Rousey #3 highest paid female athlete worldwide
Ronda Rousey famously won a bronze medal in Judo in the 2008 Beijing Olympics, earning a $10,000 bonus, so decided to take a year off “to party.” She ended up living in her car.
Ronda Rousey famously won a bronze medal in Judo in the 2008 Beijing Olympics. That earned her a $10,000 bonus.
After a lifetime of discipline, she determined to take a year off, in her words “to party.”
The money ran out quickly and she got a job bartending in LA. She started her days with a cigarette and a vodka espresso, and developed a pot and vicodin habit. She slept in her car with her dog when she couldn’t find a cheap one bedroom to split.
Then one day she saw a Gina Carano highlight reel on the television over the bar.
I could totally do that, she thought.
Last year, she sold the car. The 2005 Honda Accord LX with 156,098 miles on it, needed a new transmission, and sold on EBay for $21,300.00, just a little under the price of a new one.
it came complete with a Tamagotchi, and some stickers that probably won’t come off.
Rousey wrote an inscription on the vehicle she fondly calls “The Fonda.”
“You were the best noble steed I could ask for,” it reads. “You never broke down, you hung in there when I couldn’t afford to change your oil. I could always depend on you. I love you, enjoy retirement.”
In an interview with TMZ, Rousey expressed a potential fear about the buyer.
“The Fonda will always have a special place in my heart,” she said. “I love it very much and hope that the next owner will be someone who will love and respect it. And not some crazy super fan who jerks off to it everyday.”
Now it is 2016, and Ronda Rousey is the #3 highest paid female athlete in the world according to Forbes.
Total Earnings: $14 million
Purses/bonuses: $10 million
Endorsements: $4 million
Rousey faced a stunning loss to Holly Holm in November, her first defeat after 12 wins in MMA. Rousey has crossed over into mainstream celebrity with movie roles, SI Swimsuit appearances, hosting Saturday Night Live, and endorsement deals with Reebok, MetroPCS, Bud Light, Buffalo Jeans and Fanatics.
This is up sharply from last year, when she placed #8. Only two female athletes were higher than ‘Rowdy’ this year, Tennis players Serena Williams with $28,900,000, and Maria Sharapova, with $21,900,000.
In a telling statistic about the income disparity between female and male athletes, Rousey’s #3 place would not put in the top 100 for me. Conor McGregor did break that list, at #85.
