A Glance At The Interesting Career Of Ronda Rousey

Publish date: 2024-07-28

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A mixed martial fighter and judoka from the US with a net worth of $ 13 million, Ronda Rousey is also a passionate actress. While working for WWE, she was a RAW's Women's Division member. At this time, she holds the record for the second-longest reign in the title's history, with 231 days as the RAW Women's Champion. Rousey, a former UFC women's champion, was the first American woman to win an Olympic medal in judo.

Ronda Rousey contributed to popularizing women's mixed martial arts as she took her road to become the first female UFC champion. The young Rousey had a hard upbringing defined by her father's suicide and speech issues. She excelled in judo, winning consecutive gold medals at the Pan American Championships and a bronze medal at the 2008 Olympics. In Riverside, California, Ronda Jean Rousey was born on February 1st, 1987.

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Ruling Over Judo and Olympics

Rousey suffered in school and was homeschooled for a portion of her childhood and high school years, but she discovered judo provided an outlet for her dissatisfaction. De Mars, a gold medal-winning judoka at the 1984 World Championships, started instructing her daughter in the basics of the sport, mainly the dreaded armbar used to pin an adversary to the mat. Rousey was selected for the American Olympic squad at 15, and at 16, she became the youngest American to hold the top spot in the country in the women's half-middleweight class. Despite not winning a medal at the 2004 Summer Olympics,

Rousey did win gold at the Pan American and World Junior Judo Championships that year. After she victoriously defended her Pan American Judo Championship crown in 2006, Rousey placed second in the 2007 competition to become the first American woman to win a World Championship medal in the preceding 12 years. Even with a torn meniscus in her knee, the famous athlete went on to win gold at the 2007 Pan American Games. She gave up judo at age 21 after winning the bronze medal at the 2008 Olympics.

Rousey's Reign Of Terror In Mixed Martial Arts

Rousey worked as a bartender and temporarily lived out of her car in Los Angeles since she was done with her judo career. Later, she became a member of the Glendale Fighting Club, and in August 2010, she made her amateur mixed martial arts debut, winning via armbar after only 23 seconds. After 57 and 24 seconds, two more amateur matches were decided by armbar submission. After going pro in the sport, the savage Ronda Rousey resumed her reign of terror, winning four straight games in a matter of seconds. She beat Miesha Tate in four minutes and 27 seconds to win the Strikeforce Women's Bantamweight Championship in March 2012.

By this time, Rousey had established herself as a crossover celebrity thanks to her attractiveness and propensity for first trash-talking and then ruthlessly eliminating her opponents. She was a cover model for the 2012 Body Issue of ESPN The Magazine and appeared as a guest on Conan O'Brien's talk show.

Signing With Ultimate Fighting Championship

After another quick victory, Rousey was the first woman to sign with the Ultimate Fighting Championship, the world's biggest mixed martial arts league. She was declared the bantamweight champion and successfully defended her title against Liz Carmouche in the first UFC women's fight in February 2012. It was her longest battle up to that point, lasting four minutes and 49 seconds. Rousey made another sultry photo spread for Maxim in the summer of 2013. She defeated Tate in a rematch that went all the way to the third round at the end of 2013, raising the possibility that she was losing her edge as the undisputed champion of the UFC women's circuit.

Rousey won four straight matches in the opening round after making her comeback to the UFC Octagon, two of them in less than 20 seconds. But in November 2015, Holly Holm stunned her in the second round to end her reign. The unexpected defeat shocked the sporting community and gave Rousey her first significant physical test since her competitive judo days. Rousey attempted a comeback on December 30th, 2016, at UFC 207, taking on reigning champion Amanda Nunes more than a year after her shocking 2015 defeat. Rousey was defeated by Nunes in 48 seconds, though. Rousey would become the league's first female Hall of Famer the following month, the UFC announced in a statement in June 2018.

Rousey Making Her Move To The WWE

Rousey did not completely rule out returning to mixed martial arts, but her move to WWE marked the end of her illustrious career as the first female superstar in the discipline. At Wrestlemania 34 on April 8th, Rousey made her professional wrestling debut. Teaming up with veteran wrestler Kurt Angle, the pair defeated Triple H and Stephanie McMahon in the Mixed Match Challenge, which resulted in McMahon tapping out after being placed under an armbar by Rousey. When McMahon attempted to kiss up to Rousey the next day during Monday Night Raw, he was flung to the mat for another armbar, which won the newcomer even more fans.

When the CEO and chairman of WWE McMahon tried to kiss up to Rousey the next day during Monday Night Raw, he was flung to the mat for another armbar, which won the newcomer even more fans. Rousey won the Raw Women's Championship by defeating Alexa Bliss at Summerslam in August 2018 and retained it until Becky Lynch defeated her at Wrestlemania 35 in April 2019. Rousey, who also sustained a broken hand in the defeat, announced shortly after the match that she would be retiring from professional wrestling indefinitely to concentrate on starting a family with Browne. Later, she revealed that she has no plans to make a full-time comeback to WWE.

READ NEXT: WWE Billions: 10 Ways Vince McMahon Spends His Billion-Dollar Fortune

Sources: Sporting News, Give Me Sport, The Sportster

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