Ronda Rousey is one of the most famous and accomplished female mixed martial arts fighters in the world. Rousey won the first 12 fights of her career and defeated fighters such as Miesha Tate, Sarah Kaufmann, Liz Carmouche, Cat Zingano, and Bethe Correia.
She has also had some devastating losses, including her last two fights against Holly Holm. However, Ronda did not get to the top without a few hiccups and road bumps along the way. In fact, there are a few dark truths about her she probably would not want you to know. Here are 18 dark and revealing truths about Ronda Rousey.
17. “Dark Thoughts”
Ronda Rousey had a rough childhood after her father, Ron, took his life when Ronda was only eight years old. This event took a toll on Rousey and she believes that this is the reasoning behind her substance abuse and eating disorder.
With martial arts, she was able to overcome it, but after her loss to Holly Holm, her depression came back with a vengeance. Rousey revealed while making an appearance on the Ellen DeGeneres Show, that she contemplated taking her own life after her first career loss. She believed that because she had lost, no one would care about her.
16. “Controlling Partner”
Before Rousey married Travis Browne, she was well known for her relationship with another heavyweight fighter, Brendan Schaub. Schaub revealed in an interview that Rousey was extremely controlling.
Schaub also added she surrounds herself with people who tell her what she wants to hear, and because he wasn’t one of those people, they often clashed.
15. “Alleged Abuse”
After two years of dating, Ronda Rousey married Travis Browne. When they confirmed their relationship in October 2015, it was extremely controversial because Browne was still married to Jenna Renee Webb. Webb then came out to the media and accused Browne of cheating on her with Rousey.
Webb also accused Browne of domestic violence, and so he was put under investigation by the UFC. Browne however, denied all the allegations and it is reported that he was very cooperative during the UFC’s seven-week long investigation.
14. “Apraxia”
Ronda Rousey was born on February 1st, 1987 in Riverside, California. Rousey was born with her umbilical cord wrapped around her neck and she nearly didn’t make it due to oxygen deprivation.
Due to this incident, Rousey was born with slight brain damage and this resulted in apraxia, a neurological childhood speech/sound disorder that she struggled with for six years.
13. “Playing A Dangerous Game”
Rousey strictly avoids the popular candy, Raisinets after an incident that caused her to be rushed to the emergency room. While playing a game with her sister, Maria Burns Ortiz, she pushed a Raisinet so far up her nose that her mother could not get it out.
However, after going to the emergency room, the heat from Rousey’s breathing melted the chocolate, causing the Raisinet to fall out of her nose on it’s own. The event traumatized Ronda so much that she claims she avoids them “like the plague”.
12. “Pulpuslacerataphobia”
It’s a very hard word to spell and even harder to pronounce. So what is it? It’s the fear of paper cuts, a phobia that Rousey reveals she suffers from.
Rousey claims that she despises paper cuts and if she gets one, it causes her to have chills for hours at a time. Rousey has even stated that she prefers getting injured in her fights rather than getting a paper cut.
11. “Obsession”
Ronda Rousey revealed in an interview that she has an obsession with Russian MMA legend, Fedor Emelianenko.
She has even joked that she wants to have at least 57 babies with Emelianenko, who is unfortunately for Rousey’s sake, married with two children.
10. “She Gets Hangry”
It is said that Rousey is not a great person to be around during training because she is cutting weight for her fight.
Rousey is known for being so angry due to lack of food before a fight that only her trainers are allowed to be near her. Rousey told Jimmy Kimmel Live that she consumes a lot of Buffalo wings after the fight as a reward to herself.
9. “Eating Disorder”
Before Ronda became an accomplished boxer she had to deal with an eating disorder called bulimia nervosa. Bulimia nervosa is a psychological eating disorder that involves ingestion of a large amount of food in a short period of time and is followed by purging to avoid weight gain.
Rousey started her battle with bulimia nervosa during her adolescent years, but since then has been able to overcome her disease. She has also started a charity to help people with mental health issues concerning body image.
8. “Substance Abuse”
Rousey also had to overcome substance abuse during her early adult life. In her book entitled, My Fight/Your Fight, she revealed that this period in her life began after she won a bronze medal at the 2008 Beijing Olympics where she decided to take a year off to party.
During this time, Rousey was consuming marijuana, alcohol and Vicodin. She even said that she would begin her day with a cigarette and a vodka espresso. After the year of partying, Rousey lost her earnings and so she had to work as a bartender to support her habits. She says that on her path to self-destruction, it was martial arts that eventually saved her life.
7. “Domestic Violence”
Ronda Rousey revealed in her autobiography that she assaulted her ex-boyfriend about two weeks before her fight with Miesha Tate back in 2012. She assaulted him at the time because she had found nude pictures that he had taken of her without her consent.
Rousey then beat him up even further to make sure that the photos were deleted off his phone and laptop. Although he did not fight back, he quickly got in his car and left following the attack. Despite all this, Rousey told ESPN in an interview that she is against domestic violence.
6. “Nerd Girl”
Rousey claims that although she is a bad a** in the ring, at heart she’s a nerd just like most people.
She is a huge fan of Pokémon and admits that she was a Pokémon forum moderator during her adolescent years. It’s also a known fact that Rousey is a huge fan of the anime show, Dragon Ball Z and regularly plays World of WarCraft.
5. “Her Mom’s Blog”
Ronda Rousey was angered when she found out back in 2015, that her mother had written a blog post about Rousey’s friend choice.
Her mother wrote in the blog that she “thinks some of the people she hangs out with are douche bags.” She also went on to describe the “bubble” like atmosphere that surrounds entertainers and how it is difficult to say “no” to them.
4. “Her Mom Also Hates Her Boyfriends”
It is said that Rousey’s mother deems the nickname “Bob” to each of her boyfriends, which is off-putting to the men in Rousey’s life.
It is also said that even though Rousey looks up to her mother, they do not see eye to eye very often.
3. “She’s Soft”
After their breakup, Browne had plenty to say about their relationship, particularly about Rousey’s softer side.
Browne raved in an interview about her saying, “how compassionate and really how much of a sweetheart she really is. That’s what a lot of people don’t see out of her. They see that, but they don’t really get to experience that.”
2. “Ronda Knew She Might Lose”
Ronda Rousey claims that she had a feeling she might lose at the UFC 207, and she acknowledged that it was possible. She did not take part in any of the promotional events that took place before the fight and did few public appearances.
Before the fight, she made a deal with UFC president, Dana White, before even considering fighting Amanda Nunes. The deal was that she could not partake in any media related activities. Before the fight, Rousey shared a quote on instagram that said, “Those who are really in earnest must be willing to be anything or nothing in the world’s estimation.”
1. “She Never Recovered From Holly”
Although Rousey never confirmed this, ESPN has speculated that if you watch Rousey’s most recent 48-second knockout, there seems to be some merit to it.
In the video, Rousey looks defeated almost immediately and some believe that it is because she had a flashback from her famous loss to Holly Holm. ESPN pointed out that the link between her self-worth and her career, shows that the knockout was more than just a loss for Rousey.