Ronda Jean Rousey (born February 1, 1987 in Riverside, California, U.S.) is an American professional wrestler, actress, author, mixed martial artist and judoka. Rousey was the first American woman to earn an Olympic medal in judo (bronze), which she won at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing.
Ronda Rousey is currently signed to WWE, performing on the Raw brand. She won 12 consecutive MMA fights, including six in the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). Rousey trained under Gokor Chivichyan of the Hayastan MMA Academy, and Edmond Tarverdyan of the Glendale Fighting Club.
Rousey began judo with her mother at the age of 11. Rousey trained with her mother until she was 13. At 17, Rousey qualified for the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, becoming the youngest judoka in the entire Games. Rousey lost in her first match to silver medalist Claudia Heill in the 63 kg bracket. Also in 2004, Rousey won a gold medal at the World Junior Judo Championships in Budapest, Hungary.
In April 2006, she became the first female U.S. judoka in nearly 10 years to win an A-Level tournament as she went 5-0 to claim gold at the Birmingham World Cup in Great Britain. Later that year, the 19-year-old won the bronze medal at the Junior World Championships, becoming the first U.S. athlete ever to win two Junior World medals.
In 2007, Ronda ranked as one of the top three women in the world's 70Kg category. She won the silver medal at the 2007 World Judo Championships in the middleweight division and the gold medal at the 2007 Pan American Games.
In August 2008, Rousey competed at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, China. She lost her quarterfinal to the Dutch ex-world champion Edith Bosch but qualified for a Bronze medal match through the repechage bracket. Rousey defeated Annett Boehm by Yuko to win a bronze medal. With the victory, Rousey became the first American to win an Olympic medal in women's judo since its inception as an Olympic sport in 1992.
Rousey's first feature film role was the 2014 film The Expendables 3. In 2015, she had roles in the films Furious 7 and Entourage.
In May 2015, two magazines ranked Rousey as the most "dominant" active athlete. In September 2015, voters in an online ESPN poll selected Rousey as the Best Female Athlete Ever. In October 2015, she claimed to be the UFC's highest paid fighter, male or female. In 2015, she was the third most searched person on Google.
Rousey was on the cover of the January 2016 issue for The Ring magazine. She became the first mixed martial artist to ever appear on the cover of the boxing magazine and the second woman as well, after Cathy Davis in 1978. In February 2016 she appeared in body paint as one of three cover athletes on the cover of the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue.
On April 20, 2017, Rousey and Browne announced their engagement. Browne proposed to Rousey under a waterfall in New Zealand. The two were married on August 28, 2017 in Browne's home state of Hawaii.
In 2018, Rousey began a career in professional wrestling, signing a contract with WWE, and made her in-ring debut at WrestleMania 34. On July 5, 2018, Rousey became the first female fighter to be inducted into UFC Hall of Fame.
