At her peak, Ronda Rousey was the one particular person on the UFC roster who may rival Conor McGregor in sheer recognition and a spotlight however her speedy fall from grace virtually matched her ascension to superstardom.
Throughout lower than a 4 12 months span, Rousey helped usher ladies into the UFC, she grew to become a six-time defending champion however then suffered a brutal knockout loss to Holly Holm and solely made yet another look getting blitzed by Amanda Nunes in 48 seconds earlier than leaving the game perpetually. Whereas she did get inducted into the UFC Corridor of Fame, Rousey not often addressed her losses or her exit from the game till extra lately when she revealed {that a} extreme historical past of concussions actually left her no selection however to cease preventing.
Her sophisticated legacy left Rousey believing that if she attended a UFC occasion as of late that she would face a hostile viewers fairly than followers ready to greet her with open arms.
Kayla Harrison, who counted Rousey as a roommate and a teammate when each had been competing in judo for america, understands that emotions are combined on the subject of the previous UFC bantamweight champion however her affect on the game is plain.
“I feel for me, regardless of who Ronda is as an individual and it doesn’t matter what she says or thinks or how she does issues or how she handles losses, how she handles any of it, it doesn’t matter what, you can not deny the truth that she shattered a ceiling for ladies,” Harrison advised MMA Preventing. “Dana White went on file a number of instances saying that he would by no means have ladies within the UFC. She f*cking blasted proper by that.
“To me, that’s her legacy. It doesn’t matter what she says or what she does, after all people are going to be people, folks take care of issues the way in which they take care of issues however she paved the way in which when there was no approach. That I’m eternally grateful [for].”
Lengthy earlier than she was conquering the PFL and changing into a excessive profile free company addition to the UFC roster, Harrison appeared as much as Rousey because the gold customary when it got here to her desires of changing into an Olympic champion.
Whereas she didn’t win gold, Rousey was the primary American girl to win a medal in judo when she captured bronze on the 2008 video games in Beijing, China. 4 years later, Harrison surpassed Rousey by changing into the primary American to ever win gold in judo after which she did it once more on the 2016 Olympics.
Very similar to their shared historical past in judo, Harrison finally adopted in Rousey’s footsteps when it got here to MMA as nicely.
“At one level, she was my position mannequin and I lived along with her, I educated along with her,” Harrison mentioned. “Something she did, I needed to do higher. I didn’t know what the hell I used to be going to do after the Olympics. I didn’t know the place I used to be going to go. She confirmed me this path after which she made that path actually large.”
Harrison can’t say for sure what would have occurred in her post-Olympics profession if Rousey hadn’t stormed into the UFC and have become an enormous draw for the corporate.
Whereas ladies’s MMA existed lengthy earlier than Rousey arrived, her affect modified the sport, particularly the place the UFC was concerned.
That’s why Harrison nonetheless holds Rousey in such excessive regard no matter how she retired or the way in which she dealt with herself on the way in which out.
“[Women’s MMA] went from like oh perhaps you can make slightly bit of cash and perhaps women can combat, too, to love there are younger women everywhere in the world proper now which are coaching MMA and who’re asskickers and who will not be afraid to be huge and robust and highly effective and assured,” Harrison mentioned. “Ronda is part of that. That’s historical past. That’s highly effective.
“That simply goes to indicate it doesn’t matter who you’re, you are able to do nice issues. Once more, regardless of how she offers with it or what she says about it, the top of her profession, she made a approach when there wasn’t a approach. That’s to me, her legacy.”
