Who is Ronda Rousey? Details about American wrestler
American professional wrestler, actor, former judoka, & mixed martial athlete Ronda Jean Rousey was born on February 1, 1987. Currently under contract with WWE, she competes in the SmackDown franchise. She gained notoriety in the Ultimate Fighting Championship before joining WWE (UFC). She received the enduring moniker “Rowdy” from pro wrestler Roddy Piper.
Having won bronze in judo at the Summer Olympics of 2008, Rousey became the first American woman to accomplish so. In 2011, she started her mixed-martial Art (MMA) journey with King of the Cage. As soon as UFC acquired Strikeforce, she entered and quickly rose to the position of the last female bantamweight champion there.
Rousey participated in the UFC’s first female fight ever at event UFC 157 and became the division’s first women’s bantamweight champion; she set a record for the most female fighters to successfully defend a UFC championship before Valentina Shevchenko did so in 2022. In 2018, Rousey became the first female fighter to be elected into the UFC Hall of Fame after quitting mixed martial arts in 2016.
Rousey signed with WWE in 2018 and debuted professionally at WrestleMania 34. She earned the Raw Women’s Title at SummerSlam of that year, and when she successfully defended it at WWE Evolution, she was the star of WWE’s first-ever all-pay-per-view. In women’s In WrestleMania 35, Rousey lost the championship match during the main event of the inaugural women’s WrestleMania. At Royal Rumble 2022, Rousey made a comeback and triumphed in the women’s Royal Rumble contest.
Later, she unsuccessfully contested Charlotte Flair for SmackDown Women’s Title at WrestleMania 38. Rousey won the SmackDown Women’s Title at WrestleMania Backlash later that month by defeating Flair in an “I Quit” match. As a result of a bank account cash-in, she later dropped the title to Liv Morgan, but she won it back at Extreme Rules, making her a 2 SmackDown Women’s Champion and a total of 3 Women’s World Champions in the WWE.
Only Rousey has headlined a pay-per-view event for the UFC and WWE, and she is the only female champion in both organizations. In a 2015 ESPN audience survey, she was chosen as the greatest female player in history, and Fox Sports called her “one of the iconic performers of the twenty first century.” Moreover, Rousey has acted in movies including Furious 7, Mile 22, and The Expendables 3, in addition to her 2015 memoir My Fight/Your Fight.
Early life of Ronda Rousey
The youngest of AnnMaria De Mars’s (née Waddell’s) three daughters, Ronda Jean Rousey, was born in Riverside, California, on February 1, 1987. Her parents are Ronald John Rousey, after whom she was named, and AnnMaria De Mars. Her mother was the first American to achieve a World Judo Title and a renowned judoka (in 1984). Rousey is of English, Polish, Trinidadian and Venezuelan origin through her maternal grandparents. Her mother’s great-grandmother was inherited in Caracas, Venezuela; nevertheless, one of her maternal great-grandfathers, Trinidadian physician Alfred E. Waddell, immigrated to Canada and established himself among the initial Black physicians in North America.
An engineer in aerospace is her stepfather. When Rousey was eight years old, her real dad killed himself after suffering a broken back while sledding with his children. When her girls grew older, AnnMaria worked towards a Ph.D. in educational psychology from California University, Riverside.
Because of apraxia, a neurological developmental speech sound condition, Rousey battled with speech for six years and could not construct an understandable sentence. Her umbilical cord looped around her neck during birth is thought to cause her speech impairment.
Rousey’s parents relocated to Jamestown, North Dakota, from Riverside, California, when she was three years old to receive extensive speech treatment from doctors at Minot State University. Rousey left high school early but eventually obtained her GED. She was brought up in both Jamestown and Southern California. After resigning from judo at age 21, she began an MMA career at 22 after realizing she didn’t want to spend the rest of her life in traditional employment.
Olympic judo career of Ronda Rousey
At age 11, Rousey started practicing judo with her mother. Rousey worked out with her mom until she inadvertently injured her wrist at the age of 13. Rousey qualified for the 2004 Olympics in Athens as the youngest judoka at 17. In her opening contest at 63 kg, Rousey was defeated by silver medallist Claudia Hill. Rousey also earned a gold medal at World Judo Juniors Championships in Budapest in 2004 Hungary.
She won an A-Level competition in April 2006 after going 5-0 to win the gold medal in the Birmingham World Cup in Great Britain, making history as the first female American judoka to accomplish so in almost a decade. The 19-year-old became the first American athlete to earn two Junior World titles later that year when she captured the bronze at Junior World Championships in 2006.
When Rousey increased her weight to 70 kg in February 2007, she rose to the ranks of the top three female competitors worldwide. She earned the silver at World Judo Championships in 2007 and the gold medal in the same year at Pan American Games.
Rousey participated in the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, China, in August of that year. She fell short in the quarterfinals to former world champion Edith Bosch of the Netherlands. However, the repechage bracket allowed her to advance to the bronze medal match. To win a bronze medal, Rousey defeated Annett Boehm by Yuko. When women’s judo was added to the Olympic program in 1992, Rousey’s victory made her the first American to take home an Olympic medal.
At age 21, Rousey gave up judo after the Olympics. After earning her Olympic medal, Rousey lived in a studio apartment in Venice Beach, California, with a roommate. She supported herself and her dog by working three jobs as a cocktail server and bartender.
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