The Real Ronda — How Bottled Up Grief And Anger Lead Her To Fighting

UFC bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey has a story that connects with a lot of people. From the tragic loss of her father at a young age, to medaling at the olympics and living in her car, to becoming the UFC champ.

Rousey recently wrote a piece for the Herald Sun, depicting her journey from American Hero to barbarian in the eyes of the public and explained why she fights and how her pent up grief and anger led her to become the most dominating female athlete in the world.

The piece is pretty long, so here’s an excerpt!

Check it out!

AUGUST of 2008, in Beijing, China I was doing everything I could to break the arm of a woman I barely knew from Algeria.

Being an experienced judoka herself, she knew that there was nothing she could do to stop me and tapped me on the leg to signal she gave up.

I won the match en route to my Olympic bronze medal in judo.

I was the first woman from my country to win an Olympic medal in the sport.

Many people called me an American hero that day.

February of 2013 in a sold-out arena in California I was doing everything I could to

break the arm of another woman I barely knew named Liz Carmouche.

An experienced fighter herself, she knew there was nothing she could to stop me and tapped my leg to admit defeat.

I was the first woman to win a UFC title.

Many called me a barbarian that day.

I am a fighter.

But I am not a violent person.

I don’t enjoy hurting people.

If anyone gets hurt, it is not the aim of my actions — in fact I prefer winning with no one getting hurt.

But injuries are part of my business, just like carpal tunnel is for people who type all day to make a living.

For some reason I was born to a mother who was a judo world champion.

For some reason I lost my father to suicide at eight years old.

I had so much bottled up grief and anger and self-loathing and for some reason I found an outlet that saved me.

Fighting.