Ronda Rousey has it all. The pedigree, the skill, the drive, the look and the moxie, plus a healthy dose of that je ne sais quoi known as “The It Factor” that helps carry a talented fighter to superstar status.
To sum it all up, she is the perfect UFC fighter.
That’s not to say there aren’t areas the women’s bantamweight champion still needs to work on — there always are — but if you were looking to build a superstar fighter from scratch, using the unbeaten 27-year-old as the blueprint would be a good idea.
PROGRAMMING NOTE: Watch UFC 175 prelims Saturday at 8 p.m. EST on Sportsnet 360 and watch the entire live TUF 19 Finale Sunday starting at 7 p.m. EST on Sportsnet 360.
There are those that will object to this idea automatically because they simply don’t like Rousey. She’s too brash, too feisty, too opinionated. Not liking her and refusing to acknowledge her considerable talents are two very different things, though. You don’t have to like her, but you have to respect what she brings to the table and what she’s accomplished to date.
What she’s done in the last three years is exceptional and only goes to further solidify her standing as a truly elite talent. As Rousey prepares to defend her title against Canadian Alexis Davis Saturday at UFC 175, here’s what makes her such a one-of-a-kind fighter.
The Pedigree
In the most recent NBA Draft, each of the top three selections — Andrew Wiggins, Jabari Parker and Joel Embiid — had at least one parent that was a high-level athlete. While it doesn’t guarantee athletic success for their children, there is definitely something to be said for having a parent or parents that have experienced success at a high level.
Rousey’s mom, AnnMaria De Mars, is a former world champion judoka, accomplishing the feat in 1984. Rousey followed in her mother’s footsteps in judo, winning gold in the 2007 Pan Am Games, Silver in the 2007 World Championships and bronze in the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing.
For all the attention given to former Division 1 wrestlers in MMA, there isn’t enough emphasis put on Rousey’s Olympic accomplishments or those of Daniel Cormier and Sara McMann for that matter.
At a relatively young age, Rousey was one of the very best in the world in judo and the focus that goes into accomplishing that goal has undoubtedly played a major part in carrying her to where she is today.
The Drive
There is a moment in the UFC 175 Countdown show where Rousey talks about wanting to be an active champion and how if the UFC wanted her to fight on the annual year-end show (which will actually take place in early January 2015), fighting this weekend will allow her to be at her best when that event comes around.
If you have ever seen her training you’ve seen the commitment that Rousey puts into her craft. Even though many believe she’s on another level compared to the competition, there has never been a point where Rousey has backed off in preparation for her fights.
Yes, she has other interests and has been doing some movies in her down time and the opportunity has undoubtedly been there for Rousey to move on from MMA and focus on her Hollywood career. Yet here she is, readying to step into the Octagon for the third time in eight months because she is a fierce competitor and wants to continue to challenge herself and defend the women’s bantamweight title.
The Look and The Moxie
Though Rousey has put in the work and dominated the competition in the cage, her rise up the women’s bantamweight ranks was accelerated by the fact that she’s an opinionated, attractive woman who doesn’t shy away from the camera.
Her unbeaten record and string of finishes satisfies the sporting side of the equation, but we’ve seen plenty of talented fighters with impressive resumes fail to make the jump to superstar status because of their inability or unwillingness to embrace the entertainment side of the business.
Rousey, on the other hand, dove head first into it even before the UFC opened the doors to female fighters. She talked her way into her first title fight with Miesha Tate in Strikeforce less than a year after making her pro debut and her ability to sell a fight and readiness to speak her mind on any number of subjects has kept her front and centre in both the MMA and mainstream media since.
One more thing: while most people have only seen the occasionally standoffish, curt, fight week version of Rousey, she is engaging and genuine outside of those moments and that plays a part in all this as well. Perhaps better than anyone, she understands that all of this could be gone in an instant and is doing everything in her power to maximize her returns while she can.
The It Factor
Personally, I think the above combines together to produce what we call “The It Factor,” that certain something that you just can’t put your finger on that only a select number of fighters possess. Rousey has it in spades and the fact that she’s a dominant force inside the Octagon only ups the ante even more.
Gina Carano was “The Face of Women’s MMA” during its larger introduction to North American fight fans, but her loss to Cristiane “Cyborg” Justino took some of the air out of her sails. She quickly transitioned to Hollywood and hasn’t fought since, but her acting career feels stalled and the biggest buzz she’s ability to generate these days is whenever the latest “Carano might be coming back to MMA” story hits the wire.
At the moment, it doesn’t look like Rousey is at risk of suffering the same fate as Carano, at least not inside the cage. Through her first nine professional bouts, she’s a perfect 9-0 with nine finishes and has only been in the wrong end of things a couple times over that stretch.
In Closing
There are a lot of incredibly talented competitors in the UFC right now, but if you were building a perfect fighter, the women’s bantamweight champ would be the blueprint.
While she’s Ric Flair in The Four Horsewomen and her nickname is cribbed from Rowdy Roddy Piper, perhaps the best professional wrestling descriptor for Rousey comes from Lex Luger because the unbeaten UFC champion is “The Total Package.”