Ronda Rousey is not a woman of few words — she has never hesitated to give her opinion on nearly any subject that comes up during interviews. Those strong views have made her a role model to some, and a lightning rod of controversy for others. Debates rage on as to whether Ronda deserves praise as a feminist or if she should even be looked up to at all. That’s for each individual to decide, but we thought some words directly from the mouth of Rousey might help people make an informed opinion. Here are 10 quotes from Ronda Rousey on women in sports, do-nothing b*tches, other people’s criticism, and more.
Via Rolling Stone:
“I’m first and foremost a fighter. No one would give a damn about how I look if I wasn’t. When I was bartending, you know what my looks got me? Tips. You know how many magazine covers I was on? Zero. There are prettier models out there, there are better actresses out there, but there are no better fighters out there.”
Via the New York Times:
“If I can represent that body type of women that isn’t represented so much in media, then I’d be happy to do that. When women say that going on publications directed at men is somehow demeaning, I don’t think that’s true. I think that’s one really effective way to change the societal standard women are held to.”
Via Yahoo:
“I was unhappy and thought that when I got the right body I would be happy. But I was going at it backwards. I had to make myself happy first and then the body came. I would do all kinds of crazy stuff; I struggled with bulimia and all these things for years. I was unhappy. I had to attend to all of the other things in my life, like my career and my training, to get to a point where I trained just because I loved it. I didn’t even know that was what I wanted, but I made myself happy first and then got the ‘oh wow’ body.”
Via UFC Embedded:
“I have this one term for the kind of woman that my mother raised me to not be. And I call it ‘Do-Nothing B*tch.’ Or I call it a DNB a lot of the time. The kind of chick that just tries to be pretty and be taken care of by somebody else. That’s why I think it’s hilarious when people say my body looks masculine or something like that.
“I’m like, ‘Listen, just because my body was developed for a purpose other than f*cking millionaires doesn’t mean it’s masculine.’ I think it’s femininely badass as f*ck. Because there’s not a single muscle on my body that isn’t for a purpose. Because I’m not a Do-Nothing B*tch.
“It’s not very eloquently said, but it’s to the point. And maybe that’s just what I am. I’m not that eloquent, but I’m to the point.”
Via 9News Australia:
“Ambition should be idealized. Not buying things and being dramatic.”
Via the New York Times:
“We seem to be in this conflicting era for women, where women are doing so amazingly and taking over the athletic world, but we’re also in a time where — how can I really put it? That women without any skills that freeload are being glorified. That’s something I was raised not to be. That you’re supposed to contribute to the world, not consume from it.”
Via Nylon:
“The feminist movement was going one way for so long, and it seemed like we were taking a couple of steps backwards for a little bit. I started hearing, ‘How are you ever going to find a husband, if you’re such an intimidating person? You’re so accomplished, no man is going to want to deal with that.’ I’m like, ‘Why would I want to find a man that is so easily intimidated?’ There are many other intimidating things in life than me. If I’m too much for you, then life’s going to be too much for us.”
“The end goal isn’t finding the wealthiest man possible to take care of me — it’s finding someone who will bring the best out of me. I want to find someone who has hustle to match my own and someone who we can bring the best out in each other. It’s so easy to jump out of bed and want to go handle everything in the day after the person waking up next to you is so excited to handle everything they have going on. But it’s hard to feel good about yourself sitting on the couch all day playing Madden if your girl is getting up and hustling. I don’t want a guy that feels the need to dim my light in order to make his look brighter, and I’m tired of seeing girls encouraged to be as dim a light as possible so as not to obscure their man.”
Via E! Online:
“I like to be part of the change I want to see in the world. Not being afraid of criticism is actually a big advantage. I feel like I tried to be agreeable and failed – it failed me. And so I just did not give a sh*t and ended up succeeding a lot more because of it. Now I have all these people saying the most terrible things you can think of about me, but I could comfortably retire right now if I wanted to. It just put into perspective how little other people’s opinions are actually worth.”
Via 9News Australia:
“I worry about [losing] so much… That’s why I work so much harder than they do. And it’s why I go to sleep every night worrying about every single possible scenario and I’m so much more prepared than them.”
Via The Huffington Post:
“You’re supposed to be going super ninja death mode, but I’m really the most emotional ever. If I spill milk, I will cry. You go through every single inch of the emotional spectrum on fight week. You’re the most stressed out you’ve ever been, you’re the most pressured you’ve ever been, you’re the happiest you’ve ever been — it’s hard. It’s exhausting. That’s why these fights will sometimes be a couple seconds, but I’ll still walk out and feel sore from my head to my toes. Just because I’ve had my shoulders held up for weeks on end and they finally drop [after a fight]. I always feel really, really sore in my shoulders afterward because that’s where I hold all my anxiety.”
Via ESPN:
“My dog, Mochi, she changed my life. Knowing I was responsible for another living thing. When I got her, I decided even if I was a loser, my dog didn’t deserve to suffer for it. So though I was bartending and working three jobs, I made sure I woke up extra early in the morning to drive her to doggy day care. The first $35 of my shift went to Mochi. Even when I was eating Top Ramen noodles, I bought her top-shelf dog food because it wasn’t her fault that I was broke. There were times when I lived in my car, and I realized I couldn’t let that situation ever happen again because what would my dog do? It put pressure on me to succeed when I was responsible for another living thing.”
Ronda Rousey takes on Holly Holm in the headline fight at UFC 193 in Melbourne, Australia on Nov. 14.