Ronda Rousey is a former UFC cage fighter and current WWE superstar. She cut her teeth in the Octagon, but has more than found her footing amongst the WWE’s best and will make her Wrestlemania debut on April 8th.
Born on February 1st, 1987, in Riverside, California, Rousey began her fighting career at age 11 when she began learning judo. Before long, she was competing in judo and made the US Olympic team and competed at the 2004 Summer games in Athens.
Following the Olympics, she would retire from Judo and began focusing on MMA. She debuted as an amateur fighter in 2010, winning her first match in just 23 seconds. She moved on to compete in Strikeforce and eventually the UFC, signing with the league as its first female fighter. She was named the first women’s bantamweight champion and in one of her early defenses, held onto the title in a first-round submission despite dislocating her jaw in the fight.
She would defend her championship six more times before eventually losing it to Holly Holm, her first loss in the UFC. She would also lose to Amanda Nunes a year later, getting TKO’d in the first round.
She would move on, for now at least, from the UFC and has signed a full-time contract with the WWE. She’s scheduled to make her in-ring debut at Wrestlemania 34 in a mixed tag-team match with Kurt Angle as her partner, fighting against Triple H and Stephanie McMahon.
