Head to a Ronda Rousey fight, and you’ll see her mom, Dr. AnnMaria De Mars, leading her cheering section. But that wasn’t always the case.
Before Rousey parlayed an Olympic bronze-medal judo career into a lucrative and dominant run as UFC women’s bantamweight champion, the undefeated 28-year-old fighter pitched her new career ambitions to her mom.
As Rousey explained to host Jimmy Fallon on Tuesday’s “The Tonight Show,” her mom wasn’t exactly supportive of the idea.
“I don’t know if I can swear, but that was her first inclination – it involved a lot of swear words,” Rousey said. “Making (the language) cleaner, she said, ‘This is the stupidest idea I’ve heard in my life, and considering the ideas you’ve had, that’s pretty bad.'”
As wrote in MMAJunkie Dr. De Mars, the first American woman to win the World Judo Championships, eventually came around, of course. Now, she can be found in the cage after each Rousey victory, as she was on Feb. 28 at UFC 184, where the champ scored a remarkable 14-second victory over Cat Zingano:
Up next for Rousey (11-0 MMA, 5-0 UFC) is a UFC 190 pay-per-view headliner with Bethe Correia (9-0 MMA, 3-0 UFC). The event takes place Aug. 1 at Rio de Janeiro’s HSBC Arena. Rousey, who owns 10 first-round stoppages in 11 career wins, looks for her sixth consecutive title defense. Her past three have come in an average time of 32 seconds.
Rousey’s appearance on “The Tonight Show” was part of the UFC’s publicity efforts to legalize MMA in New York state, which is finally showing signs of progress.
Before Rousey parlayed an Olympic bronze-medal judo career into a lucrative and dominant run as UFC women’s bantamweight champion, the undefeated 28-year-old fighter pitched her new career ambitions to her mom.
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| Ronda Rousey With Her Family |
As Rousey explained to host Jimmy Fallon on Tuesday’s “The Tonight Show,” her mom wasn’t exactly supportive of the idea.
“I don’t know if I can swear, but that was her first inclination – it involved a lot of swear words,” Rousey said. “Making (the language) cleaner, she said, ‘This is the stupidest idea I’ve heard in my life, and considering the ideas you’ve had, that’s pretty bad.'”
As wrote in MMAJunkie Dr. De Mars, the first American woman to win the World Judo Championships, eventually came around, of course. Now, she can be found in the cage after each Rousey victory, as she was on Feb. 28 at UFC 184, where the champ scored a remarkable 14-second victory over Cat Zingano:
Up next for Rousey (11-0 MMA, 5-0 UFC) is a UFC 190 pay-per-view headliner with Bethe Correia (9-0 MMA, 3-0 UFC). The event takes place Aug. 1 at Rio de Janeiro’s HSBC Arena. Rousey, who owns 10 first-round stoppages in 11 career wins, looks for her sixth consecutive title defense. Her past three have come in an average time of 32 seconds.
Rousey’s appearance on “The Tonight Show” was part of the UFC’s publicity efforts to legalize MMA in New York state, which is finally showing signs of progress.
