Ronda Rousey revealed in a new Sports Illustrated video this week that her first street fights as a 14-year-old were against boys long before she began her professional Mixed Martial Arts career.
In the video, the 28-year-old recounts how she and her high school friend Jackie would walk over the Promenade after school as Jackie called out to nearby guys, “I bet my girl right here could beat you up for $10.”
“And then some guy would be like, 'Ehh, whatever. I'll take that bet,'"
Rousey said, according to Fox Sports. “I would throw him to the ground, either give him a choke or an arm bar. We would get him to say he gave up, then take his money and go buy Frappuccinos . . . Those were my first pro fights: ‘Will fight for Frappuccinos.’”
Rousey’s Frappuccino-funding escapades as a 14-year-old began the journey that ultimately led the young judo prodigy to become the first UFC’s Women’s Bantamweight Champion. She is still undefeated in MMA and has won all 12 of her professional fights. Rousey also became the first U.S. woman to win a gold medal in judo at the Summer Olympics in Beijing in 2008.
Although Rousey’s unofficial fighting career may have began by challenging men to fight her in order to fund her Frappuccino cravings, the fighter has since stated that she would not want to fight against men on television.
“I don’t think it’s a great idea to have a man hitting a woman on television,”
Rousey said, according to The Daily Beast. “I’ll never say that I’ll lose, but you could have a girl getting totally beat up on TV by a guy — which is a bad image to put across. With all the football [domestic violence] stuff that’s been happening, not a good idea. It’s fun to theorize about and talk about, but it’s something that’s much better in theory than fact.”
However, it is becoming increasingly more difficult to find a suitable
female opponent for Rousey, ESPN reported. Her latest victory arose from her fight against Cat Zingano, in which Rousey knocked her opponent out of the game in just 14 seconds on Feb. 28. Zingano herself had previously been undefeated.
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