Ronda Rousey - judoka, mixed martial artist, wrestler - tells BBC Sport how she has found inner peace after coming back from the lowest point of her career.
Rousey's November 2015 defeat by Holm, who had only had two previous matches in the UFC, was a dramatic upsetThere are tears running down her cheeks. She is shivering, covered in sweat and can taste blood in her mouth. Outside, Rousey can hear laughter and tens of thousands of cheering fans.Her coaching team surround her, solemn, their heads lowered.
"I didn't have a hair tie, so my hair was going all over the place and crazy," she says, swinging her ponytail to mimic the moment she first tried judo. "And having her just walk through the living room made it feel so much more attainable for me to want to do just as much, even more." But her rise to UFC superstardom may never have happened if Rousey's charisma and clinical style hadn't forced the promotion's president Dana White to change his mind. In January 2011, White confidently"When I first saw , my first thought was 'oh well, he hasn't met me yet'," she says.Rousey explains why creating spaces for women in male-dominated circles has been important to her throughout her career.
The 2024 version of Rousey enters the room wearing a white tunic and a superstar aura. But for every sprinkle of stardust there are also moments of profound vulnerability and splashes of self-deprecating humour. "I think regenerative agriculture is one of the most scalable solutions to climate change that's out there right now," says Rousey.
"This is basically the war effort of our time, and what deserves all of our time and energy, because every single bit that we put into it is us putting into our children."Before the interview starts, Rousey reveals she has been pleasantly surprised by the positive reaction to her new book. Part of her had expected a negative response.
Rousey admits it's something she has always struggled with, comparing the sensation of defeat to grief. "I think that's one thing that made me great, because I was willing to get my heart broken over and over and over again and not allow myself to stop caring as much as others did."
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