Rousey: I was literally born fighting
I was literally born fighting. The umbilical cord was wrapped around my neck and my face was blue – everyone…
I was literally born fighting. The umbilical cord was wrapped around my neck and my face was blue – everyone was scared that I died. Obviously I didn’t, but there was some damage done. I was far behind my sisters and other children my age in speech, and could not speak coherently till I was around 6. No one ever told me there was anything wrong with me – my mom and dad refused to let me feel abnormal. I just remember being frustrated all the time, because I knew in my head what I wanted to say, but for some reason no one could ever understand me. My words came out as gibberish. My father, most of all, told everyone: “Ronnie is a sleeper. Just you watch – she’s gonna show everyone and be the best of them one day.” He would always tell me that I was destined for greatness. At the time, I was swimming competitively and he would constantly tell me I was going to win the Olympics and be the best in the world someday. Unfortunately my Dad died when I was 8 years old, and it was the most painful thing my family has ever been through. Swimming was something me and my dad would do together, and after his death I quickly lost my motivation to swim – though I never lost the need to honor him and fulfill every expectation he had of me.
Several years later, we moved to Los Angeles, my mother remarried and things got better. My mother was the first American to ever win the world championship in judo, something she never talked about much when I was a kid. But she used to train at Tenri Judo in East L.A. during her prime in the 80s, so when we moved back to L.A. she went to visit her old teammates who had then opened up clubs of their own.