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The world over was shocked when Ronda Rousey was defeat by Holly Holm. I can remember sitting at the bar cheering her on when she was hit with the head-kick that would be her undoing. Ronda had been the champ for so long that only her haters thought that she would be brought down. Normally her fights lasted a matter of seconds, but when it came to Holm, she gave her a run for her money.

She’s been out of the limelight since her defeat, and many believed that she would never come back. She took quite the hit, not only physically but mentally as well. She is due to return to the Octagon in Las Vegas on December 30th for UFC 207. She is up against Amanda Nunes, and people are wondering if she can pull off another rise to the top. Whether she will be able to strike down all the people that expect her to fail - well only time will tell. She was a champ once she can certainly be a champ again. Before her loss to Holm, she was considered to be one of the most dominant female athletes in any sport. After all, she did defeat 12 fighters, and it was only Miesha Tate that went beyond the first round with the champ.

Before she was a famous actress and undefeated champ, Ronda was a normal person just like the rest of us. She struggled for a dream, unsure of how it was going to turn out, but she never gave up. She rose to the top to not only be a champ but a model, actress, and entrepreneur. Check out these facts about Ronda before she became famous.

15. Raisinettes Sent Her to the ER

I’m not a big fan of Raisinettes myself, in fact, they are one of the most horrendous tasting candies out there. But Ronda loves them, though in this case, she wasn’t eating them as she should have been. If you had to guess what Ronda’s first trip to the ER would be from, you would assume it had to be due to her Judo career. After all, a fighter is known to get pretty banged up even during training sessions. It could have been a broken nose, a broken leg or some other form of injury. But her trip to the ER was nothing serious; it was something more hilarious than that. She started to shove Raisinettes up her nose and some of them got stuck.

14. Her Mother Thinks She Has Terrible Taste in Men

Ronda has had her fair share of terrible relationships just like the rest of us. It can’t be easy dating someone in her position, a tough girl whose career is in fighting. Her mother however rarely approved of the boyfriends in Ronda’s life, and she made her opinion pretty well known. It’s surprising that any man would even bother to try after what the past ones have experienced. Regardless of the name of the guy involved with Ronda, her mother always calls them Bob. It doesn’t matter how pissed off the guy gets she won’t call him by any other name. So why does she do this? Ronda’s mother is a very tough and intense person, not someone that you want to piss off. She refused to get to know any of the men that Ronda dated. “What’s the point of learning his name if he’s not going to stick around?”

13. She Didn’t Talk Until She Was Six

Considering how opinionated Ronda was you would be shocked to find out that she didn’t speak at all until she was six years old. Maybe that’s why she’s so vocal these days; she’s trying to make up for lost time. The reason why she didn’t speak for so long was due to how she was delivered at birth. When Ronda’s mother was in labor with Ronda, the umbilical cord wrapped itself around the baby’s neck. This, in turn, cut off oxygen to her brain. Ronda survived, but she was left with a learning disability because of it. This learning disability came in the form of a speech impediment, and it was because of this that Ronda didn’t speak until she was six. Her mother had her in various programs and with therapists, but Ronda would not be rushed into speaking before she was ready.

12. Ronda Doubted She Would Make it in MMA

Judging by her success in the UFC, you would think that Ronda had always known that she would do well in the octagon. But that’s not the case at all, in fact, both she and her mother weren’t sure that she would do well in MMA. After Ronda competed in the 2008 Olympics, Ronda had to decide what was next for her career. She was asked by USA Today whether she would ever consider MMA, she stated that she wasn’t sure about a career or whether she would be able to take a punch. The beauty certainly never let anyone get close enough to punch her. “I might learn how to throw a punch, but I’m not making any promises.” Her mother was also unsure about a career in MMA; in fact, she thought the idea was stupid and hoped that Ronda wouldn’t even consider it.

11. She’s Not a Fan of USA Judo

It’s surprising to think that Ronda wouldn’t be a huge fan of an organization that helped her get the career that she dreamed about. But she is not a fan of the organization at all, in fact; she has quite a bit of disdain for them. The reason for this is she believes that they don’t treat their competitors very well. Ronda has no problem with speaking poorly about her former trainers because of the way she and many other fighters were treated. She believes that they should be paid more for their work and that they should treat people better. Her disdain for the organization grew when she stumbled into the USA Judo executive’s hotel room while she was cutting weight for the 2007 Championships. She saw their extravagant lifestyle while knowing full well that they refused to pay for working scales for their fighters.

10. She Used to Be a Vegan

Before Ronda became a serious fighter with the UFC, she was at one point a vegan. She lived that lifestyle while she was bartending. She had to end her vegan days for a period of time when she was competing in the 2008 Olympics because her body needed high quantities of protein. She explained to MMA Playground that her diet wasn’t always that great, “Unfortunately, I was working two-to-three bartending jobs at once during that time, and didn’t have many options in the vegan genre besides Jameson Whiskey and sweet potato fries.” She stayed on the vegan diet for about eight months and only stopped because she developed bronchitis. Due to her illness, it took her a long time to get back to feeling healthy, and it was suggested that she drop the diet until she felt better. She never did return to the diet however as she was on a strict diet once she started to train in the UFC.

9. Her Mother is the Reason Why Her Armbar is so Strong

Ronda’s armbar is rather extraordinary, and it’s been something that is feared by every fighter that gets into the octagon with her. She’s been able to shut down most of her opponents within the first round by armbar, and her opponents have often trained specifically on how to avoid it. Many people have wondered how she became so good at the armbar and the answer is her mother. During a Q&A event for the UFC, Ronda explained that her armbar skills came from the fact that her mother would often jump her in bed and wake the fighter by slapping her in an armbar and then making her escape. That wasn’t all; she would also wake Ronda up and immediately ask her to put her in an armbar. Ronda was expected to perform whether she felt like it or not. It was certainly a weird practice for her mother, but I guess in the end it worked.

8. She Worked as a Bartender

After the 2008 Olympics, Ronda was exhausted from all her training and wanted to take a break from Judo. She wasn’t sure what she wanted to do with her life or where she would go next. So, she decided to bartend for a few years while she figured it out. She didn’t make a lot of money during her years of training Judo, so she really needed a job while she figured things out. She worked in California at a bar named Gladstones. She wasn’t interested in any job that was high intensity; she wanted something easy where she could enjoy herself and relax. While working there, she created a signature drink called Party Like a Barack Star. It was while bartending that she decided to try a career in MMA and it was after seeing Gina Carano fight against Julie Kedzie. The rest is history.

7. She’s a Mortal Kombat Fan

Ronda has admitted that she is a bit of a nerd. She has an obsession with Pokémon as well as Dragon Ball Z. But that’s not where it ends; in fact, she was pretty obsessed with Mortal Kombat back in the day. Her favorite character to play as was Princess Kitana because of her badass fighting skills. “I would always play as Princess Kitana ‘cuz in the Sega version you could press down and punch up. vs. the computer and get to the fifth guy from the top with all flawless victories because the computer wouldn’t learn to throw you from the floor until it was almost the end.” She showed off her video game fighting skills on TSN against Cabral Richards. She didn’t pick the Princess, but instead chose Sub-Zero and smoked Cabral in the showdown.

6. She Used to Only Eat Once a Day

That’s a shocking proclamation considering she was once a role model for females everywhere. Thank God those days are over for her, but there was a time in her life where she didn’t eat very much. During her early days of training Judo, she rarely ate because she wanted to stay at a certain weight. She would train hard all day long without eating anything and then would have a big meal for dinner. She wouldn’t be able to do a diet such as that in the UFC especially with the muscle mass that she has. She explained the reason she did the extreme dieting back then was that it pushed her to train harder. Hunger was her driving force to be the best. If she had a full stomach, she wouldn’t feel the need to train as hard or be as disciplined. She was quite thin in those days, and now we know why.

5. She Considered Joining the Coast Guard

Have you ever wondered where Ronda Rousey would be right now had she never decided to become an MMA fighter? She’s done so well with her career as an MMA fighter, that it's hard to imagine her doing anything else. There was a time that Ronda did consider another career choice. She considered, for a time in her career, being a rescue swimmer for the Coast Guard. I could certainly see her doing something like that since it’s a tough career choice with a lot of physical requirements. She told a columnist for the Wall Street Journal, “I like swimming; I like heights, I like high-pressure situations. Your boat falls over, tag, got ya, you’re alive. I knew I’d be good at that, because whenever my sisters would drop a contact lens on the bathroom floor, I’d be like, ‘There, there it is.’ Like, a person in the waves, I think I would just get ’em.”

4. Her Father Committed Suicide

Losing a parent is devastating even under the best of circumstances. But losing a parent to suicide can be something that is hard for any child to understand. It's something that is more scarring than anything because a child doesn’t know why a parent would leave them behind. Ronda’s father committed suicide when she was eight, and it affected her family a great deal. Her father’s suicide is obviously a sore spot with Ronda; that’s why she has a hate for Bethe Correia because she decided it was appropriate to joke about suicide with Ronda. It was Ronda’s sole mission in life to make Bethe pay for her comments towards her, and she did just that when she defeated her in the octagon. Suicide is no joking matter, and although mud is always flying between opponents, there are just some boundaries that you don’t cross. But Ronda got the last laugh in the end.

3. She’s Obsessed with Ancient Aliens

There’s no doubt about it: the show is fascinating, and I have to admit I got a little hooked myself. There’s just something so fascinating about the unknown, things that can’t be explained. It’s surprising that anyone that was competing for Judo championships would have time for TV, but she did, and her favorite show was Ancient Aliens. We all have wondered whether aliens are real and whether or not they have come in search of us by now. What? Is it just me? This champ loved aliens and used the show as a means of relaxation after a stressful day. “Sometimes at the end of the day, I just need to sit down and learn about some aliens. For some reason it makes me feel good, and I don’t know why, I can’t explain it, but I love me some aliens.” Me too Ronda, me too.

2. She Has a Crush on Vegeta

Who doesn’t love Dragon Ball Z? It’s a popular cartoon that has quite a fan base. Well not only does Ronda love the cartoon but she has a crush on one of the characters. “I used to come and take a VHS tape and put the tape over the little square and record it and watch it over and over. I was obsessed man.” She is so obsessed that she doesn’t believe that there is a bigger fan out there than she is. She is certainly crushing hard on him when she says something like this, “Vegeta is where it’s at. He was my cartoon crush. I would’ve gone cartoon for him. I would.” Well, that’s certainly something. It’s possible that it’s the connection between the cartoon and Judo that she found so appealing. “They’re the only superheroes that get better if they train hard,” she stated.

1. Ronda Loves Cider Beer

There’s nothing better than spending a day on the beach on a hot day with some cider beer. It’s refreshing and not overpowering, plus you can still drink it warm. Ronda is a lover of cider beer, and she thinks it’s the perfect addition to a date. It’s one of her indulgences when she is on a strict diet. “Seriously, if a guy had a pick-up truck and took me out to the Malibu mountains out here in L.A., that’s the perfect date for me. Even if we just had a cooler full of cider beer and an air mattress.” She is the kind of girl that loves casual dates; nothing fancy should be planned. It’s not just dating either; she has associated her love of cider beer with just sitting around with friends eating Buffalo wings. “I just want to tailgate, drink beer, and hang out in the middle of nowhere in a pick-up truck.”

Sourcewww.yahoo.com