Early Life And Judo Career
Ronda Rousey was born on February 1, 1987, in Riverside, California. Her mother AnnMaria was the first American to win a World Judo Championship. Ronda soon followed in her mother’s footsteps and began training in Judo at the age of 11.
Ronda found immense success in Judo; at the height of her career, Ronda competed at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing and earned a bronze medal. She retired from the sport when she was 21 years old and soon after turned to a career in MMA.
MMA Career
Ronda made her amateur MMA debut on August 6, 2010 for King of the Cage and won in just 23 seconds. She made her professional debut a few months later and began to make a name for herself as one of the greatest female MMA fighters in the sport’s history.
In November 2012, Ronda became the first woman to ever sign with the UFC. She was then named the inaugural UFC Women’s Batamweight Champion. Ronda successfully defended her title six times before losing to Holly Holm on November 15, 2015.
Rousey’s time in the UFC helped break glass ceilings in MMA and led to more women getting the chance to show their worth in the sport. However, after losing her Bantamweight Championship, Ronda decided it was best to move on from the MMA world and pursue another passion.
WWE Debut
After making a few sporadic appearances for WWE, Rousey signed a full-time contract with the company in 2017. She made a surprise appearance at the 2018 Royal Rumble and confronted Alexa Bliss, Charlotte Flair, and Asuka, signaling to her competitors and the WWE universe that she would be gunning for the top of the mountain very soon.
Ronda made her in-ring debut at WrestleMania 34 in a tag team match alongside Kurt Angle against Stephanie McMahon and Triple H. Ronda won the match by making Stephanie submit with her signature armbar.
WrestleMania 35
At SummerSlam 2018, Ronda defeated Alexa Bliss to win the Raw Women’s Championship, marking her first title win in WWE. Ronda went on to defend her championship against Nikki Bella in the main event of the first all-women’s WWE show, Evolution, on October 28, 2018. She also faced challengers like Mickie James, Nia Jax, and Sasha Banks, defeating all of them and becoming one of the most dominant female champions WWE had ever seen.
In early 2019, Ronda entered a feud with the winner of that year’s Royal Rumble, Becky Lynch. Smackdown Women’s Champion Charlotte Flair was inserted into the feud by Vince McMahon, leading to a triple-threat Winner Takes All match at WrestleMania 35.
On March 25, a few weeks before the event, WWE announced that the match would main event WrestleMania 35, marking the first time women would ever compete in the main event of WWE’s flagship event. When the match finally happened, Becky Lynch defeated Ronda, bringing Ronda’s championship reign to a close after 231 days.
Second WWE Run
Ronda made her surprise return to WWE at the 2022 Royal Rumble, which she won by eliminating Smackdown Women’s Champion Charlotte Flair. Ronda would go on to challenge Flair for the title at WrestleMania 38, though she came up short. It wasn’t until WrestleMania Backlash that Ronda would defeat Charlotte and become Smackdown Women’s Champion.
Ronda lost the title 55 days later after Liv Morgan cashed in her Money in the Bank contract and defeated Ronda for the championship. Ronda regained the title at Extreme Rules 2022 and held it for 83 days before losing it once again, this time to Charlotte Flair.
In October 2023, Ronda announced that she had retired from wrestling and consequently departed from WWE.
