“When I have to deal with media that’s never covered MMA before, there’s a lot of interest in the sport now because of the first women’s fight,” she said. “And in those cases, I feel like I really represent the sport. I know they try to get me to say things like ‘I like hurting people’ and things that are stereotypical ideas of what MMA is, and I really try to take the conversation away from that and try to explain how beautiful a sport it is. It’s not a barbaric show, it’s really an art, and that’s why the word “art” is there.
“So a lot of progress has been made, but there is still a lot of progress to be made,” continues Rousey. “I know we don’t live in a utopian society where everyone is treated equally. People are much more tolerant than before, but they’re not as tolerant as they should be. And so I’m not surprised that we still have progress to make, but it gives me goals to achieve.
By the time Rousey had her last fight against Amanda Nunes in late 2016, she had done more than win fights. She changed sports. Notice the plural, because Rousey not only changed mixed martial arts, but also boxing, because her success and visibility in the UFC had boxing promoters looking for the best female talent in the ring to put on the big stage.
“He (White) put Ronda Rousey on UFC pay-per-view cards regularly, so she was able to build an audience,” Boxing Hall of Famer Christy Martin said. “For a female fighter in boxing to do that, we’re just going to have to find a promoter who’s willing to bite the bullet and say, ‘Hey, I’m going to support this female fighter.'”
Today, some of the biggest fights in boxing feature the ladies, from Katie Taylor-Amanda Serrano to Alycia Baumgardner-Mikaela Mayer and Claressa Shields-Savannah Marshall. It’s proof that when a women’s fight is at the top of the bill, whether it’s in MMA or boxing, more often than not, fireworks follow, and that’s what fight fans want. see.
Ten years. What a decade it has been.
