Ronda Rousey

We have never profiled a fit MMA fighter before, but maybe it’s time! As many of you know, Ronda Rousey and Liz Caramouche headline the UFC fight tonight. This is ground-breaking, because it’s the first time women have fought in the UFC.

Ronda Rousey has been getting more than her fair share of the press coverage. Part of the reason is because she’s the odds-on favorite to win. Ronda grew up being taught judo by her mother, and went on to win an Olympic gold medal. Not only can absolutely anything happen in the cage, with absolutely anybody winning any given fight, but also just being a judo expert doesn’t mean you’re a well-rounded martial artist who can triumph in the cage. But in this case, Rhonda already has 6 MMA wins in another division, and she has proven to be very good at what she does.

Now the other thing behind this is, as you can see, Ronda is kind of easy on the eyes. In a sport where people get punched and beat up, and top female contenders have occasionally been a bit more average-looking, Ronda looks to be very marketable by the UFC organization in the sense that she has broad appeal to a viewership that is predominantly male. How pretty is and how fit her body looks has no bearing on whether she wins fights, but its obviously something we take into consideration when we profile “fit babes” and post up their pictures. Ronda is famous for saying that to get exposure, you have to be willing to expose yourself, and we are affectionately falling for that honeytrap.

Ronda Rousey sparsRonda Rousey absRonda Rousey amped up

After watching a number of interviews with Ronda, it’s clear that she’s well-spoken, intelligent, and has sort of a raw and emotional charisma. She puts herself out there, and she hopes you like her, but in the end she won’t change regardless. She seems well-grounded, and she’s obviously spent a lot of time and worked very hard to get where she is. Some of here allusions to being unhappy in childhood and some of the quirks she displays suggest that she is to a certain extent “damaged goods.” To be at the top of your game in certain sports – like MMA and bodybuilding and maybe even women’s fitness for example – you may have to have a certain personality that lends itself to extremism. Where does that drive come from, the drive to conquer, to not stop, to cross very real barriers? Maybe it comes from trauma, hard times, unhappiness?