 at the Mandalay Bay Convention Center in Las Vegas,.
Ronda Rousey :: March 2013
Ronda Rousey attends the Fox Sports Media Group Upfront after party at Roseland Ballroom in New York City.
Ronda Rousey and Liz Carmouche :: February 2013
Ronda Rousey eventually got Liz Carmouche off her back and improved her record to 7-0 with the victory.
Ronda Rousey and Liz Carmouche :: February 2013
Ronda Rousey found herself in trouble early against Liz Carmouche, but withstood the challenge to win in the first round.
Ronda Rousey :: December 2012
Ronda Rousey shows off her UFC bantamweight championship belt during a news conference in Seattle, Wash. UFC president Dana White handed out the belt, saying the former Strikeforce title-holder will make her UFC debut on Feb. 23 against Liz Carmouche.
Ronda Rousey :: October 2012
Ronda Rousey during training session with coach Edmond Tarverdyan at Glendale Fighting Club.
Ronda Rousey and Dana White: September 2012
Rousey poses with Dana White at the Sons of Anarchy season 5 premiere screening in Los Angeles.
Ronda Rousey and Sarah Kaufman :: August 2012
Ronda Rousey secures an arm bar submission against Sarah Kaufman during their Strikeforce bout.
Ronda Rousey :: August 2012
Ronda Rousey reacts after defeating Sarah Kaufman by submission during the Strikeforce event in San Diego on Aug. 18.
Ronda Rousey :: July 2012
Ronda Rousey attends ESPN Magazine's 4th Annual Body Issue celebration at Belasco Theatre on July 10, 2012 in Los Angeles.
Ronda Rousey :: March 2012
Ronda Rousey during the weigh-in for her bout against Meisha Tate.
Ronda Rousey :: March 2012
Ronda Rousey walks to the cage before her bantamweight bout against Tate in March. Rousey won via an armbar submission.
Ronda Rousey and Miesha Tate :: March 2012
Ronda Rousey reacts after submitting Meisha Tate during their bantamweight bout in Columbus, Ohio.
Ronda Rousey :: March 2012
Rousey takes questions from the media after her victory over Meisha Tate.
Ronda Rousey :: October 2012
Ronda Rousey during a photo shoot for SI at the Glendale Fighting Club in California.
Ronda Rousey :: October 2012
Ronda Rousey during a photo shoot for SI at the Glendale Fighting Club in California.
Ronda Rousey :: October 2012
Ronda Rousey during a photo shoot for SI at the Glendale Fighting Club in California.
Ronda Rousey :: October 2012
Ronda Rousey during a photo shoot for SI at the Glendale Fighting Club in California.
Ronda Rousey :: October 2012
Ronda Rousey catches her breath after a workout.
Ronda Rousey :: October 2012
Ronda Rousey during a photo shoot for SI at the Glendale Fighting Club in California.
Ronda Rousey :: November 2011
Ronda Rousey attends the UFC On FOX: Live Heavyweight Championship in Anaheim, Calif.
Ronda Rousey and Sarah D'Alelio :: August 2011
Rousey and Sarah D'Alelio pose at the weigh-in before their Strikeforce match in Las Vegas.
Ronda Rousey :: August 2011
Ronda Rousey during the Strikeforce Challengers 4 at The Pearl at The Palms Casino Resort in Las Vegas.
Ronda Rousey and Sarah D'Alelio :: August 2011
Sarah D'Alelio and Ronda Rousey during the Strikeforce Challengers 4 at The Pearl at The Palms Casino Resort in Las Vegas. Rousey would win the bout via tapout in the first round.
Ronda Rousey :: April 2008
Ronda Rousey (far left) in a Summer Olympics preview portrait with Rau'shee Warren (boxing), Demetrius Andrade (boxing), Marci Van Dusen (freestyle wrestling), and Sarah Hammer (cycling).
Ronda Rousey and Valerie Gotay: April 2008
Ronda Rousey throws Valerie Gotay over her shoulder as she poses for a portrait during the 2008 U.S. Olympic Team Media Summitt in Chicago.
Ronda Rousey and Annett Boehm: August 2008
Rousey and Germany's Annett Boehm compete in the 70 kg judo bronze-medal match at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games. Rousey would win the match and the bronze.
Ronda Rousey :: August 2008
Rousey stands on the podium after winning bronze at the 2008 Olympics.
Ronda Rousey: 2007
A happy Ronda Rousey after she won the 70Kg Judo final in the 2007 XV Pan American Games in Rio de Janeiro.
Ronda Rousey :: April 2006
Ronda Rousey with her gold medal at the Fighting Films Birmingham Women's World Cup at the National Indoor Arena, Birmingham, England.
Ronda Rousey :: August 2004
Claudia Heill from Austria fights Ronda Rousey during the Judo half-middle weight (-63kg) event at the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens.
Ronda Rousey :: June 2004
Ronda Rousey and Anastasia Krivosta compete in their 63 kg. match during the U.S. Olympic Team Trials in Judo at the San Jose State University Event Center in California. Rousey won the match to move on in the competition.
If the UFC needed Rousey, the reverse is true too. Forget what the written record (or Wikipedia) says. Technically Rousey's first professional fights came when she was 14. She would head to the Third Street Promenade in Santa Monica, find adults who looked desperate and challenge them to fight her for $5. They would go to a nearby park, make sure no cops were around, and Rousey would administer an armbar or a choke. Then she would spend her winnings at Starbucks. "Will fight for Frappuccinos," she says. She tells the story gleefully, but it speaks to a need to compete, to match will and skill in combat.
At 21, she won a bronze medal in judo at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. She came home and quickly realized how little currency that held. "I'd be like, 'I have an Olympic bronze medal,'" she recalls. "The other person would be like, 'Uh, cool. I collect stamps.'" She fell into a mental abyss that could be called Post-Olympic Depression. She recognized it immediately. (The Austrian judoka, Claudia Heill, who had beaten Rousey at the 2004 Games, would kill herself in 2011 by jumping off a building.) Rousey tried to self-medicate by drinking and smoking, "basically tearing down the body I had built up all those years."
She worked a series of low-wage jobs, from handling the graveyard shift at a 24 Hour Fitness to bartending at The Redwood, a pirate-themed tavern in downtown L.A.. (She was known for enlivening slow nights by flipping coworkers over the bar.) "I was so tired," she remembers. "I would go in the bathroom and sit on top of the toilet, set the alarm on my phone to sleep for five minutes." Still, she barely had money to fill up her gas tank.
Anticipating that her daughter's personal fog would lift and Rousey would pursue her love of science—"Go get a Ph.D. in zoology or something"—Rousey's mom, AnnMaria Rousey De Mars, took a job at USC, which included a family tuition discount. De Mars was something other than thrilled when her daughter explained that she'd started working out with a group of Armenian fighters at a gym in Glendale. Structure and muscles were returning in equal measure. She had become seduced by mixed martial arts. "You want to punch people in the face?" Mom said, dumbfounded. "Let the dumb people do that!"
Rousey, though, persisted, manipulating her schedule to make it all work. She had the judo background and then nourished herself on the other disciplines. "There's nothing she doesn't pick up," says Tarverdyan. Beyond the technical skills, Rousey has an ideal mentality for fighting. White recalls walking into Rousey's dressing room shortly before her UFC debut and catching her during her prefight ritual. Which is to say, napping. "One of the reasons why I talk so confidently before every fight isn't out of a lack of humility," she says, "it's out of a need to make it so there's no other way but to prove myself right. 'Dojo fighters' do amazing sparring in the gym, but you put them under pressure and they fold. I'm one of those people where I do well in the gym. But you put me under pressure and I unfold."
This animated self-belief comes with a side order: a paralyzing fear of defeat. "I like snakes and bugs and heights," she says. "But fear of failure? Losing literally feels like dying to me." What if she had won gold, not bronze, at the Olympics? "I would have either been content and moved on with my life and never fought again, or I would have tried to go back to win another gold medal. I never would have gone to MMA. Because I never won that Olympic gold, I have that feeling of always being unsatiated."
Rousey’s forthcoming book is—as you might have guessed—the open variety. She wrote My Fight/Your Fight with her sister, journalist Maria Burns Ortiz, and it's hard to imagine what was deemed too personal to include. She talks about the cheating ex-boyfriend who seduced her when she was a teenager, conferring on him the pseudonym Dick IttyBitty. Another boyfriend struggled with heroin addiction and once stole her car. A more recent love interest—this one gets the nickname Snappers McCreepy—secretly took naked photos of her.
It lays bare a central contradiction to Rousey. She is hardly the kind of woman who needs to be reminded to lean in. She's assertive and smart and discerning. Then it all goes to hell when a guy comes along.
"It's the worst, right?"
How do you explain that, she's asked.
She pauses, sighs and collects herself. "Well, I know I'm a big pushover emotionally. I think that's one of the reasons why I was always so obsessed with being so physically strong. I think it was to try and compensate for me feeling really emotionally weak. I let people treat me badly. I've let people disrespect me. I wouldn't let anyone ever disrespect me in any other area. And I don't know why when matters of the heart are involved, I suddenly value myself less. I'm trying to fix that."
For now, companionship comes from other sources. Rousey's three sisters live nearby. So does Mom. They are reliable fonts of both wisdom and reality checks. Burns Ortiz, 32, is the chief marketing officer of a video game company. Jennifer, 29, is a middle school history teacher. Julia, 17, is a high school student in L.A. "Let's just say Ronda doesn't get a lot of sympathy," says AnnMaria. "Yes, she's running at a fast pace. But there are a lot of people who work really, really hard."
Ronda Rousey recounts one-armed judo victory in new book
When not in the comfort of the Glendale Fighting Club—"my living room," she calls it—Rousey also hangs out with her Ron-tourage (her pun), a quartet of fighters who call themselves the Four Horsewomen. Rousey, Marina Shafir, Jessamyn Duke and Shayna Baszler travel (and Instagram) in a pack. Duke and Baszler live nearby. Shafir lives with Rousey in her newly purchased house a few blocks from the beach.
Rousey's next fight is on Aug. 1 in Rio. Her opponent is an undefeated Brazilian, Bethe Correia. While Rousey seldom wants for motivation, it's easy to come by this time. Correia has beaten both Duke and Baszler. When Rousey says, "It's gotten personal," it's more than the usual prefight promotion. Unfortunately for Correia her first name is pronounced Betchey, which sounds an awful lot like bitch to American ears. That's not something Rousey can ignore. One crack among many: "I got 99 problems, but Bethe ain't one."
Rousey intends to make it another gloriously fast fight, in part to sustain her mystique, but also for practical reasons. "The shorter my fights are, the longer I can fight." she says. "And if I keep coming out unscathed, I feel like I can fight forever. It's like you're a rock that got thrown into a river. You'll be able to enjoy that nice clean, cool, amazing water for a long time, but after a while it's going to start to erode away all your edges. I want to stop before it really erodes me."
August, though, is a long way off. Before then the quintessential contemporary athlete will continue to embrace all that comes with quintessence. She won't just drink from the chalice of celebrity; she'll lick the bottom. There's the book to promote. The premiere of the Entourage movie, and the filming of another—Mile 22. More products to endorse; more events to attend; more causes for the champion to champion. She'll do it all, continuing to hyperextend time as if it were the elbow of another pitiable opponent.
GALLERY: BEHIND THE SCENES WITH RONDA ROUSEY
Behind the Scenes with Ronda Rousey
Jon Wertheim is a senior writer for Sports Illustrated and has been part of the full-time SI writing staff since 1997, largely focusing on the tennis beat , sports business and social issues, and enterprise journalism. In addition to his work at SI, he is a correspondent for "60 Minutes" and a commentator for The Tennis Channel. He has authored 11 books and has been honored with two Emmys, numerous writing and investigative journalism awards, and the Eugene Scott Award from the International Tennis Hall of Fame. Wertheim is a longtime member of the New York Bar Association (retired), the International Tennis Writers Association and the Writers Guild of America. He has a bachelor's in history from Yale University and received a law degree from the University of Pennsylvania. He resides in New York City with his wife, who is a divorce mediator and adjunct law professor. They have two children.