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Tag: Ronda Rousey

  • Ronda Rousey Set To Defend Title In July

    It’s official … Ronda Rousey’s next opponent will NOT be Gina Carano.

    Dana White announced, via Twitter, that Rousey would be defending her bantamweight title against Alexis Davis at UFC 175 on July 5, 2014.

    “Ronda Rousey vs Alexis Davis Saturday, July 5th for the women’s bantamweight title in Las Vegas for International Fight Week!!!” White tweeted.

    Rousey defended her title in December 2013 at UFC 168 against Miesha Tate, and then again in February at UFC 170 against Sara McMann. She is currently 9-0 and the first 135-pound women’s champion in UFC history.

    Her opponent Davis is 16-5, and hasn’t been beat in her three fights since joining the UFC last year. Rousey has been taking some time off from fighting to focus on her acting career, but will be coming back full force for her fight in July.

    It was originally rumored that Gina Carano, former Strikeforce champion, was on making an MMA comeback to fight Rousey, however it looks like she isn’t quite ready to make her return. After White met with Carano on Wednesday, it was determined that she would not be able to fight by July.

    UFC 175 has a stacked card. Not only will Rousey and Davis be facing off as the co-main event, middleweights Chris Weidman and Lyoto Machida will be headlining. The Ultimate Fighter Brazil coaches Chael Sonnen and Wanderlei Silva will also battling in out in the octagon for International Fight Week.

    Image via Wikimedia Commons

  • Gina Carano ‘Very Open’ to Returning to MMA

    Gina Carano ‘Very Open’ to Returning to MMA

    In an interview with Fox Sports’ Damon Martin, actress, television personality and fitness model Gina Carano has expressed that she’s “very open” to returning to the MMA cage.

    Carano commented, “I’ve never retired. I’ve never officially said that,” and added that, “For some reason a part of me has always kept it open. I don’t know, there’s a certain part of me that thinks if circumstances were right, and I could keep doing what I’m trying to make my future into, that’s an ideal world. If circumstances were right, you never know. I’m very open to it.”

    Carano, 31, left the ring for an acting career 5 years ago, and has been featured in films including Steven Soderbergh’s Haywire alongside Channing Tatum, as well as Fast & Furious 6, which starred the late Paul Walker.

    Here Carano beats up Tatum in a clip from “Haywire”:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l0Qsl_6muRY

    UFC president Dana White has expressed enthusiasm at having Carano return to MMA, though Carano realizes that five years outside of the ring will have diminished her Muy Thai fighting skills. “I would definitely take something like that extremely seriously,” Carano said, adding, “I would dedicate myself to it, and need the time because you’re taking somebody who hasn’t fought in a while, that hasn’t been in the fight camp-type environment; and it would have to be done in a time where there would be enough time for me to get ready for that and be able to support myself during that time because that’s all I’d be doing is taking that seriously, and it would take me away from other projects or potential projects that I’ve been working this far in my life to get to.”

    UFC fans are excited about a possible rematch between former Strikeforce champion Carano and current bantamweight champ Ronda Rousey. Carano said she’d return to the ring if the circumstances were right.

    Carano recently filmed “In The Blood,” directed by John Stockell, which costars Luis Guzmán and Danny Trejo.

    Here’s the trailer:

    Image via Wikimedia Commons

  • Gina Carano Open To Returning To MMA

    Gina Carano Open To Returning To MMA

    Former Strikeforce champion Gina Carano has been on hiatus since her 2009 loss to Cristiane “Cyborg” Justino. She chose to leave MMA to pursue a career in acting, but recently revealed that she would be “very open” to making a return.

    Earlier this month, there was speculation that Carano was next in line to take a shot at the current Ultimate Fighting Championship women’s bantam weight champion Ronda Rousey. However, Dana White confirmed that no one was currently scheduled to fight Rousey, but he would gladly welcome Carano into the UFC.

    “When you go on a hiatus, whether you’re injured or semi-retired, you’re still under contract,” White explained. “If you come back, you’re still under contract with us. So she is under contract with us, but I have no plans right now.”

    During a recent interview with Damon Martin, Carano addressed the rumors, and said that she “never retired,” and would return if the circumstances were right.

    “I’ve never retired. I’ve never officially said that,” Carano said. “For some reason a part of me has always kept it open. I don’t know, there’s a certain part of me that thinks if circumstances were right, and I could keep doing what I’m trying to make my future into, that’s an ideal world. If circumstances were right, you never know. I’m very open to it.”

    Carano was careful not to reveal too much information, and basically left it at the circumstances having to be just right. “I feel like I can’t say too much. I’ve got all this information that if I could just speak freely, this is actually what’s going on,” Carano continued. “I wish I could open up my mind and tell you exactly the things that I’ve seen and the conversations that I’ve had, but I think to sum it up in a nice, safe way for me is if circumstances were right, and if it’s a good enough circumstance I would come back because my first love is MMA.”

    Would you like to see Gina Carano make a comeback? Leave your comments below.

    Image via Wikimedia Commons

  • Ronda Rousey In Love With WWE’s CM Punk

    Ronda Rousey In Love With WWE’s CM Punk

    Ronda Rousey is the current UFC bantam weight champion, and considered to be the best pound-for-pound woman fighter in the word. However, despite her toughness, Rousey is still a woman, and recently expressed her admiration for WWE star Phil Brooks, also known as CM Punk.

    After defending her title for the second time against Sara McMann on February 22 in Las Vegas, Rousey got a chance to meet and hang out with Punk. She admitted that her first impression was not very good, and did not go as smoothly as she had planned. “I think the first thing I said to him was ‘I love you,’ which was terrible and not smooth at all,” Roused revealed. Rousey described Punk as “super cool” and “sexy.”

    Rousey and her roommates Shayna Baszler, Marina Shafir and Jessamyn Duke are all huge WWE fans, and have made it a Monday night ritual to watch Raw. They even have a special name for themselves … “The Four Horsewomen.”

    When asked if she would like to be involved in professional wresting, Rousey explained that she would consider it, but that she has an awful lot on her plate right now. “Professionally, who knows?” Rousey said. “Me and all the girls are huge fans. If they were all down to do something, I’d be happy to jump in with them. But I have the most hectic schedule ever with the fights and the movies right now and adding an entire career on top of that right now is a tall order.”

    Not only has Rousey been defending her title, she has also been cast in several films. Her first two films were the Fast and Furious and Expendables that are scheduled to debut sometime this year. She is currently working on Entourage , set to premiere this fall, and has another film The Athena Project lined up after that. Needless to say, Rousey is staying incredibly busy.

    Image via Twitter

  • Gina Carano To Fight Ronda Rousey?

    Fans are anxiously awaiting to find out who will be the next fighter to take on the UFC bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey .

    While nothing has been confirmed, UFC host Rogan hinted that former Strikeforce Gina Carano, who is still under contract with the UFC’s parent company Zuffa, would be making a return to MMA to fight Rousey in the UFC.

    Speaking with KROQ’s Kevin & Bean Show in Los Angeles on Friday, Rogan admitted that he knows some “secret stuff” regarding Rousey’s next opponent. “I wish I could tell you what I know. I wish I could tell you. I know some secret stuff. I know some secret stuff, but I can’t tell you,” he confessed to the radio hosts.

    Rogan also revealed that there would be a huge announcement about women’s UFC fighting coming soon.

    “You might actually know, but I can’t tell you,” said Rogan. “I can say no more than I’ve already said. I will tell you this, and this is a KROQ exclusive, within the next probably week or so a huge announcement will come about women’s fighting and I’ll be back in [the studio] and we’ll talk some more. It’s going to be crazy. Madness. I wish I could [talk about it now], but I would betray the confidence of my friend and employer.”

    Dana White, the UFC president, refuted the rumors, that were started by Rogan, claiming that there is no one lined up to fight Rousey at this time. “[Rogan] blew my whole week with that interview,” White said. “There’s nothing done as far as [Rousey’s] next opponent.”

    However, White said that he would not be opposed to Carano joining the UFC, and would gladly welcome her. “If [Carano] wanted to fight in the UFC, of course,” said White. “If Gina Carano wanted to fight in the UFC, we would definitely do it.”

    White explained that Carano is has currently been on hiatus since her 2009 loss to Cristiane “Cyborg” Justino. However, she is still under contract if she ever chose to fight again. “When you go on a hiatus, whether you’re injured or semi-retired, you’re still under contract,” White explained. “If you come back, you’re still under contract with us. So she is under contract with us, but I have no plans right now.”

    Image via Wikimedia Commons

  • Ronda Rousey Boasts She Could Beat Floyd Mayweather

    Ronda Rousey has taken the MMA world by storm since signing a contract with the UFC in 2012. Over that time period, Rousey has won all 9 of her fights in dominating fashion: 8 by arm-bar submission, and her latest fight against Sara McMann was won in just 66 seconds by TKO – a new record for women UFC MMA fighters.

    Not only has Rousey been successful inside the Octagon but also in her ventures outside the octagon. Rousey has filmed two movies (Fast & Furious 7 and The Expendables 3, become a star in the next UFC video game, and has been a coach on the UFC’s successful reality show, The Ultimate Fighter.

    Rousey’s successes has prompted UFC owner Dana White to proclaim that “She’s the hugest superstar.” White would further add to his grandiose statement: “I’m going to go out and say she’s the biggest star we’ve ever had.”

    Unfortunately for Rousey, the sport doesn’t have much more to offer. She has defeated all of the top stars currently fighting in the UFC and is currently awaiting any newcomers hoping to challenge for her title.

    Perhaps it is this “boredom” that pushed Rousey to declare that she could best world-famous, undefeated, and current WBC welterweight world champion boxer Floyd Mayweather, Jr. In speaking to hosts at Power 106 FM, Rousey unveiled her plan to defeat Mayweather if the two were ever placed in the same octagon:

    “I’ll tell you what I’d do… You ready? I would drop down to the ground and crawl over to him as fast I as I can and then I’d grab him by … I wouldn’t even stand up. I wouldn’t be anywhere near him. I would just do a little army crawl over there [laughs]. He’d have to run away and I’d be skittering after him, like the one dude in ‘Bloodsport’ who was doing the whole monkey-crawl fight system. I would do that. I would just bear crawl over there, just too low for him to hit me and tackle him down.”

    (Here is a video for any who do not get the reference.)

    With UFC 170 not making the amount of money Dana White wanted, perhaps the Mayweather v. Rousey fight will come to fruition sooner than later. Let’s hope.

    Image via Facebook

  • UFC 170: Ronda Rousey Defeats Sara McMann in 66 Seconds

    Ronda Rousey once again made history on Saturday at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas for the UFC 170 event. The champion clocked in the fastest knockout in women’s UFC history by knocking out Sara McMann just a little over a minute, 66 seconds to be exact, into their fight.

    Both Rousey and McMann came out swinging as soon as the women’s bantamweight fight started. Less than a minute into the fight, Rousey was able to push back McMann to the fence and cornered her opponent with her knees. Rousey took the chance to do a judo throw, but McMann was quick to defend the move.

    However, Rousey was swift and hit the challenger with her knee followed by an elbow. With a combination of knee and elbow hits, Rousey’s final hit was a knee straight to the liver that finally put McMann down.

    Shortly after, Herb Dean jumped in and stopped the fight, causing the excited crowd to boo for the early stoppage. According to McMann, Dean’s stoppage was not early at all. She also said that the liver does not get stronger no matter how hard a fighter trains. Rousey said that they have been studying McMann’s videos and knew that she had the best chance of winning by doing a liver shot.

    The women’s main event was preceded by a fight between Daniel Cormier and Patrick Cummins, in which Cormier came out the victor. Cummins was a replacement for Rashad Evans who had injured himself more than a week ago. There was a heated argument between the two when Cummins said he made Cormier cry during training. The latter shoved Cummins during a press conference before the fight. Cormier defeated Cummins in a TKO in the first round, making him win the light heavyweight title.

    Ronda Rousey and Sarah Mccann Post Fight Interview

    Image via YouTube

  • Ronda Rousey Defeats McMann, Keeps Title

    Ronda Rousey Defeats McMann, Keeps Title

    On Saturday night, Ronda Rousey defeated Sara McMann, keeping her bantamweight title, after kneeing her opponent in the liver 66 seconds into the fight.

    The main event took place at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas in front of more than 10,000 fans, many of whom booed the 27-year old during the post-fight interview.

    “I didn’t think it was too soon,” Rousey said, even though McMann seemed hurt. “Obviously, that’s why we have a referee in there. I just went to that spot.”

    According to Yahoo News, Rousey was also booed after her last title fight against Meisha Tate, whom she refused to shake hands with after their face-off in December.

    33-year old McMann, an Olympic wrestling silver medalist, was billed as Rousey’s most difficult challenger, yet Saturday night’s much-anticipated UFC fight was shorter than expected.

    “Looking back, it seems kind of quick,” McMann said. “I should get up quicker. If you want to win fights, you have to get up quicker. When I hit the ground, I got my bearings back. When I heard his voice, I was reaching for a leg.”

    The battle began with McMann entering the arena with a T-shirt that read “ETG,” which stands for Embrace the Grind. Rousey followed, mean-mugging the area in front of her.

    The two took the center for instructions from referee Herb Dean, touched gloves, and then immediately began to brawl, McMann getting in a nice right blow. Rousey then began to attack with her knees and with a vicious blow to her mid-section, McMann crumbled. Rousey threw a few more shots at her to finish, but when McMann didn’t react, Dean stopped the fight. TKO at 1:06 in Round One.

    “If she doesn’t make a move to protect herself, how long do I wait until I stop it?” Dean said. “I don’t know how big of a knee it was, because I didn’t take it, but she was just holding her midsection and after a while, I had to stop it.”

    “I promised my coach this time that I was going to drop her with a body shot,” Rousey said. “I called it. We’ve been training it a lot and it’s just a goal that I had. I don’t like calling it or saying it to anyone else, like the media, because I like to keep my mind open to whatever’s there. But to my coach, I promised him I was really going to try.”

    McMann was gracious in her defeat, though she was obviously disappointed.

    “Things were slowed down in my head,” McMann said at a news conference. “I felt it connect and my body just moved to protect itself. I heard [Dean’s] voice and I immediately tried to get back up. I’m not going to blame the referee for something I feel I should be able to control.”

    She added, “I should have gotten up quicker. If you want to win fights, you just have to do it regardless of what is going on.”

    Ronda Rousey is not only getting better each time she fights, but is also stepping into Hollywood, currently filming The Expendables 3, her first role in a major motion picture.

    She will also be appearing in Fast & Furious 7 with Dwayne Johnson.


    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KD9ctE4dnv4

    Image via YouTube

  • Liz Carmouche Is Set To Take On Miesha Tate In April

    Women’s MMA fighting has become increasingly more popular since Ronda Rousey, the women’s bantamweight champion, joined the UFC in November 2012.

    In February 2013, Rousey became the first woman to fight in the UFC octagon against Liz Carmouche, who is now ranked number seven in her weight class. Since Rousey’s fight against Carmouche, Rousey has also recently fought Tate during a title fight that followed the season finale of The Ultimate Fighter, in which Rousey and Tate coached against each other

    Despite Carmouche’s loss to Rousey, she came back and landed a win against Jessica Andrade several months later, but then lost to a unanimous decision to Alexis Davis at the UFC Fight for the Troops event in November.

    Now, for the first time, two of the fighters that Rousey defeated will be going up against each other in the octagon. On Monday, UFC officials announced the event, which will take place at the Amway Center in Orlando, Florida, for the first time with UFC on Fox 11 on April 19, where Carmouche and Tate will take on each other.

    When the announcement was made that Carmouche would be taking on Tate, Carmouche took to Twitter to acknowledge the fight. “Looks like I’m breaking my diet,” she tweeted.

    Along with the Tate/Carmouche fight, another bout has been confirmed. Fabricio Werdum, the second-ranked heavyweight contender will go up against the third-ranked heavyweight fighter Travis Browne. Whoever wins this fight will likely get a shot at a title fight.

    Tickets for the event are expected to go on sale February 14, 2014.

    Image via Twitter

  • Miesha Tate: No Handshake For Cupcake

    Miesha Tate: No Handshake For Cupcake

    Well, the MGM Grand Garden Arena UFC fight might be over; but the war waged on between Miescha Tate and Ronda Rousey right after. The latter declined the offer of a sportsmanlike gesture from the former Saturday following the fight. After Rousey had won the Bantamweight Title, she proceeded to promptly ignore Tate’s outstretched hand.

    And Rousey’s not sorry ‘bout it either.

    In an interview with Fox Sports 1, Rousey referred to her tiff with Tate saying, “My family is my kids on the show, my coaches and my actual family. There’s a lot of things that went on between me and her … I understand that’s a part of the game. But, once you cross that line, I can’t shake the hand of someone who spits on my back.”

    UFC Women’s Bantamweight Champion “Rowdy” Rousey was, of course, speaking about the ongoing sh*t talk she and Tate have been sharing outside the ring. Some of the recent commentary Tate had made was regarding Rousey’s high level of attention and fan following being less about hard work and more attributable to her “being in the right place at the right time”. Rousey went on to say, “I respect her as a fighter — she did an amazing job tonight. It’s just that a handshake means something to me and she hasn’t earned that from me. You really can’t take back what she’s done until she actually formally apologizes to me and my team.”

    “Cupcake” Tate wasn’t so sweet on speaking with the press about said drama after her loss:

    However, the 27 year old UFC fighter was quick to hop online and optimistically let her fans know she appreciated the support.

    Tate indeed has everything to be ebullient about, despite this recent loss. As a popular 27 year old former Strikeforce champion with a strong following and a bright future, it’s doubtful that Miesha Tate will let her future be held back by anything – be it a disarming armbar or an acrid passing argument that no one will remember in a few months.

    Image via Youtube

  • Sara McMann Faces Ronda Rousey in UFC

    February 2014 will see the first ever UFC title fight between two Olympic medalists.

    Sara McMann and Ronda Rousey will face off for the ultimate prize from the Women’s Bantamweight Championship on February 22 in Las Vegas, headlining UFC 170.

    The announcement, though not a spur of the moment decision, was made at the post-fight press conference last night after Rousey defeated Miesha Tate at UFC 168.

    According to Yahoo Sports, Dana White, UFC president, made the announcement, surprising many. “Rousey vs. McMann, February, that’s the headliner.”

    “Dana actually approached me about this before this fight,” said Rousey. “I’m ready to get back into it. I’m still hungry.”

    Rousey is a 2008 Olympic Bronze medalist and McMann is a 2004 Olympic silver medalist. The two entered wrestling around the same time but have never competed.

    In 2012, Rousey, playfully known as “Rowdy,” became the first female fighter to sign with the Ultimate Fighting Championship. She is known for trash talking opponents and using harsh language during interviews, which she says is simply a way to generate more publicity for her sport.

    “She’s a rock star, man. She’s been killing it for us,” said White. “I love Ronda, man. I do.”

    McMann joined the UFC in February of this year and became the third female to earn a victory, defeating Sheila Gaff on April 27.

    In September of 2004, McMann was driving her Jeep with her fiancee, All-American wrestler Steven Blackford, when she ran off the road and the vehicle rolled over, ejecting Blackford. He died at the scene. McMann suffered a broken arm and minor injuries.

    In February at Mandalay Bay, the light heavyweight fight between Rashad Evans and Daniel Cormeir will remain, but will be moved to co-main event status behind Rousey and McMann.

    Image via Twitter

  • Ronda Rousey To Fight Sara McMann In February

    During the UFC 168 post-fight press conference, on Saturday night, Dana White announced who Ronda Rousey’s next opponent would be. “ Rousey vs. (Sara) McMann, February, that’s the headliner,” White said. Rashad Evans vs. Daniel Cormier will serve as the co-main event.

    Cat Zingano is currently the UFC women’s bantamweight number 1 contender, however she is still recovering from severe knee injuries. White says that he is hopeful that Zingano will make a full recovery so that she can fight Rousey as soon as possible. “Cat Zingano goes back into training in March,” said White. “Hopefully she can stay healthy and we can do that fight.”

    While White made the announcement immediately after Rousey submitted Miesha Tate, with her signature arm bar, Rousey said the fight against McMann was not a spur of the moment decision. “Dana approached me about this before the fight, but I’d taken such a long time off that I wanted to fight again soon,” said Rousey. “I don’t want to sit on the shelf. I’m in the best shape of my life, so it’s the perfect time to go back-to-back. I’m still hungry and that’s what I want to do. Hopefully I’ll have another good show for you guys very soon.”

    Rousey and McMann will step into the octagon with an equal professional record of 7-0. Neither contender has ever been defeated, so it should make for an interesting fight.

    Image via Twitter

  • Miesha Tate’s Reasoning For Disliking Ronda Rousey

    It is a well known fact that Miesha Tate has always harbored resentment for her fellow UFC fighter Ronda Rousey. Their rivalry has increasingly grown, especially after coaching against each other during season 18 of The Ultimate Fighter.

    During a recent interview with Fox Sports, Tate opened up about her reasoning behind her dislike of Rousey. Tate is not saying that Rousey doesn’t deserve her title or belt, however she believes that Rousey gaining the extensive amount of attention that she has, was purely from being in the right place at the right time. Tate doesn’t feel that Rousey has worked any harder than any of the other women MMA fighters, and that she has basically had an easy ride to the top.

    “Every single woman that fights MMA has done just as much work as Ronda has, we just haven’t gotten as much turnaround,” Tate said. “Those women who came before her haven’t been on magazine covers, they weren’t plastered everywhere by the UFC. They didn’t get the same reward back. She got 10 times back what she was putting in and maybe everyone else was getting 1 to 1.”

    (image)

    Tate and Rousey will be facing off again, for the women’s bantamweight title, on Saturday at UFC 168 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena. Tate says that a win for her will be a win for all of the women who have had to work hard to get where they are. “I know what it was like to be fighting for breadcrumbs and not to be taken seriously,” Tate said. “I didn’t just jump into this. It’s no disrespect to Ronda, she’s a great athlete. But there’s another side to the story that people aren’t seeing. Girls didn’t get the same things Ronda has gotten.”

    Image via Twitter

  • Ronda Rousey Talks End of Ultimate Fighter Season

    Ronda Rousey surely knows that this season of The Ultimate Fighter ends on November 30th, but she doesn’t read anything that’s ever written about her in the media. Therefore she doesn’t know much more about what fans are saying about the show–or her–than that. When she filmed her first movie (The Expendables 3–which premieres in 2014) Rousey vowed never to read any articles, Twitter or Facebook mentions–or anything else, for that matter, about herself.

    As this season of the Fox Sports show ends, the UFC fighter, who coaches on The Ultimate Fighter along with former competitor Miesha Tate, is thrilled beyond belief about what her presence on TV and on The Ultimate Fighter has done for women in the sport.

    “The way that everyone has been approaching the women fighters has changed dramatically. It went from being a joke to the highlight of every card they’re on,” she says. “The past season of The Ultimate Fighter really proved that numerically. The episodes where the women fight do much better than the episodes with the men.

    This doesn’t in any way, however, mean women are treated fairly within the sport. Often sexualized during conversations about ultimate fighting, social media guidelines for UFC fighters are in the working stages. At least that way the men who compete in the sport can’t be quite as insulting when referring to their female counterparts. That won’t stop men who aren’t signed with the UFC, of course.

    As long as people are talking about Ronda Rousey, she really doesn’t care what they say. She figures it keeps the money coming in.

    “I want everyone to talk as much as possible about everything. As long as they’re talking, I’m happy. The bills get paid. I can feed my dog,” she says. “[When I did the Olympics] every(one) thought I was so darling, but it didn’t do a damn thing for me.”

    And why doesn’t she care about what people are saying about her? Well, that just goes right back to that vow she made. If she doesn’t read what’s written, she certainly doesn’t care what’s being said. When you think about it, that’s a pretty good philosophy that could pan out for people in general–whether they’re UFC fighters or not.

    Just because Ronda Rousey doesn’t read social media posts, that doesn’t mean she doesn’t make them. In the midst of training fighters for The Ultimate Fighter finale, she took time to tweet her followers some holiday wishes on Thursday.

    Image via Wikimedia

  • Ronda Rousey Is The Reason We Have Women In UFC

    Is Ronda Rousey the reason so many women have taken an interest in the UFC? Dana White, president of the UFC, thinks so, and discussed Rousey’s influence among women during a recent interview.

    Having only been a part of the UFC for little over a year, Rousey has made a profound impact on women fighters. She signed with the UFC in November 2012, and has since held bantamweight title. In February 2013, Rousey became the first woman to fight in the UFC octagon against Liz Carmouche.

    Because of her growing popularity amongst UFC fans, Rousey landed a spot coaching on the reality television show, “The Ultimate Fighter”. She coaches alongside her nemesis, Miesha Tate. However, after the show started airing in September and people were able to see Rousey’s true personality, viewers started second guessing their opinions of her.

    “We needed to bring attention to all these girls who are so passionate and train so hard,” Rousey said. “They are valiant fighters and extremely passionate about what they do. They offer so much the guys don’t, and I thought it was something people really needed to see. I thought The Ultimate Fighter could provide that vessel where people could start getting interested in these other women coming up.”

    Tate gave her opinion of Rousey in a recent interview with Sportskeeda correspondent, Akhilesh Gannavarapu. “She’s just not a nice person in my opinion; not just with me but with a lot of people. She’s not nice to you when she thinks that you’re beneath her, that’s what I’ve discovered,” Tate said. “If she doesn’t think you’re on her level or above her, she has no time for you. She doesn’t respect you if she thinks you’re below her and she has treated a lot of people on this season like that, and I don’t have any time for that, and I don’t have any respect for her either.”

    White says he doesn’t care what everyone’s opinions of Rousey are. He says without her, women would not be fighting in the UFC octagon.

    “It’s not the way she’s portrayed herself. It’s who she is. It’s why women fight in the UFC because of her,” said White on November 9th following UFC Fight Night 32 . “I could care less if you don’t like her or like her. It doesn’t matter to me. She’s the world champion and she’s badass and she goes out to win.”

    “I wouldn’t have done it without Ronda,” said White. “You could line up all the greatest girls on Earth from here to (expletive) Pluto, and she’s the one that when I met her I said, this chick is insanely competitive and just a different animal. And she’s what it took to get women in the UFC.”

    Cue the video to 6:40 to hear White talk about Rousey.

    Image via Twitter

  • Female Fighters Will Be Included in EA’s UFC Game

    It’s hard not to wonder if Anita Sarkeesian would approve of this, considering her crusade against anti-feminism in video games. From the looks of EA’s initial marketing push for their upcoming UFC installment, Ronda Rousey and Miesha Tate will be front and center as EA tells the world that women are indeed in the upcoming UFC game. However, these women will be committing violent acts against each other, quite willingly, as a matter of fact. Does the fact that EA is exploiting capitalizing on the popularity of the Rousey/Tate rivalry–two women who really want to beat the crap out of each other–empower female video game characters the way some envision; or does something like this mean the struggle continues?

    Another discussion for another time, perhaps.

    As for the marketing push, even though the game won’t be available until 2014, that hasn’t stopped EA from getting the appetite-whetting material out for all to see. As indicated, the 2014 version will very much focus on Rousey and Tate. Take a look at the first video and see for yourself:


    There’s also an Instagram video which features the incredibly photogenic Rousey as well:


    And then there’s the initial poster, which should leave no doubt about which way EA’s leaning when it comes to marketing the UFC game:

    UFC Poster

    Once you start navigating the page, you’ll find additional material that focuses on other fighters like James Jones and Anderson Silva. That being said, the focus, at least in the initial push, is squarely on Tate and Rousey. Of course, the fact that these two are the coaches for the upcoming new season of The Ultimate Fighter, the UFC’s reality TV show, might have everything in the world to do with that.

    EA’s UFC game will be out in 2014 with the PS4 and the Xbox One being listed as the supporting consoles.

    [Lead image via EA]

  • Ronda Rousey: “Ultimate Fighter” Made Her Hate Gym

    Ronda Rousey has had a busy year; besides coaching on the 18th season of “The Ultimate Fighter” opposite her nemesis, Meisha Tate, she also landed a part in the Sylvester Stallone vehicle “The Expendables 3” as well as one in “Fast And Furious 7”. Her high profile in the world of MMA is opening up doors, but the show has taken a lot out of her, physically, emotionally, and mentally, and she says she actually started to question her love of the sport during filming.

    “The gym is the place where I really center myself and I’m able to put the world into perspective and calm down,” she said. “When the cameras are on you nonstop, that changes. Even electrons change when they are watched constantly, and they really took my safe place and bastardized it to where I was dragging myself to the gym every day. They literally took my only safe place and made it something that I hated. I’m so thankful for being able to forge the relationships I did with my team, but you couldn’t pay me $10 million to do that again. There is just no way. By the end, I was questioning my love for the sport. I’m just happy to get back home to my environment and have my gym be my reprieve again instead of it being a stage.”

    Rousey says she didn’t let the cameras affect her behavior, and while she says that’s not a bad thing, some viewers might not see it that way. Real-life animosity between Rousey and Tate reportedly made filming more difficult as drama erupted on set.

    “I haven’t seen any of the footage yet, but I’m aware that I’m going to look nuts,” she said. “These kids that I’m responsible for have everything that is important in their lives on the line, and if that isn’t something important enough to care about and cry about, then I don’t know what is. I have no filter with my emotions, and people are going to see exactly what I’m feeling. I don’t think that is a bad thing.”

    Rousey said it was difficult for her to keep her emotions out of it when her fighters were going through something.

    “I just felt like any kind of heartbreak or triumph, whatever they’re going through, I share in it,” she told MMA Weekly.

    “The Ultimate Fighter” premieres on Fox Sports on Wednesday night.

    Image: Wikimedia Commons

  • “Fast and Furious 7” Adding UFC’s Ronda Rousey

    The Ultimate Fighting Champion, Ronda Rousey, has recently started negotiations to join the cast of “Fast and Furious 7″. If the deal closes, it will be the first major role cast for the next installment in the franchise.

    The movie is set to start filming this fall, and if all goes well, Rousey will be moving her training for her upcoming fight to the location of the movie shoot. “Fast and Furious 7″ will be bringing back most of its regulars including Vin Diesel, Paul Walker, producer Neal H. Moritz and writer Chris Morgan. James Wan will be coming on as director. Justin Lin’s “Fast and Furious 6” grossed more than $740 million and made making another sequel a priority.

    Rousey has also landed a role on the film “Expendables 3”. She says that she does not believe her career as an actor will take away from her fighting career. “If I was going to have three jobs and train at the same time, then I can have one other job and train at the same time,” Rousey said. “Kind of like a different location, it’s going to be kind of difficult. I can multi-task, I do it all the time.”

    The plan is for Rousey to shoot both films back to back so she can finish in time to focus on training for her next fight. Her championship rematch with Mischa Tate is on Dec. 28 and is the co-main event of UFC 168 in Las Vegas.

  • Ronda Rousey, MMA Fighter, Will Star In “Expendables 3”

    Ronda Rousey has quickly moved up in the world of Mixed Martial Arts to become one of its biggest stars, but now she’s moving on to other pursuits; namely, the movies.

    Rousey has signed on to work with Sylvester Stallone in the third installment of his action series, “The Expendables”, and Stallone couldn’t be happier. The action star tweeted the news on Tuesday and simultaneously gave Victor Ortiz–who will also appear in the film–a shoutout. The film will bring back Stallone, Bruce Willis, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and Mickey Rourke, and will add on Steven Segal.

    Rousey was thought to be in the running for one of the “Hunger Games” movies after she signed on to the William Morris Agency, but this will be her first acting role. As of now, she’s signed on to be a coach for the 18th season of “The Ultimate Fighter”, and says it’s been one of the most difficult things she’s ever done.

    “I just felt like any kind of heartbreak or triumph, whatever they’re going through, I share in it,” she said.

    Rousey’s opposing coach for “The Ultimate Fighter” is Miesha Tate, her longtime rival. The two reportedly “hate” each other and filming has reportedly been made more difficult because of the drama between the two. They’ll face off in the Octagon on Dec. 28 at UFC 168: Weidman vs. Silva II in Las Vegas. The show airs on Fox Sports.

  • Ronda Rousey: The Ultimate Fighter is “Emotionally Taxing”

    When Ronda Rousey signed on as a coach for the 18th season of The Ultimate Fighter, she did not expect it to be so much work. The UFC women’s middleweight champion this week took to Facebook for a live chat and opened up about how “emotionally taxing” the experience has been for her.

    According to MMA Weekly, Rousey did not anticipate the emotional toll the show would have on her. She stated that she cares so much about her fighters that, “I just felt like any kind of heartbreak or triumph, whatever they’re going through, I share in it.” She called it “exhausting” to go through the process with each fighter and that it “takes a lot out of you.

    Meanwhile, UFC President Dana White continued to play up the animosity between Rousey and her opposing coach, Miesha Tate. Tate and Rousey have been long-time rivals. White stated that Tate and Rousey “hate each other” and that the filming has been “hard” because of the drama.

    (via MMA Weekly)