Ronda Rousey the Face of UFC?

Feb. 28, 2015

Ronda Rousey

There is something about Ronda Rousey, other than looks. I am not saying she isn’t attractive, to me, she is hot as a chili pepper toasted in Tabasco sauce, but there is also more than smokin’ physical attributes, it’s the way she kicks ass and stands strong as a woman. Let me say this, if she had no skills as a fighter she would still command a physical presence. Let’s take a look at the talented and charismatic Rousey and why she could be the face of the MMA.

Rousey was born in Riverside County, California in 1987, to the parents of Ron Rousey and AnnMaria De Mars. With this, her DNA was coated with a fighting spirit. De Mars had a decorated Judo career, which she turned into being the first ever American to win the World Judo Championship in 1984.

When Ronda Rousey turned 11 years of age, De Mars decided it would be a good idea to get her daughter involved in the self-defense art of Judo. Rousey went on to train and take a career path in Judo as well. She qualified for the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, becoming the youngest judoka in the Olympics. She also went on to the World Junior Judo Championship in Budapest, Hungary where she won the gold. In 2006, she went on to claim gold at the Birmingham World Cup in Great Britain, and then went on to win bronze at the Junior World Championships, becoming the first American athlete to win two medals at the Junior Championships. In 2008, it was time for her to compete at the Beijing Olympics. She reached the quarterfinals, but ended up losing to Edith Bosch. Rousey went on still fighting and ended up capturing the bronze medal defeating Annett Boehm by Yuko (a throw that puts the opponent on their side). With this she became the very first American woman to win a medal in the Olympics.

At 22 years old, Ronda Rousey decided it was time to enter the mixed martial arts as an amateur on August 6, 2010, where she defeated Hayden Munoz by an arm-bar submission in a total time of 57 seconds. After entering the Tuff-N-Uff tournament and reaching the semi-finals, she decided that it would be time to turn pro. Her pro-debut came in March 27, 2011 where she defeated Ediane Gomes with, of course, an arm-bar, it took a total of 25 seconds to dispatch her. She then went on to defeat kickboxing champion Charmaine Tweet with an arm-bar in 49 seconds.

On March 3rd of 2012, Rousey challenged Miesha Tate for the Strikeforce title. In the first round, Rousey dislocated Tate’s elbow in an armbar submission, in doing so, became the Women’s Bantamweight Champion. She went on to defend her title against Sarah Kaufman in August of 2012, with an armbar, after promising she would rip Kaufman’s arm off and choke or pound her face to death. It only took 54 seconds into the fight for Ronda Rousey to defend her title with her classic armbar submission hold.

When November of 2012, rolled around, The Ultimate Fighting Championship announced that Ronda Rousey would become the first female fighter to sign with the UFC. Dana White, UFC President, announced that Rousey would be the first UFC Women’s Bantamweight Champion. In February of 2013, Rousey would defend her title against Liz Carmouche at UFC 157, it took her 4:49 seconds to defeat Carmouche, and Rousey had to withstand a neck crank from her to do so, winning by armbar. This set the stage for Cat Zingano in UFC 18. Zingano, unfortunately suffered a knee injury, and was replaced by Miesha Tate. Rousey was able to put Tate in an armbar to retain her belt, and defeat her rival from Strikeforce once again.

In her next fight at UFC main event 170, she faced off against Sara McMann, Ronda Rousey would go on to win the match a little different, a knee to the body, marking the first time she would win without having to use the armbar. In April of 2014, she defended her title once again, this time she defeated Alexis Davis via knockout just sixteen seconds into the first round, which set-up tonight’s main event challenge against Cat Zingano at UFC 184. A win tonight would catapult her to a very prominent place in the UFC, and hold her as the face (and a pretty one that it is) of the organization.

When she is not kicking the hell-out-of people, and breaking their arms, you can find her in commercials and movies. Her first appearance was in the Expendables 3, and she will appear in Furious 7, and in Entourage. It seems as though Rousey came from the womb wanting to take on the world, and she has.