Ronda Jean Rousey is an American actress, semi-retired professional wrestler, former judoka, and retired mixed martial artist. She is best known for her tenures in the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) and WWE.
๐ฅ Olympic Judo Career
She was the first American woman to win an Olympic medal in judo by winning bronze at the 2008 Summer Olympics. Lynn Roethke had previously won a silver medal in the 1988 Olympics, but her medal was not counted toward the US medal count due to Women’s Judo being a demonstration sport.
At 17, Rousey was the youngest judoka to qualify for the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens. Rousey lost in her first match to eventual silver medalist Claudia Heill in the 63 kg bracket.
In August 2008, Rousey competed at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, China. She lost her quarterfinal to the Dutch ex-world champion Edith Bosch but qualified for a bronze medal match through the repechage bracket.
๐ฅ MMA and UFC Career
Rousey began her mixed martial arts (MMA) career with King of the Cage in 2011. She soon joined Strikeforce, becoming their last Women’s Bantamweight Champion, holding the championship until Strikeforce was acquired by the UFC.
Rousey was the first female fighter signed by the UFC and part of the promotion’s first women’s bout at UFC 157. She was also its inaugural Women’s Bantamweight Champion, later becoming the first woman to appear in the UFC pound-for-pound rankings.
Rousey held the record for most UFC title defenses by a female (6) until it was surpassed by Valentina Shevchenko in 2022. Rousey retired from MMA in 2016 and was the first female fighter inducted into the UFC Hall of Fame in 2018.
๐คผ WWE and Professional Wrestling
Rousey began a career in professional wrestling in 2018, signing with WWE, and debuted at WrestleMania 34. She won the Raw Women’s Championship at that year’s SummerSlam, and headlined Evolution, which was WWE’s first all-women’s pay-per-view.
Rousey lost the title in the first women’s WrestleMania main event at WrestleMania 35. Rousey returned at the 2022 Royal Rumble, winning the women’s Royal Rumble match.
That year, she would win the SmackDown Women’s Championship twice, making her an overall three-time women’s world champion in WWE. She became the eighth Women’s Triple Crown Champion when she won the WWE Women’s Tag Team Championship with Shayna Baszler.
๐ฌ Other Achievements and Personal Life
Rousey is the only woman to become a champion in both the UFC and WWE as well as the only woman to headline a pay-per-view event in both companies. She was voted the best female athlete of all time in a 2015 ESPN fan poll.
Rousey has also appeared in films, including The Expendables 3 (2014), Furious 7 (2015), and Mile 22 (2018). She published her autobiography, My Fight / Your Fight, in 2015.
Ronda Jean Rousey was born in Riverside, California, on February 1, 1987, the youngest of three daughters of AnnMaria De Mars and Ronald John Rousey. Her mother, a decorated judoka, was the first American to win a World Judo Championship.
| Category | Key Fact | Year | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| Olympic Judo | First American woman to win Olympic medal in women’s judo | 2008 | Bronze Medal |
| Strikeforce | Last Women’s Bantamweight Champion | 2012 | Champion |
| UFC | First female fighter signed by UFC | 2012 | Inaugural Champion |
| WWE | Three-time women’s world champion | 2018-2022 | Triple Crown Champion |