Rousey espouses on stardom, fight game
UFC superstar pays visit to Toronto to promote her new autobiography
Ronda Rousey is a fighter. Yes, the UFC women’s bantamweight champ is a star on the big screen ( Furious 7, Entourage), and she’s earned enough fame to make her new memoir — My Fight, Your Fight — a fast seller.
The 28-year-old Californian, who won an Olympic bronze medal in judo in 2008, says her side hustles keep her refreshed and entertained.
But with a title defence looming Aug.1, she’s ready to focus on fighting again. While in town to promote her book, she talked with the Star about fighting, writing and more.
FIGHT GAME, WRITE GAME
For Rousey, success in both depends on having the right people in her corner, and she didn’t have to search far to find a collaborator.
Co-author Maria Burns-Ortiz isn’t just an award-winning sportswriter who has written for ESPN.com, Fox Sports Latino and The Associated Press — she’s also Rousey’s older sister.
“The book sounds like it’s so much from the heart because I was speaking to somebody I love when I was telling her these stories,” Rousey says. “I had to explain a lot. Maria’s a brilliant writer but she can’t say what happened second by second in a fight, so I actually had to do that myself.”
ON BEATING BULIMIA
Among Rousey’s toughest opponents was an eating disorder she developed as a teenage judo phenom struggling to maintain her competition weight. She would binge on food, vomit later and work hard to hide the habit from her coaches.
Rousey says victory came when she decided she’d had enough. “(An exboyfriend) convinced me that it is as easy as making a decision. All I had to do to stop was decide to stop. It was just one decision away. That made me realize that so many difficult things in my life were just one decision away from changing.”
ON HANDLING FAME
Rousey didn’t plan on growing up to become famous enough to land on the covers of both Sports Illustrated and ESPN Magazine. Otherwise she’d have chosen a sport with a higher mainstream profile than judo enjoys. But her media-friendly personality, combined with a string of spectacular UFC wins, have turned her into a celebrity. She signed books at a downtown Indigo book store last Wednesday. A lineup formed at the store 24 hours earlier. “I try not to get lost in how big everything is. I try to keep my core group of people around me small and honest.”
TRAINING CAMP GRIND
In early June, Rousey will begin training for her next challenge — a five-round title fight against Brazil’s Bethe Correia. But she isn’t just looking forward to fight night and a chance to improve her 11-0 pro record. Rousey says the process supersedes the outcome, and that much of the fun of competition comes from preparing to compete. “I really miss camp. I can’t wait to go into camp so that I can just live and train. That’s where I feel I’m at my most simple and my most happy . . . The process of delayed gratification became gratifying in itself.”
A DAY IN THE LIFE
Want to be a pro mixed martial artist? Count on long days with multiple workouts. Rousey drills boxing and kickboxing early in the day before resting then returning to work on grappling. Also plan on getting beat up, not because your training partners hate you but because they want to make you a better fighter. “I had a hematoma on my leg from (my coach) leg-kicking me. I had to go through that day. I needed to learn that lesson. I needed to get a big ol’ lump in the middle of my head. He’s never been able to catch me like that since then.”
ON THE ART OF IMPROVISATION
Sometimes in fights Rousey will try a move she’s never practised before, like the armbar she used in February to submit Cat Zingano after just 14 seconds. Is it risky? Not for her. Rousey says martial arts isn’t about performing memorized moves. Instead it’s understanding ideas behind techniques. “I may not have done that armbar before, but I’ve done one facing the opposite direction that used the same concept. I don’t memorize moves. I memorize concepts.”
“I try to keep my core group of people around me small and honest.” RONDA ROUSEY ON FAME AND FORTUNE