Ronda has always been a top-notch ground fighter with superb armbars and outstanding sweeps and transitions. She significantly improved her clinching skills throughout her career, but due to a lack of footwork, new-era Octagon warriors pieced her up in her last two UFC battles. Yet, she’ll always be remembered as the first female to score a victory in the greatest MMA promotion in the world. She skyrocketed the popularity of women’s UFC and opened a new chapter in the history of the UFC.
Ronda Rousey Bio
Ronda Rousey was born in Riverside, California, on February 1st, 1987. She kicked off her Judo career at the age of 11 and officially became the youngest athlete to qualify for the Olympic Games in Athens 2004. She earned a bronze medal in Beijing in 2008, silver at the World Championships in 2007, and won the Pan American Title many times. The 5-foot 6 inches tall California native retired from Judo in 2008.
“Rowdy” was working as a bartender and a cocktail waitress when she kicked off her MMA dream. After two back-to-back first-round submission wins, Ronda advanced to Strikeforce, where she won the bantamweight title after the armbar victory against Julia Budd.
Luckily, the UFC head honcho finally changed his mind and allowed females to take part in fight cards. Ronda Rousey officially became the first woman to participate in the UFC battle, and the first female competitor to score a UFC victory. After her dominant Strikeforce title defense versus Sarah Kaufmann, “Rowdy” was promoted to UFC 135-pound female queen.
Ronda is married to the former UFC heavyweight fighter Travis Browne and they have one kid.
Titles
Strikeforce Women’s Bantamweight Championship (one time, with 1 successful title defense)
UFC Women’s Bantamweight Championship (one-time, inaugural, six successful back-to-back title defenses)
First-ever female UFC Hall of Fame inductee;
First female UFC Champion;
First Olympic medal owner to win a UFC belt;
Fastest women’s title fight victory in the history of UFC (fourteen seconds; vs Cat Zingano)
Longest title fight finish streak in UFC history – 6.
Most consecutive armbar finishes in UFC /Strikeforce history – 8.
Most Memorable Fights
The UFC 157 fight between Ronda Rousey and Liz Carmouche is absolutely a fight to remember because it was the first-ever female UFC bout. Rousey finished the current Bellator champ with a first-round armbar.
“Rowdy” snapped Miesha Tate’s arm at UFC 168 in the third after an excellent two rounds of back-and-forth ground war. It was the first time that Rousey advanced into round 3.
UFC 170 fight against Sarah McMann is very special because it was the first-ever KO win in her career. Ronda worked a lot on her clinch game, and it paid off. Rousey pressed wrestling phenom McMann against the fence and stopped her via knee to the belly.
But which was her most notable fight? Well, it was UFC 184 outing against Cat Zingano. It was the fastest finish in the history of a female’s UFC title bout, where Ronda dragged Zingano to the canvas and scored an armbar win after only 14 seconds!
We have to put UFC 193 loss to Holly Holm on this list as it was the beginning of the end for Rousey. Mike Winkeljohn, Holm’s coach, noticed the pattern in Ronda’s takedown offense. “The Preacher’s Daughter” stuffed every single clinching attempt and knocked Ronda out via a big left high kick in the second.
Net Worth
Ronda Rousey used to be one of the most popular female MMA fighters, and now she takes part in WWE. Her net worth is estimated to be 13 million dollars.
Conclusion
Diehard MMA fans like to joke around, saying that “Ronda was the first woman to change Dana White’s mind”. Thanks to her, we can enjoy female bouts in the cage. Sometimes, women fight better than men, and Joanna vs Weili 1 is a great example! Ronda deserves nothing but respect.
Founder/editor Michael Woods got addicted to boxing in 1990, when Buster Douglas shocked the world with his demolition of the then-impregnable Mike Tyson.
The Brooklyn-based journalist has covered the sport since for ESPN The Magazine, ESPN.com, Bad Left Hook and RING. His journalism career started with NY Newsday in 1999.
Michael Woods is also an accomplished blow by blow and color man, having done work for Top Rank, DiBella Entertainment, EPIX, and for Facebook Fightnight Live, since 2017.