Ronda Rousey, very similar to any variety of different MMA legends, turned a family identify throughout her time within the sport. Earlier than she took the ladies’s division of WWE by storm, earlier than she headlined WrestleMania within the spring of 2019, the one nicknamed “Rowdy” conquered the game of MMA.
Though Ronda Rousey’s time in MMA got here to an finish in December of 2016 after dropping a first-round knockout to Amanda Nunes (23-5 MMA, 16-2 UFC) in UFC 207 from T-Cellular Area in Las Vegas, the mark she left on the game can be lengthy remembered.
At this time, we’ll be looking again on the profession of Rousey (12-2 MMA, 6-2 UFC) in MMA.
Ronda Rousey: Judoka
Earlier than turning to blended martial arts, she lower her enamel within the sport of judo. Throughout the summer season of 2004, Athens, Greece was the host metropolis for that yr’s Olympic Video games. Rousey, a judo practitioner since her childhood, initially practiced along with her mother serving as her sparring accomplice.
Mother finally needed to step away as daughter’s coaching accomplice upon sustaining a damaged wrist throughout a sparring session. Her first flip as an Olympian was an unfortunate one, as she was eradicated from the 63-kilogram match within the opening spherical towards the late Claudia Heili, who in the end took the silver medal within the match ultimate.
Heili died in March of 2011 at 29 years of age. Upon Rousey handing over gold medal performances in the course of the 2005 Pan-American Championships in Puerto Rico and 2007 Pan-American Video games in Rio de Janeiro, she tried her luck within the 2008 Beijing Summer season Olympic Video games.
The second verse was significantly better than the primary for Ronda Rousey, who captured the bronze medal in China. Afterward, her MMA profession started.
Ronda Rousey Makes Fast Work in Novice MMA Circuit
We now fast-forward to 2010, when “Rowdy” turned her consideration to the cage of MMA. She solely wanted three beginner bouts to get seen. Even in these early days within the sport, Rousey established a relentless of her profession, quick finishes.
In her three profession beginner bouts, none of them lasted a minute in size or extra. Timewise, her longest beginner contest was her second bout, a submission by means of armbar in simply 57 seconds versus Autumn Richardson (King) in November of 2010 throughout Tuff-N-Uff: Future Stars of MMA.
All instructed, the mixed size of Ronda Rousey’s three beginner contests in MMA: One minute and 44 seconds.
Fast Finishes Comply with Ronda Rousey to Begin Professional Profession
With three contests on the beginner circuit underneath her belt, Rousey turned skilled within the sport in March of 2011, however the quick nights on the workplace solely continued from there. She completed off her professional debut in solely 25 seconds by means of armbar vs. Ediane Gomez.
Even again then, MMA followers needed to know that they had been watching a star within the making with Ronda Rousey. It didn’t take too lengthy into her professional profession for her to get seen by a significant promotion. In simply her third battle, she appeared within the late Strikeforce MMA, scoring a technical submission through armbar in 25 seconds towards Sarah D’Aielio, parlaying that into the Strikeforce Ladies’s Bantamweight Championship in March of 2012 versus Miesha Tate.
UFC Comes Calling After Strikeforce Ceases Operations, Rousey Claims, Then Loses, Belt
In 2011, the UFC purchased Strikeforce and finally inherited the contracts of then-active fighters within the promotion, together with that of Ronda Rousey. Throughout a press convention in late 2012, UFC CEO Dana White introduced Rousey as its first girls’s bantamweight champion.
The next February, Rousey made a profitable UFC debut, besting Liz Carmouche with an armbar in Anaheim throughout UFC 157. This set off a run of six defenses of her title, taking her as much as the autumn of 2015 in UFC 193, when she misplaced the belt to Holly Holm. For the primary time in her MMA profession, she was defeated, dropping the title by means of second-round knockout in 59 seconds.
In Rousey’s final profitable protection of the belt, she delivered a knockout to Bethe Correia through punches in UFC 190 the earlier August. After the defeat, Ronda Rousey wouldn’t set foot within the well-known Octagon for one more 13 and a half months.
Rousey’s MMA Profession Ends in Second Consecutive Defeat
On Dec. 30, 2016, UFC 207 was held inside T-Cellular Area in Las Vegas. As a result of New Yr’s Eve occurring on a Saturday that yr, this pay-per-view occurred on a Friday. Rousey made her return to the cage towards Amanda Nunes throughout the primary occasion of the night, hoping to get again within the win column.
Nunes had different concepts that winter’s night time, nonetheless, ending Rousey by means of first-round knockout contained in the opening minute. Though no one might have predicted it on the night time of the cardboard, UFC 207 marked Ronda Rousey’s retirement bout in MMA.
Near a decade faraway from her ultimate battle in MMA, Ronda Rousey remains to be remembered as one of many all-time greats within the sport.
