Ronda Jean Rousey (/ˈraʊzi/ ROW-zee;[12] born February 1, 1987) is an American professional wrestler, actress, and former judoka and mixed martial artist.

She won the Raw Women's Championship at that year's SummerSlam, and headlined WWE's first and only all-women's pay-per-view Evolution, in which she defended the title.

When Rousey was three years old, her mother and father moved from Riverside, California, to Jamestown, North Dakota, to obtain intensive speech therapy with specialists at Minot State University.

In April 2006, she became the first female U.S. judoka in nearly 10 years to win an A-Level tournament as she went 5–0 to claim gold at the Birmingham World Cup in Great Britain.

After winning her Olympic medal, Rousey shared a studio apartment with a roommate in Venice Beach, California and worked three jobs as a bartender and cocktail waitress to support herself and her dog.

[56] She entered the quarterfinals of the Tuff-N-Uff 145 lbs women's tournament on November 12, 2010, and submitted promotional veteran Autumn Richardson with an armbar in 57 seconds.

[57] Rousey faced Taylor Stratford in the Tuff-N-Uff tournament semi-finals on January 7, 2011, and won by technical submission due to an armbar in 24 seconds.

Following the fight, she announced plans to move down to 135 pounds to challenge Miesha Tate, the Strikeforce Women's Bantamweight Champion at the time, with whom she had developed a much-publicized rivalry.

She defeated Tate by submission due to an armbar in the first round, again dislocating her opponent's elbow, to become the new Strikeforce Women's Bantamweight Champion.

Despite being caught in an early standing neck crank attempt from Carmouche, Rousey went on to successfully defend her Bantamweight Championship title, winning the fight at 4:49 into the first round by submission due to an armbar.

[86] In an interview with Los Angeles Daily News, Rousey said she had lost muscle during her film commitments and not been able to regain her full strength for the Tate fight.

[104] Despite being a heavy betting favorite, Rousey was out struck by Holm for most of the bout, and was knocked out with a kick to the neck in round two, losing her title and undefeated streak in the process.

[108] In a February 16, 2016, appearance on The Ellen DeGeneres Show, Rousey stated that she considered suicide in the immediate aftermath of her head kick KO defeat to Holm.

[112] Although she did not formally announce her retirement, when asked if she would fight MMA again by Ellen DeGeneres in 2018, Rousey replied, "I think it's just as likely as me going back to another Olympics for judo.

A decorated judoka, Rousey typically grounds an opponent with hip throws and sweeps, then seeks to finish with strikes or submissions.

She, Shayna Baszler, Jessamyn Duke, and Marina Shafir have dubbed themselves "The Four Horsewomen", a play on The Four Horsemen professional wrestling stable, with the blessing of members Ric Flair and Arn Anderson.

[132] The segment was replayed and discussed throughout the next night's Raw with the commentators hyping a tweet Rousey made earlier that day, in which she implied a return to WWE with "We're just gettin' started...".

[133] On July 13, 14, and September 12, 2017, the Horsewomen appeared in the audience of the Mae Young Classic to support their compatriot Shayna Baszler, who was making her WWE debut in the tournament.

[139] On February 25 at the Elimination Chamber pay-per-view, Rousey was involved in an in-ring altercation with Triple H and Stephanie McMahon, after which she signed her WWE contract (in storyline), thus making her a part of the Raw brand.

[147] In May, she was challenged by then-champion Nia Jax, setting up Rousey's shot at the Raw Women's Championship at the Money in the Bank pay-per-view.

[149][150] For her first singles match and title opportunity, she was once again praised by fans and critics for her performance, with CNET stating "For the first time, [WWE's] biggest mainstream star is a woman".

[158] Throughout her championship reign, Rousey went on to fend off title contenders such as Nikki Bella (in the main event of the first all women's pay-per-view Evolution on October 28),[159][160][161] Mickie James,[162] Nia Jax,[163][164] Natalya,[165][166] and Sasha Banks.

The commentary and production team commented that Rousey was in the ring saying her shoulders were not down for the full three-count and showed a replay of the ending pin-pointing this fact.

[204] After a brief hiatus, Rousey returned on the February 10 episode of SmackDown to help Shayna Baszler attack Liv Morgan and Tegan Nox, officially beginning an alliance between the two.

[209] On the June 23 episode of SmackDown, Rousey and Baszler defeated Alba Fyre and Isla Dawn to unify the WWE and NXT Women's Tag Team Championships, with the latter retired in the process.

After the match, it was reported that she was leaving WWE,[212][213] however, this was not confirmed and she was listed on the active roster page on WWE.com until October 28 when she was moved to the alumni section.

[216][217] On October 26, 2023, Rousey came out of retirement, teaming with Marina Shafir to defeat her trainer Brian Kendrick and Taya Valkyrie at a Lucha VaVoom event.

[228] Rousey hosted the January 23, 2016, episode of the late-night variety show Saturday Night Live, with musical guest Selena Gomez.

This ten-episode limited series saw Ronda speak with experts within the worlds of MMA, wrestling, boxing and more to uncover why combat sports have been a global sensation for a millennium.

After receiving criticism from the general public, Rousey deleted the video and posted another tweet saying that "asking questions and doing research is more patriotic than blindly accepting what you're told."