Whether it’s ultimately a blessing or a curse, the fact is that dubbing an athlete as “The Next Big Thing,” is nothing new in the world of professional sports. In mixed martial arts, everyone from Jon Jones and Chris Weidman to Cain Velasquez and Daniel Cormier have been saddled with the tag, but there really hasn’t been a female fighter to receive such attention.
At least until Ronda Rousey arrived. And if you haven’t seen the unbeaten featherweight prospect fight, when you do, you’ll agree that she has the potential to be the sport’s biggest star.
“I’m so stoked to hear that,” said Rousey. “That’s what I’m aiming for.”
So she doesn’t feel the burden of expectations weighing her down?
“I did that when I was younger. I’m over it.”
That’s Ronda Rousey. Forget the Olympic Bronze medal in judo or the three amateur and two professional wins in mixed martial arts, all of which came in under a minute. What the 24-year old has which sets her apart from her peers is the “it” factor – a mix of confidence, charisma, and looks that makes her compelling both in and out of competition.
But…
“I wasn’t always like that,” she admits. “When I was 16, I went on a sports show with my coach, and they were asking everybody questions and they came to me, asked me a question and I went ‘uhhhh.’ (Laughs) I was totally a deer in the headlights for a minute, and I was like that for a while, completely horrified, and I think it’s a learned skill, just like anything else. I couldn’t even speak in full sentences until I was six years old. I was very shy, and all through high school I wore baggy clothes every day just to cover up my arms because I was just embarrassed. The self-confidence that people see in me now has developed over time. It didn’t come to me from the beginning. It came mostly from doing well in sports. I felt that if I was amazing in something, I’m actually a cool person and I should think more of myself. It’s something about medals – having a tangible thing to hold in your hand, it’s like ‘oh look, I’m awesome.’”
And Rousey won her share of medals. The daughter of AnnMaria De Mars, a World Champion judo player herself, Rousey took home Gold in the 2004 and 2005 Pan Ams and in the 2004 and 2006 Junior World Championships, earned a Silver in the 2007 World Championships, and made two United States Olympic teams, winning a Bronze in the 2008 Beijing Games. That 2008 Olympic medal was the first ever won by an American woman in judo.
Yet despite her judo pedigree, the real catalyst for her athletic success may have come from her father, Ron.
“I was raised with the mentality that if you’re going to do anything, you’re gonna do it to be the best at it,” she said. “Ever since I was a little kid, my dad told me that if you’re gonna swim, and you’re gonna be a swimmer, you’re gonna win the Olympics in swimming. And I switched from swimming to judo, and I was like I’m in judo, I’m gonna be a judo player and I’m gonna win the Olympics in judo. And when I switched to MMA, I completely have that same intent. So it’s not a big change for me; I’m just trying to continue the same trend that I’ve been trying to follow since I was a little kid.”
Tragically, Ron Rousey took his life when Ronda was just eight years old. Afflicted with Bernard-Soulier syndrome, a rare blood disorder that kept him from healing properly, Ronda’s father saw a broken back worsen to the point where he was told he had just two years to live, and instead of having his family watch him die, he took matters into his own hands.
The loss of her father crushed Rousey, but she carried on, and there’s no doubt that her father would have been proud of the athlete and woman his daughter has become.
“I really think that a lot of things happen for a reason, even if you don’t know it,” said Rousey. “It’s funny, my mom always has this line – I have a lot of mom lines I bring out all the time – that she got from my great grandmother, that God always knows what he’s doing, even when you don’t. And I always thought about that. If my dad didn’t die, I never would have gone to the Olympics and got a medal. And when I lost the finals of the worlds and I lost at the Olympics and got a Bronze, I was thinking why, why was this happening? I tried so hard, and all I wanted was to win an Olympic Gold medal. And I think back on it, and if I won this last Olympics, I probably would have gone for another one.”
Instead, after Beijing, she took some time off, regrouped, cleared her head, and began on a new athletic journey.
“I was more relieved than happy,” said Rousey of her historic Bronze medal. “Before that Olympics, I was more excited about it being over because I promised myself I’d have a year off to go home and bartend, and get an apartment, a dog, and a car and be normal. And after that year, I was like, I don’t see any reason to go back. I think winning a Bronze instead of a Gold really forced me to re-evaluate my path, and I think that this MMA career is what this path has been leading to all along and what I’ve really been meant for. So that 145-pound title is all that I really care about right now.”
So no thoughts of 2012?
“I’m over doing judo.”
Her mother wasn’t exactly thrilled about the switch from judo to MMA though, which comes as a bit of a surprise considering her own combat sports past.
“She’s not shocked by anything I do, but she wasn’t very supportive of it,” said Rousey. “She thought it wasn’t very classy and she thought it was extremely dangerous, and what mother wants to see her baby get punched in the face? She did judo herself, but she really didn’t see it as dangerous or barbaric as some people would see in contact sports. But MMA was something she was unfamiliar with, and it’s so visually dramatic. I really think that MMA’s not that dangerous; I think boxing’s way more dangerous, but visually, it’s just insane to watch. It’s like a real fight and I think it’s hard for any mother, no matter how seasoned of an athlete she is.”
It’s not like Rousey is getting hit much though.
“I’m trying to keep it that way,” she laughs.
In August of 2010, she made her amateur MMA debut in Oxnard, California and submitted Hayden Munoz in 23 seconds via armbar. Autumn Richardson and Taylor Stratford met the same fate in two subsequent amateur bouts, lasting 57 and 24 seconds, respectively.
Obviously ready for a jump to the pros, Rousey finished Ediane Gomes in 25 seconds in March of 2011 by, you guessed it, armbar, and in her most recent bout in June, “Rowdy” Ronda armbarred Charmaine Tweet into a tapout at 49 seconds of the first round. Has she been surprised at how easy she’s made everything look so far?
“It’s not surprising. I want myself to be perfect in every single match and I don’t expect that it will always be perfect, but that’s what I always aim for, so when it does happen that way, I’m not surprised because that’s what I wanted to do in the first place.”
So no worries that she hasn’t been able to show off her entire skillset because she’s ending fights so quickly, like some fighters have claimed in the past?
“I’m happy with the way things are going,” she said. “If I can go my entire career without leaving the first round, I’m not gonna complain about it. I think winning a fight in 30 seconds is pretty damn skilful.”
Damn straight.
So now it’s on to the big show, and on Friday night in Las Vegas, Rousey makes her Strikeforce and Showtime debut against Sarah D’Alelio. Yeah, there’s anticipation, and pressure, and more eyes on her than ever before (at least in her MMA life), but after all these years, you get the impression that this is what she lives for, and when you ask what the end game is for her in her new sport, she has clearly put the bar higher than most when you ask that question. And that’s refreshing.
“I want to be the undisputed, best pound-for-pound woman in the world in MMA, and I want to do it while looking good and being entertaining,” she said. “I want to bring women’s MMA up to be just as respected as the men, and I feel that if there’s something you want to get done, you gotta do it yourself. I can’t trust anybody else to do it for me, and I’m willing to put the work in and be that person.”
You want to doubt her? I won’t.
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