UFC Commentator Jon Anik and UFC Hall-of-Famer Daniel Cormier are joined by former UFC women’s bantamweight champion …
as we move along you can argue every female mixed martial arts athlete owes some sort of debt of gratitude to our next selection the first women’s champion in the UFC who blazed a trail for all to follow a Trailblazer a champion and an international Superstar she’s changing Sports she’s changing culture no one has had a bigger impact on women’s MMA than Rowdy Ronda Rousey this is not just a moment for r Rousey this is a a moment for women’s sports period a once defiant Dana White famously said women would never fight in the UFC Ronda Rousey changed that as an Olympic medalist in Judo the California Native transferred her skill set to mixed martial arts Strike Force provided the launching pad for Rousey to break through and showcase her talents Rousey’s unique blend of Charisma confidence and unprecedented ability was something the Sport’s biggest stage could no long longer ignore nor deny bring the champ out here as the first woman to hold a UFC belt Rousey’s historic Reign began at UFC 157 this entire crowd is on their feet for the arrival of the first ever UFC Women’s Phantom Weight Champion Rowdy Ronda Rousey Ronda wants to get the clinch and drag this fight to the ground oh now this is bad the Finish fittingly came via her signature on bar submission got it’s all over first round arar finish for Ronda Rousey Rousey’s dominant run is vanway Champion included a record six title defenses all ending in spectacular fashion and still her meteoric rise saw her become a true crossover success and an inspiration to female athletes around the world this is going to open the door to so many young women that never thought about doing this as a career in 2018 ronda’s barrier breaking Legacy was immortalized with an induction into the UFC Hall of Fame A fitting Capstone to the career of an athlete who changed the sports world [Music] forever well Ronda Rousey forced Dana White’s hand she was taking arms left and right the MMA masses started to take notice pretty fitting that we have her foremost rival Mesa Tate here today but of course Ronda Rousey making this alltime roster and she made a huge impact on the sport and uh it’s going to withstand the test of time to be sure I mean look I voted for her to be on here you know I mean you cannot deny Talent you cannot deny the credit you can’t deny that she was a you know Olympic medalist and everything that she did and I will say one of the most challenging things for myself preparing for Ronda Rousey was trying to find somebody like her yeah yeah nobody did that no women fought like her at the time when I from my first fight to my second fight it was impossible to find any women who would let me punch them and who also had any kind of finesse in Judo whatsoever so you tried to find some men but they would muscle it she’s so smooth she doesn’t muscle things you know so incredibly she was so far ahead of her time yeah you know there was nobody that could emulate Ronda Rousey at the time that Ronda Rousey had her presence absolutely and you know we speak about women being in the UFC for 10 years and it had to be Rhonda it it really had to be Ronda because it was it looked as though it never was going to happen but she was undeniable right she was Brash she was confident I remember back in Strike Force Gan leel would walk there with a stop a stopwatch to time how quickly she could get somebody out there and so when you’re watching that as Strike Force athletes are about to come over to the UFC and you’re Dana White going huh it’s Ronda rosley that’s interesting yeah because now there’s more to her than just the looks and the fighting she’s got a bit of a personality she’s talking she’s mean she’s nasty it needed to be Ronda she was The Perfect Storm at the perfect time and for her to have the fighting ability that she had to match all the other things it worked yeah and I truly believe that Ronda Rousey is the foundation for which women are in the UFC and I don’t know if it happens without her to what extent was she an influence for you I think I think she is I had the pleasure to promote UFC 193 with r o z and for me she’s an icon you know she’s an iccon and she changed the game she brought not only female MMA but in general UFC to different to different level well I mean I’m looking at I’m looking at this against Sarah McMahon who’s Olympic silver medalist wrestling then submission quickly then she starts knocking people out and then it people almost got lost in Rhonda’s presence but it was meant to be you know not not everyone can be the champion if it was this easy everyone would do this you know but I feel like you know we have a mission it’s all up to us if we going to approach it or not you know I feel like before Rhonda Rousey women’s MMA kind of felt like we had to kind of Tuck our heads and abide by the rules and just be grateful have anything and she just didn’t she didn’t abide by those rules and you’re you and I like we’re Strike Force together right you’ve been around the game you’ve been in fighting and you’ve been successful in fighting for a really long time could you I wonder if like women as a whole could sense this supernova when she came in could you guys sense that maybe this is going to be what takes this thing to the next level I had no idea at the time to be honest but I knew she was very different yeah not only in her style but her presence and that’s also kind of rubbed me the wrong way I was like you don’t really fit in like all the women here we’re working we’re working as a team to try to get to the next level and she’s like I don’t need nobody I got me you know and then that was kind of the chip on her shoulder so she was very rude for the most part disrupted but you know what it’s because she knew that that’s how she was going to get the squeaky wheel gets oil right I mean she she went in there and she wasn’t afraid to stand behind her voice she would kind of dig at you I I felt horrible for you to have to deal with it for so long over the course of the The Ultimate Fighter was the was was the the nail in the coffin you know but you know what DC you’re absolutely right at the time I couldn’t appreciate it because I was the receiving end right so I didn’t like it I didn’t like her brashness I didn’t like her personality but in hindsight you’re absolutely right it’s what women’s MMA needed we needed somebody was going to go out there and call shots and and not back down and not take no for an answer and go out there and and perform the way that she did and deliver the way that she did because we all know performances are are great but but a lot of this is about how we can sell how we can how we can be entertaining and she understood that um maybe it was her being a WWE Fan I don’t know you know maybe she understood something but she she definitely brought something different to the game well and not unlike Yanna and Valentina for us calling these fights right we’re trying to make a case for the Challenger and I will say when she fought Kat Zeno that felt like one of the biggest fights in the sports history 14 seconds later it’s over it’s over and I I remember being at the ways for that and I was like wow the interest level has gone through the roof I was like this is not the same because I remember when she fought Liz Caro and it was the first time a woman that headlined the card and the place looked like it was on fire but against Kad zenu it was nuts in Los Angeles where she’s from people were so excited to watch their Hometown girl compete Ronda goes out and delivers in a way that she couldn’t have even she couldn’t have wrote the script but it was like she couldn’t have wrote it any better no she couldn’t have wrote the script any better but it was like that type of success followed her inside the oon and and really in anything that she does I mean she goes from here to the WWE she’s the best yeah she’s the best in everything and that’s honestly I believe her confidence in her her not knowing where her limits were capped is what allowed for her to really break the mold and just break through the glass ceiling for sure it was crazy to watch her appeal just cross over and extend to all these different tentacles of the world Halloween would come around you got all these little girls dressing up as Ronda Rousey and not unlike you guys she was able to stay true to who she was and still resonate with fans without having to be fake yeah and sometimes people try too hard to show who they are how great they are but Ronda let her success uh just follow her you know follow her and and she was because of she was super successful she was real and she’s still a big role model for so many for so many years she was a superstar if you look at the pictures outside of the ACT she was an actress people just had they were like I want to be in the Razzi business I want to be in business with this woman that has this ability to draw people in and I met Rhonda way back back in like 2008 we were on the Olympic team together and she was a kid and she’s walking around the Olympic Village but you knew that there was like people are going to take a picture with Rhonda I’m like this is a judo girl why but she was so young and she was expected to do well in the sport that we as a country don’t do very well in in terms of Judo she gets a medal and then she parlays that into what she became to the UFC she was ahead of her time and she fought at the highest level in the defended that championship and it just seemed like it was it really was a fairy tale for Rhonda before we move along I got to ask you about that signature arm because your comments in our pre-show meeting were so revealing just in terms of the layers the nuances and just her overall smoothness and getting where she wants to get yeah look I know we’re focused on her UFC career but I got to I got to start with Strike Force because that’s where where I came from when I was training to defend against the armar for Rhonda the first time I was training for a traditional knees together Jiu-Jitsu old school armar with a hitchhiker Escape and I tried that and I broke my arm because she doesn’t she made up her own arm bar I’d never seen anything like that it was a hybrid so so she spreads her knees to where one is pinning your head and the other is pinning your belly button you have no space and then it allows for the hips to move through and essentially break the arm and sometimes even when your head is almost escaped she’s got a way of like closing everything down so it’s so slow you still don’t have time to get out of it before the arm is being hyp extended so um that also not only her style not only trying to find but she was creating new things that had never been seen before this armbar I I I had never seen it before I didn’t know how to prepare for it clearly nobody had a signature move she literally had a signature move it was like WWE person that has a finisher crazy she only fought eight times in the UFC her impact is going to go on for generations to come and of course you co-headline with her at UFC 193 50,000 strong in Melbourne Australia right there have been very few instances in UF history where we have had crowds and stadium shows like that and Ronda deserves the bulk of the credit for packing out that building that night and we congratulate Ronda Rousey for taking her place here on the alltime roster