She’s not the first person that comes to mind when we think of today’s dominant athletes. When we think of the top 5 female athletes of all time, she doesn’t even come into discussion until we put some real thought into it. However, now her recent success and headline-worthy quotes have put her at the absolute forefront of the sporting world. So, you better get used to these two words: Ronda Rousey.
Right now, the 28 year old Rousey is the best pound-for-pound woman fighter in the world, the UFC champion in the bantamweight division, the #1 woman fighter at 135 pounds, and some are even calling her the best female MMA fighter of all-time. She began her career in 2010 as an amateur, but didn’t make it into the limelight until she took down Miesha Tate in the Strikeforce Bantamweight Championship. From there, her celebrity status boomed, with talk-show appearances, Sports Illustrated covers, and a lucrative deal to become the first female UFC fighter.
Rousey putting Miesha Tate in her signature armbar.
Apparently defending her UFC title 3 times wasn’t newsworthy enough, because Rousey fell out of the spotlight until UFC 184 on February 28th, 2015. There, she defeated Cat Zingano in 14 seconds, the shortest match in UFC history. As of right now, she’s one of the most talked about athletes not only because of what she’s done in the ring, but what she’s said off of it. But Rousey isn’t just an athlete with a big mouth; she’s breaking ground not only for females, but for all athletes.
It’s obvious what a strong and talented female athlete can do for young women, but Rousey is doing things differently. Take the quintessential female role model, Alex Morgan. She uses her femininity as a source of pride in what she does, and she shows younger girls that it’s okay to be a woman and play sports. Morgan, however, is doing so in a sport that is played by more than 2 million women and girls across the United States. Rousey is using the other end of the spectrum. She is pioneering a sport that has been, literally, male-only since it’s inception.
While Rousey is good-looking, she doesn’t have the outward charm that Morgan displays. However, she is as confident in her body as any other professional athlete. In that, she sends a completely different, yet similar message: it’s okay to be a girl, it’s okay to be comfortable with who you are, and it’s okay to do whatever you want, because no one should judge you. Even if they do, you can just put them in an armbar to shut them up.
Rousey accepting the 2015 ESPY for BEst Fighter, beating out Floyd Mayweather.
It may be because she competes in a heavily male sport, but Rousey also has the swagger and bravado of a heavyweight champion. After winning Best Fighter over Floyd Mayweather at the 2015 ESPY Awards, she had some choice words for the 48-0 boxer. Staring straight into the camera, she posed “I wonder how Floyd feels being beat by a girl for once”, referencing his history of domestic violence.She decimates opponents with an unforgiving armbar, dislocating the elbows of multiple opponents. Before one fight, she even said she would rip off her opponents arm and throw it at her training team, then choke her to death. While that may be a little extreme, her unfiltered nature, in a strange way, is endearing herself to scores of both casual and hardcore fans of mixed martial marts. It’s like loving Jameis Winston or LeBron James; we crave overconfidence out of talented athletes, and Rousey certainly has nailed that market.
Almost above anything else, it seems (for now) that Rousey is real; that her emotions and reactions are not 100% calculated by some PR team that’s completely disconnected from her personal life. She says what’s on her mind and she stands up for what she believes in, without anyone telling her what not to say. Rousey is a girl with a tough upbringing that uses her fire and the chip on her shoulder to bowl over everyone she faces in the octagon. Her next opponent is Bethe Correia, who said that Rousey would “want to kill herself” after their bout on August 1st. Rousey did not take kindly to this, especially because her father committed suicide. Her response below shows just how raw her emotions can be, which is far from anything else we see in the meticulously set up world of sports.
I really do love Ronda Rousey. I hope that, in the future, more athletes model themselves after her. Her unconventional allure with her unmatched boldness makes for exciting hype leading up to each of her matches, impressive victories, but that’s not all. She is an an athlete that many can relate to, with a strong mind and an impressive future. Rousey has the ability to literally change sports into something that’s more real, not just something we watch on TV and can never connect to.
The Underdog 
Great article
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