Insight with Chris Van Vliet - Ronda Rousey's WWE Issues With Vince McMahon, Becky Lynch Match, UFC Legacy, Graphic Novel

Episode Date: August 20, 2024

Ronda Rousey (@RondaRousey) is a professional wrestler and former UFC Bantamweight Champion. She sits down with Chris Van Vliet at West Coast Creative Studio in Hollywood, CA to talk about her graphic novel "Expecting the Unexpected", how Paul Heyman inspired the idea, expecting her second child with husband Travis Brown, whether she still loves professional wrestling, if she would ever return to WWE, her thoughts on Triple H and Stephanie McMahon, why there is no love lost between her and Vince McMahon, fans not liking her previous comments, the controversial finish to WrestleMania 35, if a match against Becky Lynch was ever going to happen, her UFC legacy, the first time she met Dana White and more. Check out the Kickstarter for Ronda Rousey's graphic novel "Expecting The Unexpected" here: http://kck.st/4c4SQlX Quote I'm thinking about: "You are not stressed because you are doing too much. You are stressed because you are doing too little of what makes you feel most alive." Sponsors: PURE PLANK: The future of core fitness! Use the code CVV to save 10% on Pure Plank which was designed by Adam Copeland & Christian: https://gopureplank.com/ FACTOR MEALS: Get 50% off your first box and 20% off your next month at http://factormeals.com/Insight50 BONCHARGE: Use the code CVV to save 15% off your infrared sauna blanket at https://boncharge.com/cvv MAREK HEALTH: Get a 10% discount on Marek Health's Optimization Package with code CVV: https://marekhealth.com/cvv BLUECHEW: Use the code CVV to get your first month of BlueChew for FREE at http://bluechew.com ROCKET MONEY: Join Rocket Money today and experience financial freedom: https://rocketmoney.com/cvv PLUNGE: Get $150 off your Plunge with the coupon code CVV150 at http://plunge.com For more information about Chris and INSIGHT go to: https://podcast.chrisvanvliet.com If you enjoyed this episode, could I ask you to please consider leaving a short review on Apple Podcast/iTunes? It takes less than a minute and makes a huge difference in helping to spread the word about the show and also to convince some hard-to-get guests.  Follow CVV on social media:  Instagram: instagram.com/ChrisVanVliet Twitter: twitter.com/ChrisVanVliet Facebook: facebook.com/ChrisVanVliet YouTube: youtube.com/ChrisVanVliet TikTok: tiktok.com/@Chris.VanVliet Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Oh, it is so good to see you, my friends. Welcome back to another one here on Insight. I'm CBV, Chris Van Fleet. Thank you so much for being with us on this one. And thank you for helping to make Insight the number one wrestling podcast on the planet. And if you're one of the thousands of people, tens of thousands of people who listen to the show but don't follow the show, could I ask for one small favor? You know where I'm going with this. could you just hit that follow button on Spotify or Apple Podcasts or wherever it is that you're listening?

It helps so much. And as the show continues to keep getting bigger, the guests can keep getting bigger. And we've got Rhonda Rousey in the house today. She joined us inside the West Coast Creative Studios in Hollywood. And the last time we saw her in WWE was SummerSlam last year in Detroit. She lost that match to Shana Basler. Could we see her back in WWE again? soon. It sounds like she's open to it, but right now, that's definitely not happening.

She's pregnant with baby girl number two and due in January. She's also been working hard in a graphic novel called Expecting the Unexpected, which she describes as Knocked Up meets John Wick. And I got to say, the illustrations in this are unreal. So they've got a Kickstarter going on right now until August 26th. There's a link in the show notes if you want to go check that out. I just ordered the hardcover version myself, but go check out the Kickstarter and see what you think of it. Rhonda has been very open about her frustrations in WWE, specifically with Vince McMahon in charge. She made it clear in this interview, I asked her point blank, do you still love wrestling? She made it very clear. She loves wrestling, but she just didn't like how plans would

change at the last second or how there'd be no plans at all right up until the segment or the match would happen or they'd give her a promo that she would say, this doesn't really make sense. And they'd say, well, you got to go out and do it anyway. She's very close to Stephanie McMahon. She tells a great story here about the necklace that she was actually wearing during our interview that Stephanie McMahon took off her neck and gave Taranda as a presence. So there's still a relationship there with Stephanie McMahon in Triple H. So this could happen maybe at some point in time, but a great conversation here. I really enjoyed this.

And if you do as well, snap a screenshot and share it on social media and tag us as well. She's at Rhonda Rousey. I'm at Chris Van Fleet. Please welcome the one and only Rhonda Rousey. Thank you for coming in. Oh, thank you for having me.

Way better to do on person. Yeah, talking about a comic book, you know. Like a lot of people just want to like, are you going to be being the show of anyone? No, I don't want to hear about it. No, this is going to be great. And this is going to come out on Tuesday. So you'll still have a good, like, think a week or six days of the Kickstarter.

So you're good? Okay. Well, congratulations. Baby number two. Thank you. Yeah. Kid number four, baby number two. Yeah.

Very exciting. How are you feeling? A big. I'm like at the point where like my abs have split in half to make a room. So it's like going from laying down to sitting up is such an ordeal. My wife is around the same amount of pregnant as you are right now. She's more pregnant because her due date sooner. Like a few weeks before yours.

So I very much understand what's going on right now. Don't ever make her get up. Just go get it for her. That's what I have to say for your wife right now. Go get it for her. Let her sit. I think the one thing she needs, she's like, I can't sleep. You know, between having a 14-month-old right now, plus being pregnant, she's like, I haven't slept in like two years.

I'm sorry, hon. Does she sleep with you? Yes. See, our girl sleeps with us, and she wants to be, like, right in the nook. And I'm getting to the point where, like, my own mass is crushing me. I'm laying on my back. And she, like, will push me over and, like, you have to lay on your back. I need my nook.

I need access to your nipples. I'm like, oh, God, you've weaned so long ago. Like, why still the nipples? And, yeah, I have to, like, wait for her to be asleep. I'm like, baby, pull her and he'll, like, steal her so I can get some time on the side. Not quite to the point where it's only the left side. Now, you know, at least can go on each side. But that you're comfortable positions narrow down as time gets on to the point where you're about to have the baby.

You're just like, it all sucks. I don't know what to do. I don't know where to go. We've got a little dog that also tries to find its way into the bed. It's a mess. How does being a mom, how does it compare to all the other things you've done in your career? Oh, it's so much less stressful. It's like, it takes a lot of energy, you know, to be like present all the time.

But it's like I don't have this big looming next event hanging over my head, which when I was a kid, when I started swimming at six, I was like, I want to win the Olympics of this. So I had like the Olympics hanging over my head and I started doing judo. I was like, okay, I'm going to win the Olympics in this now. And then after judo, then it was MMA. And then it was always the next fight. And then going into WWE, it was always the next big event. And it's so nice to not have that like thing in the future.

They're like, oh, my God, I have this high pressure event that I need to be able to. Except for giving birth. I know, but I'm like, that's kind of, it's going to happen whether you want to or not. She's coming out, you know? Whereas, and the whole world isn't watching. And if, like, you're, I don't know, man, there's kind of weird on that grunt there, you know, let's make a meme out of it.

It's a nice cutoff, safe place. So it's nice to not have that thing looming in the future, which, you know, I enjoyed it for the time that I had it. I loved, like, being able to rise those occasions and be under that pressure. Yeah. But, like, not forever, man. Like, I caught the fucking dragon. You know what I mean?

I'm done chasing the dragon. Got a few dragons. Yeah. I'm like freaking Denarius at this point, man. I need to lay back with all these titles. But when you look at everything you've done in your career, it's like it's judo. Then it's, you know, judo at the Olympics.

Then it's UFC. Then it's WWE. Then it's acting. And now it's, you know, graphic novel. Like, it's like you've had every side quest and you'd be like, yeah, yeah, of course. Of course I'll accomplish all those things. Well, I'm at the point where like I defeated all the big bosses.

and I'm going back to the game to complete all the side quests because I'm a completionist. And so I'm like at the point where I'm like, I just want to go do like fucking fishing forever, you know? This is really part of the whole thing. But I want to get like that the, what was it? The Hyrule Bass, like the really the gold one.

There was like one like awesome fish in Zelda that like took forever yet. Anyway, I'm like at that point. Yeah, yeah. I'm going back through the game and going and doing the things that I really enjoy that aren't necessarily like huge achievements and complete in the game. I didn't write a graphic novel because I thought it would impress the whole world. I, like, wrote it because it was, like, my way to deal with, I think, anxiety of, like, that big event or whatever it is coming up.

And I just kind of have, like, my own social anxiety where I call it, like, post social anxiety, where, like, when I'm in the moment, I'm fine. Yeah. But then afterward, I'm like, oh, my God, did he didn't say this right? And didn't do that. And I have, like, a tendency to, like, ruminate over things. just in general, like I fixate on stuff and I can't get off, which is why I can like look at a punching bag

and hit the same punch for five hours straight trying to get it right without getting distracted. But it's also why I'll like wake up in the middle of night and be like, oh my God, remember when you tweeted that thing like years ago? And you're just the worst person ever and there's nothing you could ever do about it. It's out there. And like you just think about it. So I found creative writing as a way to take that like those,

self-destructive thought loops I couldn't get out of and purposely focus my mind onto something creative. So where did the idea come from for expecting the unexpected? It came from Paul Heyman. It was right before the go home for the All-Women's Main Event. Yeah. And it was like 7 o'clock and Vince ripped up the whole fucking show. We're talking to WrestleMania 35? It was like, yeah. It was, it wasn't like, like the one, it wasn't the one where, um, where we had the cop cars and everything like that. I think there was maybe one in between, like that, or was that to go home or one before. I don't know. It was really close. And, um, we were just like, waiting around backstage being like,

what are we, what are we even doing? It's seven o'clock. The doors are open. We don't even know what the hell we're doing, which was like, you know, a common occurrence, unfortunately. And, um, uh, Paul Heyman was like, I don't know, we got into it. a talk about like movies and stuff like that. And he was like, what kind of movie do you want to star in? And I realized I was just so passively waiting for someone to like hand me my dream project. You know, I had such a high like, you know, opinion of myself in that like, oh, I'm a, I'm a better martial artist than Jetly and a better actor than than, I mean, what was it? Better martial artist than Bruce Lee and a better actor than Jetly.

Why isn't anyone like throwing opportunities at my feet? Yeah. And I'm like super hot and young. Like, come on. Why isn't this happening? And it wasn't happening. And I realized that I was being an idiot and being passive. And I needed to stop being so full of myself and do something about it.

And so when Paul asked me that question, I was like, well, what is one role that no one could play better than me? You know what I mean? I know I'm not Merrill Street. I know I can't. I don't have a huge range. But I know that like Sylvester Stallone, actually, he gave me a lot of great advice, one of which was an example that no one fucking wrote Rocky for him. He went and did that.

And he told me that there's a difference between actors and stars. And actors can go out there and play anyone. And stars go out there and play themselves. And you need to figure out how to go out there and play yourself. Wow. that's powerful. So he was like every single role Al Pacino's in.

He's Al Pacino the cop. Al Pacino the criminal. Al Pacino, you know, this. Al Pacino that. He's always Al Pacino. Yeah. And so I was like, I didn't really think about it.

I wrote like a log line of like, you know, assassin, wanted assassin with the unwanted pregnancy, you know, has to figure out how to give life instead of taking it, right? And I left it at that and didn't think about it.

Then, Russell Media came, shattered my knuckle, I had to go straight into surgery. Went from surgery. Didn't even go to bed straight onto a plane to fly to New York to go on Colbert because I was voicing Sonya Blade in Mortal Kombat 11 to promote that. And then finally got to be in bed for five hours before getting back on the plane. And I'm laying in bed and I'm like, oh, I have a great idea for, when she finds out she's pregnant. And I started, but I was like, actually try to go to sleep.

I'm not, no, no, just go to sleep. You don't want to get an idea on your head while you're going to sleep and you keep repeating your head so you remember it in the morning. Yeah. And then you're just keeping yourself awake. And I was like, God damn me, you haven't slept. You've just foul on. I'm like sitting there with my like, up my hand propped up.

Like, what was it rookie of the year where the kids like like this, you know, because the circulation. And it's like, you know what? Just type it. Just get it out. And you'll go to sleep. So I started typing with my thumbs on my phone. And five hours later, it was time for the car to get there.

And you didn't sleep. I didn't sleep by typing my thumbs. And then two-hour car ride to the airport, typing on the thumbs. And by the time we were flying over like Arizona or Nevada was when I hit the end. And I was like, I had no idea I had a story like that in me to tell. And it was also gut awful and not formatted. And I was like, I need help. Maybe like a writer or someone can help me with this.

And I hit up my agent and he was like, in his way, he was like, I don't know what you want me to do with 60 pages of block text. You know, and so like, okay, I can learn. I can do this myself. I can figure out how to do it. And that started like an obsession for years of learning about screenwriting and how to structure a script and how to format it and all these different things. And all my free time kind of went into it. And it became like my secret hobby because it's like so cliche in L.A. to say that you're working on your screenplay. And I was like, I just didn't want to ever be that guy to tell me like, so I'm working on my screenplay or can you read my screenplay. So it was like my secret shame for a long time. So was this originally going to be a screenplay? And then you were like, you know what? This could be a great graphic novel.

That's exactly what happened. I got it to as far as I could get it. And I'm like, someone's going to take a chance on me being a lead if I've never like proven myself. as a lead and no one's going to take a chance I mean, be a writer, you know, of some fighter wrestling check. No one's going to think you can actually write anything. But I started getting much more into graphic novels as I was,

you know, getting more free time, not training nonstop. And yeah, then it kind of hit me like, oh my God, this would be a really cool graphic novel. It kind of came in a roundabout way, which I'm not even going to go through that story. But yeah, so a friend of mine, started hitting up publishers and Axel Lonzo, who used to be the Marvel editor-in-chief,

he read it. And he was like, dude, this is freaking amazing. I can't even believe that you actually wrote it. Let's make it into a graphic novel. And then I continued to pursue screenwriting. I started interning at WME, the story department. That, I think, surprises a lot of people. They're interned.

I'm the intern still. And then... Is this an unpaid internship? Unpaid internship, yeah, that Adam Novak, who's the head of the story department, it's like gives me scripts to write coverages of specific curated list of scripts to teach me basically good taste and what's good, what's bad, what works, what doesn't. And I have to read it and write a summary and an evaluation, but I also have to keep my summaries to one page or three-fourths of a page.

You know how many people that they're done with college, like, of course I'm not interning. I'm not working for free for anybody. Yeah. Look where you're at in your life and your career and you're going, I just want to learn. I can, I didn't have time to go to film school. I couldn't. I have a baby at home, you know, there's just no way. And I, in all my research, I kept seeing people say over and over that you got to be a reader.

You got to write coverages. And I'm also like, I don't have education in this. Like, no one's going to hire me to be a reader. So, of course, I'm like, you know what? I'm going to throw my weight around a little bit. I'm going to get myself an internship. that I don't deserve. So that that was one way I kind of got in there.

I was like, hey, Brad. And Brad's my agent, Brad Slater. And I bugged him about it for like a couple months because I think he didn't think I was serious about it. Yeah. But I kept in it on my birthday, I was like, Brad, for my birthday. Give me a goddamn internship at WME. And then he hooked me up with Adam who I started, you know, doing a couple of scripts a

week and it's just taught me so much and especially the writing the summaries and keeping it to that short amount of space on a page because it really makes think of what is essential in the story, not just saying what happened, but what do you need to know to be able to follow the story? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. to his barest of bones and you cannot go over this amount of space. And so then Brad ended up coming to me and was like, dude,

I think the reason why you become obsessed with screenwriting is that you were meant to write your own biopic screenplay. Because a long time ago, Paramount bought my life rights and Mark Bomback, who wrote Planet of the Apes, wrote screenplay based on my first book. But my life rights is like a spy. and there have been so many regime changes at Paramount. Like, none of the same people were there anymore, and it was, like, in development hell.

So, Bradd was like, your life rights are back out there. You write your own screenplay. And so while I was on my book tour, over eight nights, after I was done with media for the day, I'd go back and, like, type it out. And then I sent it to him, and he sent it to Roger Green, who I now have a literary agent. And he was like, no way she wrote this. She had a ghost writer.

There's no way. no, dude, she wrote this in eight days. So then they took the cover page off and sent it to Netflix in turn, and the production company that actually made Planet of the Apes. And they absolutely loved it. And they're like, oh, my God, who wrote it? Were they canceled? Is that why you took the cover page off?

I'm like, no, Rhonda wrote it. And so now Netflix bought my biopic screenplay. And I'm coming up on finishing my second draft soon. So the crazy thing is now I actually am a work. screenwriter. And this is being made in, my first script is being made into a graphic novel because I basically gave up on it. Wow. Yeah. So your graphic novel right now is in the Kickstarter phase, which we're going to link below if anybody wants to go check out the Kickstarter. Thank you. Thank you. You've got some badass stuff on there. Like, if you want, you could, you could be,

like, you could get killed by Rhonda. You can get drawn in as an assassin by Mike Diodato, who is like an Eisner and Ringo award-winning artist, which is like the Oscars. for comics. And one thing he's amazing at is likenesses. And he's also a martial artist. So the way he didn't draw like action and stuff like that is incredible. So we're a match made in heaven. And to be able to be drawn by him is like, you're like are immortal after that.

You know, that's like, I think that's like a holy grail of comics is to be in a comic. Yeah. So this is still active right now if someone just wants to get the graphic novel or if they want to be involved on some sort of a deeper level too. like to be part of this. Maybe I should do this. Yeah, you should. I mean, we got multiple covers too. We got a faint show cover,

Raza cover. I mean, I love all of them. They're incredible. And we also have a private lesson with me and my husband. You can add that. And I don't know what we're going to be adding by the end of, by the time this comes out. But I think we were going to do like an in-person signing where we're sign the book,

but also, you know, whatever, whatever you want to bring to an extent, okay, don't bring me like thousands of stuff. But, you know, we were going to offer that. And I think by the time this comes out, I'm going to say anyway, we're also going to offer being drawn in as a civilian, which is a little bit cheaper than an assassin because it's not as cool. But, yeah, you have to check it out on the Kickstarter because we have a whole bunch different kind of perks of like merch and different things like that. But, yeah, I really think it's going to exceed expectations. And it's going to be a lot more different than people expect. It's like a martial arts, romantic comedy, knocked up John Wick mashup.

What a combo that is. Knocked up meets John Wick. Yeah, basically if John Wick actually had bodily functions, you know what I mean, if he was pregnant. Because he never stops for water. You know what I mean? He never needs to eat. He never goes to the bathroom.

Never. Imagine if he was pregnant and he had to go to bathroom every five men. minutes. He doesn't have to, he needs to avenge the death of his dog. He doesn't have time. But what if, what if the dog isn't dead yet and it's inside his stomach? Well, that's a little, that can happen in the graphic novel world. I'm just saying, like, you know, it's like, that's the stakes there. You're taking it with you. And, yeah, it'd be really dangerous to have to go find a bathroom if you're John Wick. Everyone's coming after you. That is true. Yeah, so inspired by that in the Raid 2 scene, which happens in the bathroom stall, which I really love. And there's a lot of

I'm just a big nerd for action film and fight choreography, which is what got me into WWE is fight choreography. And I feel like pro wrestling is like the purest form of fight choreography. You have to do it. One shot to do it. And it has to be as good this close as it is for the person sitting in the very last row. And I think what's special about pro wrestling is that you have to tell the story within the fight itself.

And I think a lot of times in film, people take a break from the story to start to do their fight. You know, okay, we're going to take a break and have this fun action scene. And then as we return to the adventures of whatever the hell it is, whereas you have to show that character

and who each person is within the fight itself, which I love, I choreographed all the fight scenes in this and filmed them with a couple of friends of mine that are, well, two pro wrestling guys and one of my students who actually formerly was someone who coached against me and now he teaches the Navy SEALs. But yeah, yeah, we got together at Santino's and filmed just all the fight scenes with different kinds of setups and stuff for Mike to use as reference when drawing.

Do you still seem excited when you talk about pro wrestling? Do you still love it? I love pro wrestling. My experience, my last run wasn't the best. I was, you know, it was the death throes of the Vince McMahon era. And they just made it like so needlessly stressful. And I just wish I could just show up to the venue and like I already know what the matches and have it memorized.

It sounds like that's what it is now. Maybe a little bit more with Triple H. I mean, I've heard it's a lot better. But yeah, that wasn't like my experience before. My experience before was like if you showed up to Saturday Night Live and no one had written the show yet, like you hadn't been filming it and like practicing it all week. It was like you just showed up and you had to like negotiate what the script was going to be until the very last second. And it was like even if we killed it and had such a great time when we were out there, it was just the needless anxiety of trying of like getting to the finish line before. just made it so not fun.

So it's like, unfortunately, it's kind of like, I don't know, put like a gross kind of a film on the incredible experience that I hear from everybody that's so much better now. And I'm happy for them. But it's also, I got babies. I can't be taking them on the road. I, you know, I did it for a little bit with one. I can't do that with two. And it was hard on, like, my husband for us not all to be there all the time. and I just don't think I can ask them to, like, sacrifice that anymore.

Was there an anxiety of, like, the match would end, and then you'd have that walk from the ring to the back, and you're like, what's going to happen when I get through this curtain? Like, what's the reception going to be like in guerrilla? Is this going to be received well? Was there ever anxiety there? No, no, I don't give a shit about that. I don't care.

I don't know. You could get through, and Vince could be like, hey, that sucked. Well, I didn't really give a fuck what Vince thought, to be honest. I just wanted to have a great match. And sometimes I felt like instead of like enabling us to have a great match, we were like fighting against him in order to have a great match. And so, yeah, no, once it was done and on it, like, when I was in there and like in the moment and lost in it,

like there's no better feeling than when you're in it and you believe the story, you know, and you're out there with your friends and you're having a blast. But it was like, we had to march through like the marsh, like, what was it? the, what were the marshes called in Lord of the Rings? Oh my gosh, wow. I don't know. The dead marshes. Yeah, yeah.

Not even the dead marshes. What was it in the never-ending story were our texts, but it was like the swamps of sadness. I was just going through the slumps of sadness, just trying to be able to walk into the arena. And then once like the music hit out, I was like, fuck you. I'm out. We're going to have a great time. Then we come back. And then I come back through the current.

And I'm like, fuck you, I'm going to my baby. I don't want your shit. Unless you actually have a plan for next week, which you don't. You don't know a fucking plan. I'm trying to get any information all week long. And then no one's going to tell me shit until they get to the arena. And I'm still not going to hear anything for hours. And it always gets chalked up too.

Yeah, that's wrestling for you. I'm sure you heard that a lot. You know, it's just wrestling. And they're like, so when are you coming back? I'm going to go right at graphic novel. Come talk to me later. I need to break. I need to freaking breathe right now.

I'm going to go make some babies and like, oh, oh, you know. But Vince being gone really changes things a lot. I do love Triple H. I love Steph. I think they're fucking fantastic. And I just need to get over my own hangups for the past and, like, logic it away, you know? Sure. Well, how do you feel with SummerSlam last year being your last match?

Is you and Shane out there? So you and your best friend? I think if we did the match at like blood sport or something, people would have loved it. But I think the crowd, I mean, it's. wasn't for them at all. It was all like MMA Easter eggs and all of these moments in MMA history that were big geeks for that we were like recreating and throwing homage to in the match. And it was not inviting any audience participation or anything like that. But it was kind of like, I don't know if you read my book, but it was like a nice little

fuck you on the way out. You're going to sit here and watch this match that we wanted to do. Some of the very beginning. I don't care what you think. Go get some fucking popcorn. Yeah, we loved it. We had a great time. And I, from the very, very beginning, I always wanted to wrestle, be able to wrestle with Shana and be able to put her over and leave, which they never would have let us do unless I threatened to leave right before, right at the New Year. And they told me that I wouldn't be able to fight Becky at WrestleMania, which was what I came back to do. And I was like, fine, I'm going to tag with Shana and she's in turn on me, and then I'm going to leave. for I'm going to fucking leave right now. Wow.

And that was the only reason we were able to do it because they wouldn't, they wouldn't let us do any four horsemen stuff. They wouldn't let me do and Shana do anything together because Vince was convinced that no one knew that me and Shana were actually friends. Why couldn't the Becky match happen in WrestleMania? Because, I don't know, Vince is fucking an 80-year-old asshole. So there's no love lost here with Vince McMahon. No.

Vincent McMahon, John Lordonitis, Bruce pitcher, like, no, suck a dick. But good. with triple H and Stephanie. They're fantastic. I love them. You were telling me a story before we started recording. The necklace you're wearing is Stephanie's. Yes.

Yeah. I was talking to her about, I was just excited about having a baby. And, you know, we just started trying then. Actually, no, we already had two miscarriages. And I was just going to start doing IVF. And she took the necklace off of her. her neck with this necklace and it was locket with pictures of her girls in it and she was like this has my babies in it I want you to put your babies in it wow yeah so I never took her babies out

I put my my my baby on top and I got a um you know I'm gonna have to add some more pictures I got another locket too that had like my boys in it and stuff but she specifically said babies this babies go in this locket so yeah I love that yeah she's the best I love her so much I miss her actually which I love this for us that we have like pro-looked into the sunset and of like pieced out or doing our mom thing. Are you, do you think you're done with wrestling? I mean, full-time, yeah. I might come back and, you know, have some fun here and there, but I can't be leaving home and being on the road like that. And it's obviously no time soon being pregnant now.

Yeah, exactly. People like to be like hugely pregnant and they're like, so when you fight again, I'm like, ah. Are you serious? The thing is, I just want to have a whole bunch of kids. I've always wanted to have, like, a big family. But my mom always told us, like, don't get married young, don't have kids young. You get, you know, you do your career, everything first. And then you go and have your kids because we had to see her working three jobs with three kids on her own.

And it was like, you know, I didn't want to ever be stuck in that situation. And she's a warrior for getting us to it. But I feel like I did all of that work. so now that I can focus 100% of my family. And I want to keep having kids and can't be taking any more T-tours. You know what I mean? Like, I got to get the work. I got to get pumping these kids out.

No one else is going to do it for me. It's not like a guy can keep going and doing his career while his wife continues to have kids. It's like, okay, I have to take a break. I can't do them both, but can't write graphic novels. Do you get asked more about going back to WWE or going back to UFC? I think it's about. the same. Because there were like some heavy rumors that you were going to be at UFC 300.

I mean, every couple years or months, like the same rumor comes out. So you know, it's nice to feel missed, I guess. But yeah, there's, it's not

happening. I just not neurologically fit to compete anymore at the highest level. I just can't. You just get to a level where you know, the neurological injuries you take accumulate over time. They don't get better. And when I got into MMA, I had already had dozens of concussions that I'd trained through, like not even stopped for. Oh, wow. So that was like, you know, about a decade of having concussion symptoms more

often than not. And so when I got into MMA, it was really I was playing a game of zero errors. And then it got to a point where I was, you know, fighting more often than anybody had more outside of fighting responsibilities than anybody. And it just got to be that lighter and lighter hits were hurting me more and more and more. And it got to a point where I couldn't take a jab without getting, like, dazed without getting concussion symptoms. And it just got to a point where it just wasn't safe for me to fight anymore. and I just couldn't continue to fight at that higher level. You see so many guys that, you know, the men have just been around longer, so they have more history of, like, boxing and stuff like that,

that they reach a point where they've just, like, reached their limit, how many hits that they can take, and then they start getting knocked out, and then they start getting knocked out easier and easier and more and more often. And then you see them down the road, and they're having all kinds of neurological issues, and I just felt like it was my responsibility to eage gracefully because I'm a representative of my sport. And I'm like, people look at me to think of, you know, women's M.A.

And if I'm like rolling around in a wheelchair, people aren't going to let their little girls go and do it. And you never know when you take one hit too many until it's like decades later. Yeah. And so, and you see these guys that are like punch drunk, or I did this like this show of those like rowdy places where I go to all this historical events where historical places where like combat like in combat history things have happened and got to talk to a lot of these fighters many years after a career and some of them were doing

great and some of them you know you could see how it affected that way down the road and everybody loves to see you fight when you're, you know, in the cage, but none of those people are going to be there for you down the line. And you've got to take care of yourself and your family and, you know, put that first because you're just passing entertainment to everybody else. And you see that in pro wrestling. People get addicted to that applause and they can't stop. They can't walk away even when it's become to their detriment.

And I just had to put my first. foot down and be like, no, this has gotten to a point where, like, my brain cannot take anymore and it has nothing to do with how tough I am or anything like that. It's just the way it is. And so... Was that a tough decision to make? It was really tough. And I think that's why I took that first loss so hard is because I knew it was over. I knew I'd reached that limit. And I was in denial about it. And I tried to come back, you know, again, with a lot of rest and a better weight cut, not doing the extra stuff,

the extra press, you know what I mean? And just coming in and fighting, because I did, if I could just, like, catch that moment where I'm just, when they say go and I fight, I fucking love that so much. Like, nothing makes more sense in the world. Like, everything makes, there's not a single thing that happens that I don't understand or that I don't know what to do, you know? And, um. Do you think about retiring when you were undefeated?

I was trying to get, I wanted to retire a defeat. I was trying to find a way out already. What a story that would be. It was all dependent on me. And I also realized that because what I learned from pro wrestling is that retiring undefeated would have been such a selfish goal to be able to accomplish because I would have taken all of that equity with me. And no one would have respected the rest of the women.

that I left behind. And so, you know, nobody retires with the belt in WW. You have to give it away. Yeah. And so I kind of learned that through WW, which kind of helped me to get through a lot of that stuff and process it when it's like it's about the division, you know? It's very therapeutic.

It really is. WW was therapeutic to me and putting things to perspective, and it's about like the division and your legacy. And your legacy means nothing. you take it with you. And I didn't want what happened after Gina Krona left to happen after I left, whereas the division just faded and went away without her. And if I retired undefeated, I think that might, that that might have been a real possibility. Well, what a weight to be carrying around. Like, if you feel like the whole division is then on

you, like. I mean, it was. People forget how fragile that situation was and how last minute, it was able to get us in. And how, like... Yeah, Dana famously said that there would never be women fighting in the UFC. Mm-hmm. And when Strikeford, Strike Force was the only organization that really was showcasing women. And that was because Gina Krono, because her dad was involved with the Nevada Athletic Commission and were able to sanctioned fight for her in all these things.

And when she was gone, I mean... you know, Chris Cybergs pumped to the guild of fucking steroids. No one wants to watch that cheating ass bitch. Like, everything just tanked. The division was dying. The UFC bought Strike Force, and it was assumed that they were just going to absorb

all of the male talent and fold, all the male talent that they liked and fold the whole organization, because that's what they did with pride. That's what they did with, like... WEC, I think. Yeah, WEC. Like, that was like their business model.

So there was a matter of time. I was the first woman signed to Stryi Force since it got bought by Uzfa. And I was bought in to replace Gina Carano because she was supposed to come in for a comeback, but she wasn't medically cleared to come back for her match. And so she pulled out and then they signed me to fight that same chick, Saradioio. And so I knew I had the clock was ticking. and it was just a matter of time before they closed the whole thing and there would be nowhere that would showcase women, MMA.

So I had that much time to make sure that Dana couldn't go a single day without seeing my name somewhere. And, you know, the rest is history. But once the women were brought to the UFC, he said, beginning, this is an experiment, this is how to see how it goes. And then it got to a point where we had to see how, it would go without me because it was so dependent on me.

Whereas, you know, I think if I retired or defeated and left, I don't know what it would be like because they've already brought in the 45 division and closed it. You know, they're not against closing divisions. I think they closed the 125 men's division. You know?

And so it was very precarious situation. And yeah, it was a lot. But it was also, I think one thing, people don't understand now as fighters and the ones that do understand it do extremely well is that you have to promote your fight as hard as you train for it and a lot of people feel so secure in their position that they can just show up and fight and that they should get

everything thrown at them and it's like it's not the company that promotes you you shouldn't be like expecting the company to spend all this money to promote you what are they going to do make more commercials you have to go out there and promote yourself You have to go out there and be a character and make your fights into a story and the things that I learned from, you know, from pro wrestling. Before I even got into there, I was trying to bring that into women's MMA. And I think a lot of them forget that they're supposed to be not just athletes, but entertainers.

And it's not something you do on the side. It's something that you do equally as hard and put just as much effort and time. and focus it too. But a lot of people just think of it as a bother or something that they have to do because the company makes them do it. And that's why you see some people that are absolutely incredible

and no one outside of MMA's ever heard of them. Then you get people who maybe don't have the best record, but they're great at promoting. Chale Sondon's a great example of that. And he gets big fights. Exactly. And then there's people that like Patty the Batty, he is great at self-promotion

And so before he's even gotten to that pinnacle, he's got all of that momentum behind him. And that's going to open so many more opportunities and things like that. And, yeah, I think it just has to do with, like, you need to know that you're entertainer and how to entertain. And how, and it's not trying to pick up somebody else's stick. It's not trying to, you know, do what anybody else has done. It's trying to find of, like, what's unique about you. and embellish that 10 times. You know?

You're not trying to make everyone in the world your friend. You're trying to make everyone in the world have a passionate opinion about you that nobody has the same one. It would be hard to pin down. And that's another thing from wrestling. Love you or hate you, or at least they feel something about you.

The worst thing is silence. Yeah. Do you remember the first time you met Dana White? Oh, God. Yeah, I was helping me. Eddie Gim Murion with his way in. And he was wearing, I just did the ESPN body issue. Okay.

And he was wearing a screen printed shirt of me on the cover of ESPN body issue. Did he know he was going to meet you? I don't know. I mean, he was in L.A. He was just a fan. He's a big old mark for me. But, yeah, I happen to be. But, I mean, he knew that, like, all the Armenian guys were like, my guys.

and he knew that Manny was on the card. Like me and Manny, like, we trained together since we were like little kids doing judo, and his coach, and my mom used to train together back in the 80s. Like, there's a lot of history there. So he must have known. He was putting it out there. He's wearing your naked body on his shirt. Yeah.

Yep. That was it. But then from there, was it like, hey, let's figure out a way to get you in here or where to go from there? Oh, no. I just asked him, I was like, hey, can I just have, like, 15 minutes of your time? I just like, you know, talk to you. And when he was done with the way-ins, like, he pulled me to the side. He had, you know, like, they call like an op.

Basically, like, Vince McMahon's office, you know, it's like some room in the bowels of the arena where they're like, that's mine. And, yeah, I just asked him about his advice about things. I didn't tell him, you need to put women in UFC. We didn't talk about it at all. I knew in that moment it wasn't my job to tell him how to run his business. It was my job to make him like me as much as possible and feel invested in my success. And so that's when, like, all my ears of bartending came in handy because people don't tip you because they like alcohol. They tip you because they like you.

And you're going to have one interaction with this person. What are you going to have a drink tonight? What can I get you? You know, like how can I make you like me in this period of time, which I feel like everybody should work in the service industry at some point. It teaches you how to do media. Yes. It teaches you how to be nice to people because you see like how shooting people can be.

And it just teaches you how to like make a great impression right away and how to engage people and have the same conversation over and over and over, but still, you know, give it the same amount of attention. And engage different types of personalities. Mm-hmm. Yeah. And my mom said my dad had this ability. She said it didn't matter if you were the janitor of the building. Every person they talked to felt like the reason that he woke up that morning was to talk to you.

Wow. Yeah. So that was like I was busting it all out, you know, all the charm that I had. And I really think that getting people that teach you something is one of the most valuable things, not just because it helps you and benefits you. I can learn so much from Dana. But if someone teaches you something, you become a reflection of them. now they're invested.

And now they're invested in your success. They want you to do well. So that was it. And then we ended up talking for like 45 minutes instead of 15, not about UFC or MMA or anything at all. And then he said by the time I left, he called like Lorenzo and was like, dude, we're fucking, I think we're going to have to do this. She's amazing.

I'm like, I know. But then, you know, so now we're like best friends. What about the first time? Do you remember the first time you met Vince McI? man. God, it was like... Because you were on WWE's radar for a long time before officially signing there and debuting. Yeah, I mean, I met Triple H first. Triple H was the one that really believed in me coming in there. And this was early. This was when you were still fighting in the UFC.

Yeah. And then I think Vince McMahon would refer to it as the Ronda Rousey project. You know, the Ronda Rousey project is Triple H's thing. Did they present this as like when you're done with fighting, when you're done with the UFC, you know, let's have a conversation. No, I think it was a lot more timid than that, you know, they just like kind of wanted to make sure that they knew that they were available and they didn't want to come on too hard, you know? Like it's dating or, yeah, it was totally like that. And then like no one wanted to be too forward with it. And so I was like, hey. So this is like after SummerSlam and all of that.

I'm like, so I have this like bachelor's party and like. My friends are all in Florida. I thought I should just come and train for the week with my friends at the PC. Just, you know, for something for us to do together because they're all in the pro wrestling now. And, you know, it'd be really fun for us. So I basically, like, gave myself a tryout. And we had an amazing time. We had so much fun.

And then me and Jessman did an RV road trip after that. Marina couldn't come because she was, like, had a little bit. baby at the time. But yeah. So we like acted like we weren't pursuing each other, but we totally were. And then, yeah, the rest of history as well. But like Vince was like not really convinced. I was bringing much to the table other than like notoriety from another sport until all that momentum started to pick up. And then, you know, as Survivor Series and WrestleMania started to. to come along. Then, you know, they started doing evolution and all the stuff,

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Check it out for yourself at timeline.com slash insight. They're giving you 10% off your first order of mitopear when you go there. So that's timeline.com slash insight for 10% off. Timeline.com slash insight. The expectations are often set so low when someone comes from the outside world into wrestling, I don't think you're given enough credit for how great your debut match was at WrestleMania 34. Thank you. I think that the bar was set so low,

is like, oh, here's another person coming into wrestling, trying to make a name for themselves. And then by the time that match was over, a lot of people said that was match of the night. By the time that match was over, they went, oh, wow, Rhonda Rouse is a pro wrestler. Which is crazy what you can do when you have time to prepare and resources to work with.

Which, you know, it's great to see that they do that with people like Logan Paul and Bad Bunny, but I think I made the mistake of I wanted to really learn how to wrestle than to, you know, be able to do a match on a fly or learn a match within 30 minutes beforehand. You know what I mean? Are there certain matches you look back on and go, I wish we had more time for that one? All of them. I wish all of them besides my debut that we had the amount of time to prepare. and the resources that I had for that debut for every single match,

which they never gave it to me again. And, you know, I got to be a better wrestler, but I don't think we ever achieved that level of result ever again because I got like weeks to repair, all the best minds in the business throwing their two cents in. And Triple H made you look like a million bucks. Yeah, I mean. Selling for you.

Triple H. Kurt Angle, Sean Michaels is helping us out. you know, Michael Hayes, Sarah Motto. I mean, everybody that saw it would, like, give the two cents in and be like, you, okay, you give this facial here, you do this, do that. You know, you pulled the hair out from your, between your fingers, you know. And it was the product of a lot of, like, different people in time and practice and precision and things like that.

So when it got to the day of the event, it was just like, oh, my God, I'm so excited to know exactly this match. And I always wanted to recreate that feeling, but it was like never allowed ever again. And then it just got to be less and less and less time and less and less support and less and less help. And I really think that they have the ability to be a powerhouse, like SNL, to create these stars.

And they just got to put like time and production and resources behind. If they put the machine behind these people, they would be doing so much more than they are now, you know. This is with the minimal of time and preparation. And most of the time you see people go out there and they've rehearsed a couple spots, but they haven't never done that match before. I think there's still a pride in like, what calling in the ring, brother. You know what?

Let people that want to do it that way, do it that way. But I saw plenty of people come up from NXT that they would be able to be doing this match throughout the week. and then they would have their match on the weekend and be able to do it. And they go up to the main roster and they're like, yeah, it's not like that anymore. I think a lot of people would prefer to be able to have some kind of time and preparation. That's when you see a lot of needless injuries happen is because little miscommunications or miscues because these guys talked about doing this in a hallway.

They never practiced it before. And that's why, you know, people are getting spiked on their heads way more often than they should. Did you feel like the same was happening with your promos? Like if you had been given more time with promos? A hundred percent. And if I wasn't arguing back and forth with what the promo would be until the very last minute. And it being changed until the very last minute and being forced to say words that you don't believe in. And forced to, you know, say something that you were, they just changed it on you 12 times throughout the day.

And you can't deviate by a single word. and the crowd is actively trying to distract you. It's just like, why is this multi-billion dollar company not putting any time or effort into preparation? Like, zero, like showing up to the arena and having no plan. The crowd in that one specific night was trying so hard to throw you off your game with a promo. And it's like, that was the one where like you would bring the mic to your face. Yeah, and that's when I was forced to say something that I didn't want to fucking say.

And I was like, dude, this is fucking corny. I don't want to say it. It's not the moment for it. And they're like, you just have to go out and say it. And the one thing that I was always known for in MMA is I would say exactly was on my fucking mind. And I feel like that got taken away from me. And the times that I got to speak my mind and got to write the promo, you can tell. You can tell.

And the times I was like having to like spit out some stupid fucking shit that they just came up with. Like, dude, I've been spending weeks thinking about this. Let me like work with us. I'll just be part of the process of coming up with this. And it would be just be some random. random shit that somebody fucking threw out at like a writer's meeting that day, you know? And it would, it would be the same half-baked nonsense that everybody would say every other fucking week and people are tired of it. But unfortunately, they're going to take it out on the

talent that are in there and being forced to serve it to them. That video where you're backstage, you're getting your hair done, you blur the lines a lot there, right? How real was what you were saying there about what was going on in WWE. Which one? The one where you're like, you know, this is all like some people are saying I disrespect the sport. It's made up. I'm, you know, I'm going to go out there and fuck them.

You know what I'm going to? The second that we cut, we all burst out laughing. A second that that cut laughing our asses off, which I loved glaring that line of what's k-fap and what's not and what's real, what's not, and what's making what's happening behind the scenes supposedly candid.

being part of the show, which that was me trying on the sidelines to push a story and put time into it that the company wasn't. Well, it worked. Thank you. It worked. And people started feeling, you know, like, is this real? Is this not real? Do I like Ronda because of this? Or do I not like Ronda because of this?

So many people are trying to be the cool guy heel. You know what I mean? I want to beat the heel, but I want everyone to actually like me for it. Yeah. And I'm like, no, man. I want people to feel like I am like an existential threat to what they love and to get them lost into it, have a passionate feeling about it and have people that disagree and think that it's all work and have it be a big disagreement. Because if everybody agrees about you, the discussion is over. Yeah.

And if you make yourself a topic of discussion, you need to be hard to pin down. And so because I didn't feel like I was getting that support from the company to tell that story, I felt like, I had to, you know, take it into my own hands and blur that line with those, with those, with those videos. And, yeah, it's so funny because when people can't tell when you're in character and when you're not, I feel like that's like where the real, the real art is, you know? And when you're really like making people participate in a performance when they, they don't know where it is, because I think people want to know, oh, this person's in character, this person's

not. You know, this person's going as whatever their stage name is and now they're Fred, where I'm always Rhonda Rousey. And that's the thing, right? So if people start disliking Ronda Rousey the character, do you not worry that they're now disliking you the person? Well, here's the thing. Before they had an opinion about me, I didn't give a shit about anything. They thought about anything. Why should I suddenly care now that they have an opinion about me? The point is, I'm here to entertain you, you know? And, Roddy, Roddy Piper, his job was to make people feel amazing about him getting beat. And I never want to be a face.

They always would force me to be a face. And I was always wanting to be a heal. And because I don't like trying to play Kate for cheers. I love to get the reaction and that people like it great. You know, I am pretty freaking amazing. You caught me, you know. But, yeah, trying to like pander for cheers and stuff like that. It was never for me.

But there were some great authentic moments like you signing the contract and putting Triple H through the table, massive pop. Yeah. I loved it. Don't get me wrong. Great moment. Great moments. But yeah, sometimes it was just like.

You in the rock at WrestleMania 31? Amazing. What was so cool about that is the crowd knew you were there. And you can hear the crowd chanting your name. and then the camera pans over. Who's the rock standing next to? Oh, damn. This is going to be good.

And it started a beautiful friendship between me and Stephanie. That was where I love story began. Just you beating her off? Yeah. And I was actually using that picture of getting it in the standing arm bar for a reference picture for the comic book. There is a moment where I get somebody in a standing arm bar. Hey. that I guess you're just going to have to read it to find it out.

But yeah, I have to go through. It's a nice little Easter egg there. There's so many in there, actually. But the cool thing is it's so different from a screenplay in that I wrote the screenplay. And then Axel Alonzo, who is the editor who is the former editor-in-chief of Marvel that went off to do his own thing, he goes through the screenplay and like breaks down into a panel-by-panel comic screenplay. And then I go through and I basically. check every single panel and be like,

this is right, this is wrong, this is what the position is, what is not. And I'll, like, take different reference pictures or something for every panel,

or I'll take a screenshot from the videos of the action that I recorded to, you know, use for that for reference. And then that goes to Mike. And then he ends up drawing it. And so if you can find the scene that I use

that standing arm bar with a second man in it. Yeah. It's in there. What happened at the end of your match at WrestleMania 35? Becky goes to pin you. It looks like you kick out at one. But the rough counts one, two, three.

I didn't think my shoulders were flat on the ground. So I was trying to scoot to get my shoulders flat because it's so fucking loud. I can't hear anything. But that's the difference between a match that thrown together the night before and the debut match, which is a match that had been pulled. put together over weeks with tons of support and practice and opinions and everything like that. The one the year before. Exactly.

And that was like, why did we put a whole year into promoting and building this match? And then it's just thrown together at the last second. We were still fingering it out when we were at the venue. And that's what a lack of practice and rehearsal does. People thought this was always just setting up another match later on. This isn't a clean victory. Which I wanted to use that. I wanted to use that as, okay, this is how we lead into the next one.

We bring it up on the Tron and say, this was never, you know, you never got me. This is bullshit. The all referees are all in your pocket and Bill put that into the next, you know, the singles between me and Becky that everybody wanted that got taken away. So it wasn't intentional. No, no, no, no. I didn't think my shoulders were flush. I was trying to flatten out. But I think that we could have used it.

know, and kept it going. But they never let us. Yeah. I mean, that would have been great. You and Becky feels like, it's still happened at some point in time. Yeah. I have, my hopes are, I have been dashed. They had 18 months to make it happen and did not. How come you never touched gloves with anybody in the UFC? I touched club with a couple people. Okay, a couple. No, just not after the freaking bell rings. You had all this fucking time, okay? There's also a lot of... Cats and Gano, I'll touch your glove.

It's like if you, they say, if you want to touch gloves, do it now. But all of your opponents put their gloves up to touch and you just walk away. Not all of them. Okay. Cats and Gano, I touch your gloves. Okay. I think Alexis Davis had touched your gloves. There's a couple, but there's nothing I fucking hate more than performative show, like, performative sportsmanship.

and there's a lot of disingenuine bitches that are only putting their gloves up because they know that I fucking won't touch them. And I'm like, fuck you. You've been a bitch all the way up to this point. And you want to be like, cool. No, no, no, no. I'm not going to do any performative sports like sportsmanship. I don't play that fucking shit. Like, I will touch your gloves when I mean it.

And I like, you know what? I hope you're not permanently maimed by this. You know, that's what my glove touch means. Like, I hope you are recognizable to your family after this is over. But yeah, stupid-ass fucking bitches that are like, do, like, disingenuous, terrible shit to you beforehand. Maybe they're just trying to sell the fight like you were talking about. What about the face that you make,

the trademark face you make when you're walking to the octagon? I can tell the difference between selling and bitching. Okay. My face, I mean, I did that ever since I was a kid in judo. Where does it come from? When I used to do judo, I would like, you know, you sit in front of the score table and you'd be next to your competition. And sometimes you see these girls every weekend and you be like, you know, playing like Miss Mary Mac or whatever. My mom would pull me away from other girls and be like, sit there and think about winning.

They're not your friends, okay? Just trying to make you like them so you take it. easy on them. You don't fuck around. And, um, and, uh, Dr. Jake, who, uh, Justin Flores, his dad was my godfather. He used to like try and teach me how to, you know, make the face. And he was like, when you bow in, because you bow in for two, you bow in, you come up, you don't come up all the way. You look at your, through your eyebrows at them. And then you bow bow in, you come in and then you come in and do it. So, um, it was something that was conditioned into me since I was a little kid of like you're fucking you're out there and you're this is not playtime like I'm coming out there to fucking hurt you because especially in judo it was um the referees and officiating was like really really corrupt similar to like Olympic boxing you know and so I had to make every match into a fight in order to win you know if I was playing by points and rules and stuff like that the referee would always screw me and so it had to make a match into a fight in order to win you know if I was playing by points and rules and stuff like that the referee would always screw me and so it had a

make it into a fight. And it was like kind of how I made that clear from the very beginning is, we're not going to come out and high five. Like, it's fucking starting right away. And another thing my mom taught me was like most fights are won in the first exchange because the other person's not ready yet. So that was something that was drilled in me for a very young age. You're trying to win right away before the other person, why the other person is trying to get sold in. When everybody else does the glove tap and then they back up and then that's five seconds or so or they're not fucking ready. And most people are used to doing that all the time. If you take that away from them, it unsettles them. And it's an advantage for you

if you're ready to start right off the bat, especially if they go in with that anxiety knowing that, oh shit, this is fucking starting right away. This isn't something I'm going to ease into. And but it's also because I had that sword hanging over my head. of I couldn't take any damage. I knew I had to end every fight quickly. And they were quick. You have a tattoo, right? Oh, yeah.

This is how many seconds took me to win all my fights. If you add all those up, what is it? I don't know. I mean, I guess you could add it up. But another thing, too, was my mom would always tell me you got to try to win as quickly as possible because I was always fighting tournaments that were in a single day.

And so the quicker you win your match, the fresher you are for the finals. But if you think about it, like fighting, it's like a tournament, but it's a tournament taking over, it's a tournament taking over like a long period of time. You know, you fight every couple months, but the finals is the title match. So if you want to stay as fresh as possible for the next fight, you've got to try and take as little damage as possible in the earlier fight. And the fact that I knew that I couldn't like neurologically take much damage. I knew I had to end every fight quickly and with this little damage as possible and make it fucking perfect. So that was like the purpose in all of my training and everything I did is how do you end the fight as quickly and as efficiently as possible when I was able to create like a fighting system where it was based off my mom's philosophy.

She says everything in life ends in Jujikatami, which is the straight arm bar in judo. And so that was the most definite way to win because in judo you can throw someone. don't count it. You can pin someone they don't count it. You can choke someone that make you get out. The person takes deep breath that they're fine. But she said, if you break somebody's arm, they don't count it and you still lose, deserve to lose it with one fucking arm. So, and if you are going towards a single goal like that and everyone knows it's a huge threat, so many more other things open up in the meantime, you know? Like, that's why I started knocking people out with like, you know, with like, was it?

Sarah McMahon was like a knee to the liver and a betch was like a hook. And then I think Lexus Davis was like an overhand right or something like that. It wasn't because I was trying to strike with them. It was because I was trying to arm bar them. And that's when the arm bar starts. People think it starts when you get down. Like, no, it was not going to starting there. But because they were so like conscious about getting taken down and about that,

that they weren't paying attention to things that they normally would of and leaving openings for striking them that they normally wouldn't. And so anytime I beat somebody with something else, it was really just, I just was on my way to an arm bar and then that happened. Let me see this tattoo. 26, 57, 25, 25, 45, 49, 29, 25, 39. Not only did you not make it out of the first round for all of those first bunch of fights. You didn't make it into the first minute. No. Jeez. And I never had a non-title fight at 135. Wow. Which one of those numbers means the most to? I think the 14.

Yeah, that's a pretty good one. Because it's also my lucky number, which was my lucky number beforehand, and is still the fastest submission finish and title fight history. But I think I'm still like three of the top 10 fastest title wins. But your fights weren't making out of the first round for a long time. Yeah. But now it's also at the Staple Center, you know what I mean? Which is my home crowd.

Yeah. Which is also while I was like, fuck you guys in Survival Series. Where there was shit all over here at the Stable Center. I'm like, that's supposed to be by like cozy home. But, you know, nobody in L.A. gives a fuck about anybody from L.A. If you're from anywhere else in the country, you know, like, I'm from Denver. And everyone from Denver is like, oh, my God. So-and-so's from Denver.

and they come back to Denver, they're like, they're from Denver. Yeah, yeah. And if you're from L.A., everyone's like, so. Everyone comes to L.A. That is such a good point. Like, L.A. is the one like hometown that can't be a real hometown. They have no pride in themselves. Bunch of fucking transplants, ma.

I am transplanted here. Yeah, well, that's why I don't give a shit. It's so true that. Someone goes back to Chicago, Cleveland, New York. Welcome home. Yeah, but also... That's also wrestling fans for you, too. But also, L.A. doesn't really have any rivals, like rivalries, everyone.

Everyone has a rivalry with L.A. You know what I mean? Like, I went... I got sent to Boston when I was 16 to train, and everyone had beat L.A. shirts. Like, everybody. Yeah. I have never once seen a beat Boston shirt. And they're like, that's fine.

And they'd be like, we're going to get your ass to Lidav's. Like, I don't know how else to tell you that no one gives a shit. shit. No one in Los Angeles gives a shit. Probably like nobody was even paying attention to this game. Okay? Like, only the people that know that the Lakers won, though whatever

it's called championship. What's it called? The NBA Finals? There you go. Some of them have a special name, like World Series. I don't know. It's so funny. Yeah, there's a Stanley Cup World Series. Yeah. The NBA finals. We only really know if there's a riot. Super Bowl. Yeah. Like, oh yeah, did you see it was right? Oh, yeah. There's a game

they won. I'm like, oh, cool. Like, there's not Like, who goes to the parade? Is there anyone that goes? I've never known anyone to go to a single, like, L.A. Sports Parade. There's a direct, I've said this before, there's a direct correlation to how bad the weather is and how much you love your sports team.

It's true, right? It makes sense because you want to go into a climate control arena. Think about it. Green Bay, Buffalo, Cleveland, Chicago. The best crowds, the hottest crowds ever been in front of, fucking Milwaukee. Milwaukee. Milwaukee.

There we go. fucking want a party. I love them. Think about on the flip side. L.A., San Diego, Phoenix, Tampa, like, those aren't sports towns. They can't really be bothered. I mean.

Because there's other things to do when it's warm. Phoenix seems pretty fucking hot, though. Did it? Like, temperature hot? I don't know what's going. I mean, I'm baking in like Riverside right now. I don't know how the fuck exists in Phoenix. I'm just, it can't.

Yeah, it's like 180. Same with L.A. Or sorry, same with Vegas. Like 118 there or something. If I lived in Vegas, I get really into hockey. I would just want to be like in ice eating struts. Nothing says hockey weather like 117 degrees in the strip. Just to a scupe.

Yeah, I would love that. I like enjoy hockey, but yeah. I grew up in Canada. I'm Canadian. I love hockey. Congratulations. But nothing. I was at healthcare.

I live here now. Yeah. You know, the best thing about free healthcare is it's free. Yeah. I lived in Montreal for a while, training in Shito Khan. And I loved the Canadian team so much. They were so amazing. And then they would let me come and beg for tape. They would give me athletic tape. I had no tape. And they would let me have their old ice. I just want to say thank you to the physios from the Canadian team. And everybody at Shito Khan that let me come train there when I said, fuck everybody on the U.S. team. I'm going to go to Canada. And yeah, I'm very, very great. grateful to the Canadian kindness. I will tell you that. So, thank you as a representative of Canada. You're welcome as a representative from Canada. You mentioned him before, but what was your relationship with Rowdy, Roddy Piper? Oh, God. Well, he was coached by Gene LaBelle, who was coaching me since I was a little kid.

He was like one of those guys that was always around. And, you know, he was at every local tournament and would give you a little patch. And back in my mom's day, when she was competing, Jean was like the big badass. You know, he was not only winning his division, but they had like a, all the different champions of the different divisions would all fight in like a tournament at the end of the tournament to see who was the, whatever,

the grand champion, or whatever the fuck, I don't know what they called it back in the 80s, but he would always win that. And he was also, you know, doing all the stunt. He was like a big, stunt guy and everything. Like once upon time in Hollywood, everyone says it's based on him. And he was, he taught

Bruce Lee grappling. He taught John Wayne how to do like, you know, like the Tomonagi that circledo that he would always do. And he infamously choked out Steven Seagull until he shit his pants. And, um, yeah, he, if you look at his IMDB,

I mean, he's just an incredible human being and he was also a rowdy, right, rowdy, poters coach. And so I was looking for a fight name and I was coming in M.A. And I was like, oh, rowdy sounds so good. You can't just take Roddy Piper's name. And Gene was opening a new location for Hyacin, which every couple years, they would get a bigger location or something like that.

And Roddy Piper came for the grand opening. And it was right before my first amateur fight. And I was like, oh, my gosh. God, this is your chance. So I asked him, I'm like, hey, is it okay? You know, Mr. Piper, if I can use the rowdy nickname, my first fight's coming up. And Gene was there, and he's like, you better let her all burn your house down. He's like, yeah, of course, you can.

And then he was just, you know, always very sweet and helpful. And I only really got to talk to him for the first time, like really extended sit-down was for his podcast right before the Betch Koya fight. And then the day of Wayans, he died. Wow. And I felt like when I first met, I'm like, man, I'm so glad that I got to meet him. He was like, oh, you know, it's like, he'll be a stranger. Let's keep this up and da-da-da. And I felt like I'd made like a new friend for life and then the opportunity closed.

And so me and his daughter, Teal, are good friends. But, yeah, unfortunately, I didn't get to know him as well as I hoped. and it would have been so cool if we got to like, you know, do stuff in the WWE together. But, you know, maybe one day I can do something with Teal. That would be fun. Well, I think when people, especially when they see your merch, they think of him immediately. And like his legacy gets to live on through the work that you did in WWE, which is pretty incredible. Well, I'm very, very proud to be able to do that.

But, yeah, now that once Teal started wrestling, I gave her my leather jacket and, like, and stopped wearing the kilt and just moved over to the judo gee because, you know, that's her dad. And I wanted her to do that. And so that's why I stopped wearing the kilt and everything like that moved over to the ghee because it was, it's hers. Yeah. You competed for most of your life, right? Whether it's judo or it's MMA or it's WWE, who are you now when you're not competing? I'm the rest of my personality that you don't know anything about.

That's a funny thing. And it feels like you now have the time and the opportunity to explore all that as well. Yeah, which is like, you know, when you have like a big event coming up, you really become more and more of a fraction of yourself. And by the time that day it comes up, you know, I was only Rhonda the fighter on the day of Fight Day. And as that day came closer, I became less and less of myself to just be that. And now I feel like I get to be like all of me every day. And yeah, like comfortably retired in the mid-30s isn't a bad goal, you know. And now I get to be at home with my kids and not have to work three jobs the way that my mom did and get to be present for them and make them my goal.

And find things that I like to do that are rewarding themselves, like writing and this graphic novel. and, you know, my screenplays and... And farming, right? And farming, yeah, Browzangers.com. We want to get some regenerative waggew and poultry. We will be placing an order after this. Oh, my God, it'll change your life. Amazing.

Yeah, you get, when you want to get an order, you're like, God, now I've got to get a subscription because it's going to ruin. I mean, it'll make you realize how bad grocery store and restaurant meat quality is. It's just all the same crap. And the only way that people can make a profit and bring it to that price, point, that wholesale price point to be able to make a profit is at the expense of the animals. And you can taste it and it affects your health and everything. So it's like, that's how we started with Brousie Yakers.

We just wanted to source our own meat. And we're like, oh, my God, this is absolutely incredible. Just giving these animals a life where it's living and it gives, their health becomes your health. If you're eating unhealthy animals, they're going to be unhealthy. And if you're eating unhappy animals, you're going to be unhappy, you know? All of those stress hormones and everything, you're eating that. All of those antibiotics and everything, you're eating that. Yeah.

Whereas, like, our beef, for example, if you get ground beef from us, that ground beef was from one cow. It's not from hundreds or thousands of cows that have all been mixed together and then you get a portion of it, you know? And it's cows that have, like, been raised regeneratively, which we rotationally. We graze them and we basically make our whole grassland into a carbon sink. And we build soil every time that they come through and sequester carbon into the ground. Every time that they come through and graze it by like recreating these natural processes of we don't let them just open graze on grass all the time. We keep them focused in a small area and then move them to the next area and let the last area rest. Yeah.

And then after, say, we're done with a certain area for the season, then we bring the chickens in and their schooners, and they take down the grass all the way to the dirt and mix 300 pounds, their poop into the soil. And we move them to the next area and the cows don't come back there for a year. And it just builds and soil, builds a soil. I love the passion you have when talking about this. Yeah, sorry. It's amazing. The total nerd about this stuff. But yeah, we're like for chickens, we're corn and soy free.

We have a canola-based blend. And with our cows, we actually have mobile greeners that we give to them at certain times during their growth cycle because there's certain times that they're just putting on more fat. We raise waggew. And so we feed them like a barley-based blend during that time. but we bring it out to the pasture with a mobile grainer. So while we're moving them to a new place every day, we move their water and we move their supplemental grain, which people are like, cows are not meant to eat a whole gang of corn.

You know what I mean? Like that's not great for them. But when you actually let this grass go through its full growth cycle, you see once the grass is seeding, that's grain. The cows, if they're eating mature grass or eating grain, And then grain is actually, they can digest that. They're supposed to. So we supplement them with grain at certain times in their growth cycle when they're marbling,

because there's only certain times when they're marbling. So instead of just giving them corn, you know, before they're soldered and putting them on a feedlot when they need deep in their own shit, there's like a certain time when their moms are pregnant that they're marbling that we give the moms some of the, we supplement them. And then there's like a certain time when they're younger and then a super time when they're like kind of teenagers and then like a certain time before they go to harvest. So instead of just like giving them a whole bunch of GMO court all the time, we give them like a curated barley dominant mix at certain times when they're putting on that fat while we're moving them to a different spot every day while we're sequestering all that carbon into the soil and like making the pastures better and more nutritious and like that kind of stuff. it costs a little bit more, but you also like save so much money in the long run, I think, in your health.

Well, I am sold, Rhonda Rousey. Not only because we already eat a pretty decent quality meat, but I am sold because of your passion here. Thank you. Brousy Acres. Brousyacres.com, yeah. I'm in. And I'm also sold on the Kickstarter.

Like I mentioned before, we have that link below for anybody who wants to support this or maybe even get drawn into this. I mean, there's lots of options here. Yeah. You're immortal. Congrats on chasing all your passions, too. Thank you. I appreciate that.

It's been a fun journey, and thank you for helping me share it and being part of it. This has been great, and good to be able to spend some time with the last interview that we did was on a press junket for Mile 22. Those aren't real interviews. They're like four minutes. Yeah. That's like, does anyone even watch those? I think they do. They do.

And especially now in the time of like Instagram and TikTok. That's true. The shorter clips do better. Yeah. But press junk is like for movies and like a hotel. It's like a whole different beast. Well, you're sitting there the whole time and every four minutes, a new person just cycles through. And you're like, hello, here's the same stories that I just told the last person.

Just like bartending. Just like bartending. The United States Soccer Federation presents the U.S. soccer podcast. My name is David Goss, and I'm joined by my co-host, Megan Clevenberg. And now we're giving people an inside look at the United States. World Cup. Times ticking. I think you can feel the intensity.

All the guys are wanting to really take their claim. And they want to be on that World Cup roster. There's no doubt about it. Hosting the World Cup on the home soil comes with its pressures, but we're just really excited just as the people are. The U.S. Soccer Podcast, presented by Henko. Follow and listen on your favorite platform. I end every interview talking to my gratitude because it's such a big part of my life.

Wake up every day. And I say, I allow three things I'm grateful for. I do it before we go to bed. and it's what I asked my guest at the end of every episode. So Rhonda, what are three things that you're grateful for right now? Oh, God. I'm thankful for my family, my friends, and my past. Love that.

Thank you so much. And congrats on everything. Appreciate it. Yep. She's included in family. This one, the next one up and coming. But she was kicking around a little bit in this interview. I think she likes you.

Oh, well, hello. Hey, little girl. We got a little boy on the way. Oh, congrats. Yeah. Oh, we're so excited. love it. Yeah, thank you again. Of course, thank you. All right, there we go. Man, the passion that she has when she talks about farming, that's just fantastic. Also, I'm glad that we could clear up

during this interview that Rhonda doesn't hate wrestling. That narrative was going around for a while. I think there were some, like, very small quotes from her book that were taking out of context. She made it clear. She loves wrestling, just very frustrated with how things were run with Vince. and I mean, she pulled no punches. When I asked her about Vince and John Lorinida, she pulled no punches with that very direct quote, which I'm sure we'll be seeing on a lot of headlines over the next few days here.

Rhonda is kickstarted for her graphic novel, expecting the unexpected is active now. It's on until August 26th. We've got a link in the show notes if you want to go check that out. Snap a screenshot and tag this on social media. She's at Rhonda Rouse. I'm at Chris Van Vleet and I'll leave you with this quote

that I saw on Instagram this week that I just think it's, it's just so fitting. I just love this quote so much. You are not stressed because you are doing too much. You are stressed because you're doing too little of what makes you feel most alive. What is that thing that makes you feel most alive? Maybe go out and do it once this week, once this month,

maybe once today. See how you're feeling after that. Be great. Be grateful, my friends. We will see you on the next one. For some more insight, we've got Scott DeMore joining us on the show on Thursday.

We will see you then. Jim Rome takes on sports. Why? Because I have a job to do. With rapid fire takes. So I don't want to hear from you lava pigs on this notion today. No idea what you're talking about.

You're complaining more. then you like to breathe air. It's like you get up in the morning only to complain and cry and moan on social media about things that you don't even understand. He's the spitfire of sports smack. Take advantage of it, but get up in here. The Jim Rome Show podcast. What should be?

Follow and listen on your favorite platform. You've been warned.