Rousey: Cauliflower ears, ringworm not cool in HS

UFC women’s bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey is living in the media’s eye. She was recently named #2 in the world on Ask Men’s outstanding women of 2014 list. While ‘Rowdy’ has a remarkable knack for keeping her replies compelling, there are only so many ways she can talk about her post Olympic disappointment, for example.

However, a recent interview with espnW senior writer Allison Glock was genuinely different. Rousey’s best friend, former international Judoka and current MMA featherweight Marina “The Supernova From Moldova” Shafir also took part.

Allison Glock: Cat person or dog person?

Ronda Rousey: Dog. My dog, Mochi, she changed my life.

AG: In what way?

RR: 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 was like, “I have a dog, I need to …”

AG: You lived in your car?

RR: For a week or so once, yeah, after judo, before MMA. 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.

AG: What kind of friend are you?

RR: I don’t know. Chime in, Marina. What kind of friend am I?

Marina Shafir: Very loyal.

AG: How did you guys meet?

RR: Judo.

MS: You didn’t like me.

RR: I liked you.

MS: No, you didn’t. I complimented you on your Sponge Bob laces, on all sorts of things. Every time I tried to speak with you, you were a b—-.

RR: I just had a b—– demeanor. Listen, the first time she tried to talk to me, I was listening to my music, and I’m really into my music. And she taps me and says, “That’s Rage Against the Machine.” And I’m like, “You made me stop listening to Rage Against the Machine so you could tell me that I was listening to Rage Against the Machine?”

MS: Such a b—-.

AG: How old were you? How many years ago?

RR: We were both 13.

AG: How did you get past that rocky beginning?

RR: It was at a judo tournament. Everybody left to go eat after we all made weight, and I don’t know why, we were on a sugar high and I was like, “Hey Marina, you want to see something I’ve never shown anybody before?” And I twerked for her, before twerking was a thing. Way back in 2005.

MS: We’ve been like sisters ever since.

AG: How important is faith in your life?

RR: Every single good thing in my life happened because I had faith that there was goodness coming for me. It’s how I was raised, to have a place and a purpose and know everything happens for a reason. I have faith that even missed opportunities are a blessing in disguise, and the very worst things that have happened in my life have resulted in the best things that have ever happened in my life.

AG: Were you the kind of kid that would sit back and observe?

RR: I didn’t talk coherently until was 6, so I was forced to be an observer. Not having that many words, I learned a lot of patience.

AG: Did you ever have body image issues?

RR: Huge body image issues growing up. Big time! I absolutely loathed how I looked until I was around 22 years old.

AG: What happened at 22 that changed that trajectory?

RR: I stopped caring. I stopped looking at the scale. After the Olympics I didn’t weigh myself. I ate as much as I wanted all the time. The feeling of having my belly full was something I was compelled to do, and once I got that out of my system, I felt like I was able to break my emotional dependency on food.

AG: Conflating food with feelings is a complicated struggle for many women.

RR: Listen, there’s nothing wrong with your discipline or you just because you ate whatever. But if the best thing about your day is what you eat, there’s something wrong with your f—— day. What changed for me is I was always thinking I wanted to make my body look a certain way so I would be happy. But when I made myself happy first, then the body came after. It was a journey of self-discovery and trial and error.

AG: How was high school for you?

RR: I dropped out sophomore year. It was not cool for me. I was far from popular. I got teased a lot.

I was a muscular girl. I never wore makeup a single day. I always had my hair up, dressed in baggy clothes because I was embarrassed about how my body looked. I was shy. Having cauliflower ears and ringworm are another sure way to get teased.

AG: So you said goodbye to all that and pursued athletics?

RR: I decided to go to the Olympics instead.

Read entire interview…

Author Allison Glock’s writing has appeared in The New Yorker, The New York Times, Rolling Stone, Esquire, GQ and many others, and she is the author of five books. Her latest, “Changers,” was published in Feb.