TORONTO — She sits squarely at the intersection of Hollywood and humble and after meeting her it’s easy to see why she’s found on red carpets as frequently as she’s on the Octagon canvas. If you didn’t know who she was, you’d never be able to tell she was the most powerful woman in sports based on her demeanor. She would blend in with the many girls socializing on the patios of Toronto’s St. Lawrence market after our interview wraps on a sunny afternoon. That was my take away when given the chance to spend time with UFC women’s bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey.
Walking into the room to meet her, I’m immediately taken aback. She’s more beautiful in person. She’s louder than you’ve seen at weigh-ins and press conferences, more boisterous, more engaging than I had imagined. The room is hers – that much is clear – and she’s allowing you to entertain the same space. She has a presence. She’s bold. She’s won one round and I didn’t even hear the bell ring.
The interview itself is a bout. Punch, counter punch. Just when you think you have her lined up she dips and dodges but isn’t evasive. In fact, she’s actually very candid, but remains unpredictable. I’ve read her book, I’ve done my research, and I feel like I know her yet I’m surprised by almost every answer. My head is spinning. She’s won round two.
See, to know Rousey the fighter is to know Rousey the person because they are one and the same.
The 28-year-old Californian details in her book “My Fight / Your Fight” how the lessons she learned from the fight game have been applied in the game of life. “I realized every single challenge that I came across, I related it to some sort of principle of fighting and that’s how I got through it,” she said back in May while in Toronto promoting her book.
The balance of our conversation is spent dissecting my hypothesis that like martial arts many of her choices are made with self defence in mind.
“I think [the way I present myself] really is a defensive thing,” she affirmed. “The truth is the best armour.”
It’s why she’s so forthright, like when she revealed how, when playing on an ex-boyfriend’s computer years ago, to her surprise she learned he was secretly photographing her naked. After destroying his computer she decided to destroy any potential plot he might have to sell the photos. It fuelled her decision to pose nude for the Body Issue in ESPN The Magazine, not just to own her body but to reclaim her narrative and no longer live in fear of the pictures being leaked. Counter punch.
When I push her on why she reveals such intimate details to the public her answer is profound. “Omission is the same as a lie,” she barks back without thinking twice.
“I didn’t try and make myself sound perfect. I’m a jerk sometimes in the book, I do stupid stuff some times in the book. A lot of the pictures are not a bunch of boob-squished selfies. Sometimes I’m getting my face scrunched in to the mat. It’s real. I wanted to write a book that was inspirational and raw like Andre Agassi did and not a pack of lies like Lance Armstrong.”
That answer right there is Rousey at her best. She could throw a jab but she figures if she is going to throw a punch it might as well be a haymaker. Everything she does is a tour de force. That brashness has made her arguably the most recognizable woman in sports because it’s not just entertaining, it’s relatable. She isn’t afraid of what you’re thinking and she often says what you’re thinking before you even have the chance to say it.
The 2008 Olympic bronze medal-winning judoka is also relatable to many fans because her meteoric rise to stardom began when she was at rock bottom. Rousey recently sold her old 2005 Honda Accord for $21,300 – the same car she once lived in from time to time earlier in her career.
Although she doesn’t drive in the literal sense as frequently as she used to – she’s chauffeured many places these days – she remains driven in the figurative sense by her undisputed title that she will aim to defend at UFC 190 on Aug. 1 against Brazilian Bethe Correia.
“All of this is because of the UFC,” Rousey said of her success. “Nobody wanted to put me on magazine covers before. So it’s not hard to prioritize. If anything it’s the opposite, which is why when I’m training I’m so driven because I know that’s the core of everything, that everything is riding on.”
Rousey with Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger at the premiere of The Expendables 3. (Kin Cheung/AP)
Rousey is warm but defensive when you first meet her. She’ll bring you in but her guard is always up and she’s always evaluating. Every move, every person, every opportunity. She may seem cavalier but everything is calculated.
Even as she goes over potential dresses designers have offered to her for an upcoming appearance, the most minor details from straps to shoes are discussed. Despite her A-list status, Rousey chooses comfort over glitz and glamour every time. Her favourite part of the day is taking off her high heels, black jumper and getting into the comfy clothes that make jetsetting and long days filled with obligations more palatable.
Rousey in a scene from the Entourage movie with Jerry Ferrara, Kevin Dillon, Kevin Connolly and Adrian Grenier. (Claudette Barius/Warner Bros. Pictures via AP)
Rousey stars in the new Entourage movie but she doesn’t travel with one. Her business manager is the only person that accompanied her on the day I sat down with her. At most she rolls with her agent, trainers, and the rest of the “Rousey camp,” which is all exclusively family and friends. Her sounding board for her toughest choices is her mother AnnMaria De Mars, who can provide perspective as she was the 1984 world judo champion. The co-author of Rousey’s first book is her older sister, Maria Burns-Ortiz. The dominant champion trusts the people who were with her before the fame because she knows no matter how famous she gets, it won’t change how they treat her.
She beamed while discussing what it was like to work with her sister on the book. “It was kinda nice to have something so important to both of our lives, for our careers to be intertwined for a while,” she said. “It was a strange journey of bonding and self-discovery that I’m really happy we went through together.”
The fame has become so enormous so fast that Rousey constantly has to prioritize her time to make room for that support system. “You know things are bad when your mom has to contact your assistant to schedule time for you to spend with your grandma,” Rousey said before bursting in to laughter and acknowledging the need to occasionally opt out of certain opportunities in order to put her family and fighting above all else.
Reebok, Monster and Metro PCS among others have all signed up as sponsors, which means they all have a hand in the fighter’s time. Female athletes have struggled for sponsorship opportunities — especially in combat sports — so her client list is a ringing endorsement of her crossover appeal.
Rousey, a huge professional wrestling fan, made a surprise appearance at WrestleMania 31 in March in front of 76,976 fans at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif. (Don Feria/AP Images for WWE)
She is trying to seize the moment as it might be fleeting, like so many things in the fight game, but it can take its toll if not carefully managed. Between promoting her book, movies, and preparing for her next title fight there was a four-month span earlier this year where Rousey had only three days off and she was struck with pneumonia due to exhaustion.
“I missed the Mayweather-Pacquiao fight [on May 2]. I was supposed to be there. I had a ticket but I was sleeping through it. Waking up and catching a round then coughing up blood and going back to sleep.” Overworked, her body shut down. One of the most accomplished athletes in the world was barely able to open her eyes to witness the most-watched event in the history of combat sports. Luckily it wasn’t Rousey’s name on the card that night.
Rousey recently surpassed one million Twitter followers and two million Instagram followers, proving her fans want to see her and hear from. Unlike Anna Kournikova or Danika Patrick before her, though, the conversation surrounding Rousey is driven by performance first and foremost ahead of appearance. You could make the argument she’s the most dominant athlete in sports, male or female.
Undefeated at 11-0, beating her last two opponents in a combined 30 seconds, no legitimate threat to Rousey’s title has emerged. She’s so dominant in her field that the topic of Rousey fighting a man has been brought up on a number of occasions. Some have expressed an interest in seeing her fight the undisputed biggest draw in combat sports history, Floyd Mayweather. For ethical and logistical reasons, it will never happen, but that hasn’t stopped UFC president Dana White from giving his thoughts on what might happen.
When I ask her about the potential fight, she answers, “I don’t think there is any scenario that a stadium of people should get together to cheer a man hitting a woman.”
With that very logical response, I feel almost ashamed for broaching the subject. Blindsided once again. My fault is I don’t see Rousey as a woman, I see her as a super hero of sorts. Ironically, she sees herself not as a hero, but as a villain. “The bad guy is more interesting, the antagonist is really the driver of [any] story,” Rousey professes.
Rousey has proven female athletes can be simultaneously beautiful and feared, brash and cocky yet still ladylike. She is the antagonist, fighting against the general conception of how women in sports should be, and a villain to those who want to maintain the status quo. It’s why she counts White as her greatest opponent to date. For years, White believed women didn’t have a place in the UFC and he stood by that until Rousey burst onto the scene. She is the sole reason women are in the UFC today and White is now her biggest supporter.
When all is said and done, respect is what she’s after. It’s what she fights for. Not more magazine covers, movie roles or red carpet appearances. Her fight is for herself, for female athletes and for girls everywhere.
I entered the interview with respect for her accomplishments but still had preconceived notions about Ronda Rousey. I left with a profound respect for her acumen and was in awe of the level of respect she demands. The bout ends and I’m blown away. TKO. Rousey is still undefeated.