The Breakfast Club - INTERVIEW: Ronda Rousey Talks 'Expecting the Unexpected,' UFC Career; Stardom, Motherhood + More

Episode Date: October 16, 2025

Today on The Breakfast Club, Ronda Rousey Talks 'Expecting the Unexpected,' UFC Career; Stardom, Motherhood. Listen For More! YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@BreakfastClubPower1051FMSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Shalarmine the God, DJ Envi and Jess aren't in today but Lauren LaRosa is here and we got a special guest a legend who made the MMA mainstream. Ms. Ronda Rousey is here. Thank you for having me.

Good morning. How you feeling? Fantastic. I mean, it's a little bit early but, you know. You don't get up this early? I mean, my kids get me up this early. I don't get up this early

on my own, but I haven't had a choice in a long time. Absolutely. Well, you got a comic book got a graphic novel called Expecting the Unexpected. What made you want to step into the comic book world? You know what?

It wasn't like a conscious decision. It was more of like I really wanted to be able to tell the story. And I just kind of became obsessed with it. And once I wrote the first draft of it and then like an 11 hour thumb typing, like in my notes binge, I just became obsessed with refining the story and getting it out there. And once the idea of making it into it, to a graphic novel came up. It was like, I couldn't stop.

And I have a little bit of an obsessive personality when it comes to like pursuing goals. And here we are. And there's a physical copy right here. Absolutely. I feel like people have always looked at you and everything that you've done is kind of like a mythical, like, story-ish.

Even your name, it's like if you've never even like watched a fight, you know Ronda Rousey. What have been moments for you in your career where you're like, oh, wow, like this is happening? And this is actually happening? Oh, God. Well, I think when I first won the UFC title, I was like, it was one of those moments from like, don't quote that video from that kid that just woke up from dental surgery. And I had to do it, you know? So that was one of those. It's like, this is real life. You know, God. Joe Rogan's like, what's your impression? I'm like, I need to quote the dentist kid. And then that was that was one of them. But there's been quite a few where I've been like, I just feel like I'm just watching somebody else's experience. It's making me believe in like simulation theory kind of, you know, like, oh, if I got to pick anyone's lifetime to live, oh, I'm going to pick the Ronda Rousey lifetime. I'm going to live that.

We're a room of professionals. Jesus, Sid. Gosh. But so you would pick it over and over, what you're saying? I don't know. The life I've lived is so interesting. I'm like, man, I feel like if I had to like select someone's lifetime to live, I'm like, ooh, I want to pick the Ronda Rousey lifetime, you know, and try and live that because it's been so ridiculous. I don't know.

Like, sometimes, like, I can't even believe what's happening. You were the first woman to sign with the UFC, right? You put a woman's MMA on the map. When you look back, what do you think your real legacy is? Is it the wins or the walls you broke down? I think it's giving women in combat sports a career. And that didn't exist before. You know, I won an Olympic medal and came home and was like,

maybe I'll be a cocktail waitress, you know? There was nothing you could do with it. Yeah. Wow. And so now it's really leaked over, not just from M.A., but into, you know, boxing and pro wrestling that women are really making, like, you know, record-breaking paydays and stuff like that and actually able to make a living in career from combat sports, which I feel like, you know, I had a big part of that. Yeah, I never thought about that. I mean, I read Don Staley's book, Uncommon Favor, and it was kind of a similar story. You have this, like, amazing career in college, or you go off to the Olympics, and you win a medal,

but then it's just like, you come home, and it's like, okay, what am I supposed to do now? I've done everything that they told me I was supposed to do, but then what's the next phase in my life look like? That's got to be like a mind fuck for women, right? I mean, for everybody, it's like, you call it like post-Olympic depression and that you just spend your whole life

going after this one goal, and you tell yourself, If I achieve this one thing, it will make me so happy that that happiness will leak over into the rest of my life. And I'll just be happy forever because I did this one thing. I mean, how could you not be if you won the Olympics or whatever? And then you go and achieve that goal and you're happy for a little bit. And then, you know, you return to the rest of your life and you realize that your happiness isn't a collection of accomplishments. It's a lifestyle.

And, you know, a lot of times that what you build up that accomplishment to be and what it will do for you is, you know, not exactly what you're expecting. But is there a hard balance for you of every moment is like, oh my God, I got to do this so well because it may not happen again because you've been the first doing so much within this space. Is there like a pressure of you feel like, okay, things are just happening as they should, but also what if I don't get this chance again? What if I don't get this opportunity again because they weren't they weren't out there in the beginning? I mean, yeah, that pressure I think exists all the time. And it's not just that, like, in one thing that you do, but if you fail once, then everything that you've accomplished before that really, you know, gets wiped away. It means nothing. My mom had a saying that you're only as good as your last fight.

And, you know what I mean? Like, what have you done lately kind of a thing? Yeah. And, yeah, it's, I think every one of the time that you come to that, that situation, those high pressure situations, it doesn't get any less or any easier. I guess you get more confident in your ability to deal with it. I used to get really scared of my own nerves, you know? And like when my heart would beat really fast or something, if I was like a little kid and I was about to have like a fight or match or something,

and I would get like, oh, what if I get tired because I've been nervous for so long? My heart's been beating for so long. And I would get nervous about the fact that that was nervous. And then eventually you get in that situation and you succeed enough times that you realize, okay, this is what happens to my body before I do something great. And my heart could beat like this all day long and I'll still be able to have enough, you know, endurance to keep going. And so I started thinking of like that feeling and that fear is kind of not something to be scared of,

but like it's more of like the revving of my engine, you know, before, before I take off. I've heard you speak about, you know, after losses, you spoke about like being in a dark mental space and having like, I guess, an identity crisis. What did those moments teach you about your self-worth beyond just winning and losing? Well, I think when I lost, it wasn't just, oh, I lost a fight, you know? Because people would be like, oh, how could you feel that depressed about just losing a fight? It's not the big of a deal. I was like, of course it's not the big of a deal to you because you've never been in that situation.

But to me, it was more of like I knew my fighting career was over. Really? And, yeah, I knew because I'd been dealing with, I just had a lot of, like, neurological issues that I'd been dealing with that I hadn't been able to tell anyone about because you're the champ, you can't let anyone know that you have any weakness, you know? If anything, like, people thinking I have no weakness,

that, like, that does a lot of the work for me, you know, up front. And so kind of portraying that was really important and not letting anyone know what was going on with me. So when it finally cut up to me, I, like, I knew that it was over. and I didn't really want to, you know, accept it. And it was like that kind of identity crisis, if I'm not a fighter, who am I? And you're so like, especially if you're into your expertise and you're so obsessed with it for so long.

And you just become that fraction of your personality, you know? And you forget of who you are outside of it. And then suddenly it was like ripped away from me and I didn't know who I was if I wasn't a fighter and not just a fighter, but a champion. Do you believe elite athletes are conditioned to suppress vulnerability? I mean, yeah, you kind of have to, especially like in a contact sport. But I think anybody that is in a high pressure situation, that just comes with it. But you got to think when you walk in that ring, there's a chance you could lose, right? I mean, that's why you're in there.

Otherwise it would be pro wrestling, you know. And that's part of it. That's like part of what I think brings the best out of me, you know? Some people, they do better in low pressure situations, you know. They try to make it not such a big deal, and that's when they're best when they can really relax like that. And I just realize that I'm the kind of person that needs that pressure. You know, I fight above myself under pressure.

So it's not exactly enjoyable, but it brings the best out of me. Yeah, I think that suppressing vulnerability eventually breaks you down because I'm a person that deals with, like, really bad anxiety, right? So I'm going to therapy for a long, long, long time. But I think that, like, Ryan Holiday, who I love, I love soulism, you know, you got to remember, like, no, one day you're going to die, right? Like, and that gives you just a sense of freedom knowing that you wake up in the, every day and just live your best

because anything could happen. This could potentially be your last day. I would feel like if you're going to the ring all the time, thinking that you're suppressing your vulnerability eventually it could just break you down mentally outside the ring I think if you don't take any time away from it and if it's constant and non-stop and I think that's one of the one of the things that I didn't do was I didn't take any time away and you know there's if if you're holding up basically the whole company at that point you know and I like took a blood oath to Dana like you

you sign me and I will be your fucking girl, anything that you need. I don't know if I can swear on here. Go ahead. But it gets to a point where if you're trying to beat everything to everyone, you're not going to have much left for yourself. And you're in that mind space of like, oh, I want to be a champion. And you can't admit any weakness and you can't ever speak up and say, like, you know what, I need to rest.

You know, I need a moment to not be on all the time. and it's, I don't know, it's kind of hard. Like, you can't really be in a place where you have no weakness, you know, to admit to yourself that you have no weaknesses and then at the same time be like, yeah, I need a break. Yeah, the baddest woman on the planet

needs a break sometimes. Baddest woman on the planet needs to fucking sit. But what do you do in those breaks? So like, you said you talked about not knowing who you were if, you know, your career was taken away from you and having to discover that, who are you outside of this?

And what do you do when you need those breaks? I think you need to, well, what I found was I had to find something else outside of that that, you know, I could be passionate about and find value in. And that's what brought me into pro wrestling and the WWE. And that's what, you know, brought me into writing comics and stuff like that and being a writer and things that, like, you know, a lot of people, all they want to see me do is hurt other people. And that's where they see that my value is in fighting people. And I had to try and look for something and myself that other people weren't asking for.

And that's kind of what this whole journey of becoming, you know, a writer has been of like, nobody asked me to do a comic. Nobody was expecting me to do a comic. No one's expecting me to make a good comic. But it was something that I just kind of became obsessed with. it mattered to me and I wield it into reality and I'm so, so proud of it. And yeah, it might not be like the, it might not be winning the Nobel Prize in literature or anything like that, but it really means a lot to me personally.

And I think that's something that I needed to find outside of, I don't know, just kind of like that achievement hunting kind of mentality of like I'm not trying to achieve something to convince myself or everyone else how awesome I am I'm trying to achieve something because I find it personally fulfilling to me which is a huge pivot you know do you see the comic book is a evolution or escape ooh uh I think it is an escape in a way you know I think a lot of time you say you deal with like a lot of anxiety and stuff I had had a lot of problems with like intruding intrusive thoughts and stuff like that and not being able to direct where my own my own thoughts would go and so whenever I found myself going down like kind of like a destructive

like path with whatever I was thinking about, I would purposefully direct my mind back to what I was doing creatively, you know, when writing this story or something like that. And so if I started like picking at myself mentally, you know what I mean, like just picking at your own scabs of your brain. Absolutely. And being like, you know what, stop that, like slap my own hand and be like, okay, what's going on with your story? How can you make this better? How can I make this line of dialogue land better how can what's not working in this part and so this this comic was kind of my way to kind of um take all of that destructive mental energy and put it towards something that that is creative i notice on the cover of the book she's with child which i think is a great play on

the baddest woman on the planet because it's like you know we see you in the ring but also like you know women talk about the superpower that you get when you become a mom so talk about choosing to have you know that as the cover art for the comic what those are guns well I guess like how this started it was strange well it was the go home before WrestleMania where I was meant I was set to be the first ever woman's main event with Becky Lynch and Charlie Flair and in true WW design I mean fashion it was about like seven o'clock the the doors had already opened in the arena and Vince had torn apart the whole script of the day and we didn't know what the hell

we were going to do and we were about to be out in the arena. For WrestleMania? Improv on that? For the last show before WrestleMania, I swear. Oh, okay, got you. It's the go home for WrestleMania. But the match of WrestleMania we put together the night before. They're not that still not that planning that much.

So I was kind of like freaking out and Paul Heyman pulled me aside and I think he was just trying to like get me to stop being less nervous and thinking about something else. saying what kind of movie do you want to star in I'm like what do you what and he was like what kind of movie would you want to star in and I never thought about that because I'd been a little spoiled brat waiting for someone just to hand me my green light green project already ready to go and I didn't realize until that moment like I don't know what is the role that I could play better than anybody else could and I'm not Meryl Streep I don't have a huge range but a very narrow range I can I can hit it like a bullet you know what I mean so I was thinking

okay, what would be, I've always wanted to do like a martial arts film and what would be a character only I could do. And I was thinking that like my favorite martial arts films are usually like going from point A to point B like the raid, you're going from the bottom of the building to the top of the building. And so I was like, okay, well, maybe the chick is pregnant and she, you know, everyone's trying to kill her. So she's trying to get rid of the baby because it's not safe. and she has to fight her way to the abortion clinic and by the time she gets there

she's had all these close calls with the baby on the way that by the time she gets there she's gone through this whole journey of whether she wants to become a mother or not she kind of like has to find it. Yeah, the baby can get aborted before you even get to the clinic.

Yeah, so all of the close calls making her realize how much she wants to keep it and I guess it was kind of confronting my own insecurities about becoming a mom and bringing a baby into a hostile world and thinking, like, am I capable of raising a person and keeping them safe in this kind of world? And so, and there's so many, like, women that, like, get pregnant and then not only don't have anyone to help, they just don't

have anyone to help them. And it's really scary. And no one really thinks about that journey from when you find out to you're pregnant to when you decide you're going to be a mom. And so this is kind of like, her journey going through that well you know everyone's trying to kill her so basically it's like you know like when die hard came out like everything was die hard and it was like die hard on a boat die hard on a bus was like everything else so this is like john wick john wick on the way of the abortion clinic but you know it's also a romantic comedy so it's like i like to say it's like john wick meets knocked up that's so interesting because you're a fighter right so but but you didn't feel like you were a natural protective

I mean, I feel like I'm a natural protector, but I also have my own insecurities of like, you know, am I good enough to be somebody's mom? Because that's like, I don't know, it's a huge task and a huge role to have in somebody's life. I mean, think about how influential your mother has been on you. Absolutely. And my mom is, you know, she's, she's a fucking legend. Like my mom, she got a perfect score on the SATs. 16 graduated college at 19 she was working as a single mother engineer in the 80s while she was getting her PhD and won the world championships and judo all at the same time like yeah and i'm like

i i only got my gd oh man i don't know if i could do this and um you know she's just like this the super super mom and i i i don't know i don't know if i had my own insecurities if if i could take up that that mantle or not and so i don't know this is like a funny kind of exploration of of all of that and obviously it's like my husband is is in it and everything and um yeah it's uh i still am writing it i'm still obsessed with it i've already written the sequel to it wow i know i can't stop and no one's asking no one's asked me to do it you know it's the kind of thing like after i put my babies down i'll i'll stood up and keep writing and just thinking about it all the time and And this is like, I don't know, this is like my baby and something that I just comes entirely

from me. It hasn't been demanded from anybody else, but hopefully other people will demand more. When you think about people's, well, superheroes, origin stories, right? They either come from like pain, power, or purpose. Which one of those best describes your personal journey? My personal journey? Oh, God. I guess it started out as pain and then became power and then morphed into personal.

I think I had my own phases with it, but yeah, I think it started as, you know, I lost my dad really young and I just needed an outlet and fighting was, well, judo was what I started with and that really became like a great way to be able to vent all of the, everything that I couldn't say. I also had a speech disorder growing up. I couldn't really speak and so it was just a great way to communicate and it was everything that I needed. You remember the first time you had to defend yourself? that i had to defend myself like in an actual confrontation oh just your first fight period oh god some kid like grabbed me by the throat and i like tossed him on the ground but like asphalt on the back of his head bam yeah and then uh then the bell rung so we all had to go to class what age was this or this was like great sixth grade and um and then the kid was so embarrassed that i guess he was like bleeding down the back of his head and didn't say anything and then the teacher

found out that he was bleeding down the back of his head and yeah then it all came out then round to toss me on the back of my head and then I had to do community service for a week I never got away with a fight I've never got away with a fight everyone away he always has the stories about oh yeah I got this fight this and that like how are people getting away with fights I have never ever ever gotten away with this phone everybody got their phones out yeah I don't know I don't but did that give you a rep back then though like did people say see it that they were like oh shit ronda just slamming the shit i just did i mean kind of i was like really muscular as like you know at that age but it was the kind of thing i got teased about about a lot and so

i was always like trying to cover it up with like baggy clothing and and things like that but it was like a thing yeah like oh yeah ronda's fucking ronda's jack or ronda's ronda's really strong or something like that but it was kind of like something i got teased for more so when did i embrace it oh god I think in my mid-20 is when I realized I was sexy. Oh, yes. Wait a minute. I look great. Yeah, it was kind of about that.

I think it was when I was switching over from judo into M.M.A. And I knew that there was a window there, but I had to play up the, you know, the sex appeal to be able to bring people to look at the value I think that there was in women's fighting. and so I had to kind of step up and be that person and embody that confidence and I kind of had to fake it until I made it and that was basically it you know you have to pretend to sleep before you get to sleep so I was like whatever I'm going to try and dress up and see I used to get like so self-conscious about even putting makeup on even trying and or like trying to dress up or anything like that and I just kind of like fit the bowl of it and put myself out there and then I actually started to be like well you know what I actually really happy with how I look and in things like that and and everything kind of came from that I saw Dana White say somewhere recently because you know fans want you to come back and he was asked about it and he was talking about how how good you look right now like how ripped you are right now and people see you posting these videos on your Instagram and all the things what so what is

there like what's happening are we going to see you return somewhere because These videos you're posting, you'd be like, oh, just having lunch you with my friend, and you're, like, in the ring. Like, it's so casual in the caption. Yeah, well, I have a cage in my garage. It's not like I went anywhere. I really did, like, mosey on out there and, like, you know. That's how you posted.

And I'm like, do she see what she's done in this video? Yeah. You had the one where your baby was sitting and watching you. I thought that was so cute, too. It's really awesome that, like, I get to be, like, a kind of a spoiled brat now of, like, I just want to build a cage in my backyard. Hey, it's Ed Helms, and welcome. Welcome back to Snafoo, my podcast about history's greatest screw-ups.

On our new season, we're bringing you a new snafu every single episode. 32 lost nuclear weapons. Wait, stop? What? Ernie Shackleton sounds like a solid 70s basketball player. Who still wore knee pads? Yes. It's going to be a whole lot of history, a whole lot of funny, and a whole lot of guests.

The great Paul Shear made me feel good. I'm like, oh, wow. Angela and Jenna, I am so psyched. You're here. What was that like for you to soft launch into the show? Sorry, Jenna. I'll be asking the questions today. I forgot whose podcasts we were doing. Nick Kroll. I hope this story is good enough to get you to toss that sandwich. So let's see how it goes.

Listen to season four of Snap-Foo with Ed Helms on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. All I know is what I've been told, and that's a half-truth is a whole lie. For almost a decade, the murder of an 18-year-old girl from a small town in Graves County, Kentucky, went unsolved, until a local homemaker, a journalist, and a handful of girls came forward with a story. I'm telling you, we know Quincy Kilder, we know. A story that law enforcement used to convict six people and that got the citizen investigator on national TV. Through sheer persistence and nerve,

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subscribe to Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. I'm Jonathan Goldstein, and on the new season of heavyweight, I help a centenarian mend a broken heart. How can a 101-year-old woman fall in love again? And I help a man atone for an armed robbery he committed at 14 years old. And so I pointed the gun at him and said, this isn't a joke. And he got down, and I remember feeling kind of a surge of like, okay, this is power. Plus, my old friend Gregor and his brother tried to solve my problems through hypnotism.

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of missing and murdered black women and girls in America. There are several ways we can all do better at protecting black women. My contribution is shining a light on our missing sisters and amplifying their disregarded stories. Stories like Tamika Anderson. As she drove toward Galvez, she was in contact with several people, talking on the phone as she made her way to what should have been a routine transaction.

But Tamika never bought the car. and she never returned home that day. One podcast, one mission, save our girls. Join the searches we explore the chilling cases of missing and murdered black women and girls. Listen to hunting for answers every weekday on the Black Effect Podcast Network, iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. I'd bring my friends over and do some karate, you know? And yeah, I'm just having.

fun with it again and it got to a point where I feel like it kind of got hijacked from me and I was fighting and training for reasons other than my own and I think it's after having my last baby it just being pregnant is

fucking tough you know it felt like I was like handicapped just compared to being finely tuned athletic machine where I you know I feel like I can do anything to suddenly like if I did a forward roll I think I would throw my back out. And so that's kind of where it just started of like, I just wanted to get that my bodily

identity back from just being a vessel for creating another person. Yeah, and just get that freedom of movement back. And so then, yeah, I started training in M.MA again because I feel like when I kind of lost that identity as being a fighter, I think it like broke my heart too much to be anywhere near it because I love it so much. And so I kind of went to the extreme of like, I don't want to train. I don't want to do anything at all. And it actually was a friend of mine who one of my coaches who he was like, oh, well, I really want to get my black belt and judo. Can you like help me get my black belt? And I'm like, all right. And so I had a couple mats in my garage. So you'd come over, I'd show him some judo. And then I started like getting like enjoying it, you know, again. And then, you know,

does like wrestling and jujitsu and stuff so like oh you know let's let's roll around a little bit let's do that and then my strength conditioning coach had been coming you know throughout the years and like why don't you hold some some paddles for me and hit some myths and stuff like that and then so it just kind of came from a place of just joy and I just want to do it just because I enjoy it instead of this is what I feel obligated to do or you know this is what I'm being coerced to be doing for for reason or another and so and it's what my body really wants you know it's what I've been training to do my whole life and I just feel healthier and and better and I want to train again I it makes me happy and it's really funny that like I'm training and

everyone's like so what are you what are you training for what are you doing and I'm like for my my own joy is that is that bad they see you train it but they automatically think you want to come back I mean I mean they're like well you look so good. I'm like, well, because I'm the greatest ever. Like, of course, this is what I, this is what happens when I train, you know? I look great. Sorry. Like, I, I don't have to, like, have a

plan for world domination in mind, but you know, Mike Tyson coming back and being the biggest fight of last year, it just kind of proves that I don't think anyone's ever really done. It's weird, though, right? Like, do you think the public is addicted to watching people's so-called fall?

Because, I mean, the reality of the situation is, you only lost two fights. But the media, made it seem like it was just completely over you could never win again like did you think you let the media get to you more than anything uh no it was more of like what i was dealing with personally and physically i'd had um uh so many concussions since i was a kid and they were getting progressively worse and worse and um i was getting concussion symptoms easier and easier and it got to the point where like any kind of impact at all i was um basically like losing my vision. Wow. And I actually recently got some really great news about that because

Dana had me, he wanted to be part of like this long-term fighter study they're doing for like neurological, you know, everything. And so he sent me to the Cleveland Clinic to get checked out. And the doctor there, he was like, the first person like actually gave me good news. Because yeah, because a lot of times it's just like neurologically, you're like, like, oh, well, you're just going to deteriorate forever, and it's just going to get worse and worse, and there's nothing you can do about it. That's just what they always told you. And he said that I used to get migraines as a kid, and he told me that people that get migraines, for some reason, it's easier for them to get concussions. And what he thinks is happening is the more

concussions I got the easier it was for an impact to set off a migraine and he thinks that because my brain looks better than it should and so he thinks what's happening is I haven't had as many concussions as I think and that a lot of times I'm getting hit I'm not experiencing concussion symptoms it's migraine symptoms so he says because you can have a migraine without a headache so what's happening is I get hit and then I lose a big chunk of my vision basically it's like I can't see and when I like lose my death perception and my ability to track moving objects or like think quickly so I'm like oh I'm knocked out I'm out of my feet he's like because you're not stumbling around he's like I don't think it's a concussion I think

it's what's happening is you're getting a migraine and so um and so it's got to the point where like I I can't fight safely because if I get hit I basically can go blind and but the thing is there's things I can also do about it so I'm like trying to address it like nutritionally and and things like that but um but yeah it's it's kind of nuts because I thought I thought I'm like okay well I'm just going to get CT any day now you know and he was like yeah I finally got some good news of like maybe there there's something you can do about it and it's not a you know the nail on the coffin of your of being able to be able to fight. So that's some actually great news, but I don't know what I'm going to do with that.

I would do nothing. Like, what's the point? You ain't parted in 10 years. Like, you don't got anything. It sounds like you kind of like, I mean, not that you have anything to prove, but it sounds like just in case you want to get back into it, you're doing everything to make sure you're safe to do so. Yeah, I mean, I'm trying out what they're trying to do. You know, I'm trying to like nutritionally be able to address things and stuff like that. But I also, it's like, yeah, what's the point of going out and taking head impacts to see if it like if it works or not right you know unless you can fight like a YouTuber like maybe it's a female YouTuber that wants to get it popping I don't know like why how scared were you because there were fans that were saying that the

retirement was like abrupt and in hearing all this it's like I mean yeah but how scared were you once you started like when you felt that loss of vision and you know all these things are happening your body is changing I mean it's just It's more, I mean, I don't know if you can go into like scared, because that's kind of not like the head space that you're in when you're out there. It's just more of like disabled and like trying not to panic. And not even in the moment in the ring though, just like in life of like I want to be healthy. I want to be okay. And I'm experiencing these things I've never experienced before that are making me take a step back.

Like what was your personal conversation with yourself about this is not okay? Like, I'm not okay. Well, personally, I was more worried about the long-term effects, you know? Like, everyone knows that Ali is the greatest, but everyone knows what happened to Muhammad Ali. You know, like, I, and that's, I think every fighter's fear is you don't know when you've taken one hit too many until, you know, decades later. And so that was more of what I was worried about than how it was affecting me in the fights itself. if it was more of, I didn't want to keep fighting if I couldn't keep fighting at the highest level. And when dealing with that, I didn't know how that would be possible.

And I'm also a representative for the whole sport. So like, if I'm not doing well physically, then people would be like, oh, women shouldn't do MMA because that's what will happen to you. Right. You know, so I have to kind of think about that, that aging gracefully is actually pretty important for the sports. for it because I represent the sport. It's just interesting because, like, you know, you even think about somebody like Mike Tyson. He's lost multiple fights.

God. God left to death, Muhammad Ali, lost multiple fights. You know, somebody like Izzy, we love Izzy. We love all of them, but they've lost multiple fights. You lost two fights. So why, like, why, why is it different when they lose multiple fights and still get held as the greatest ever? But you lose a couple fights and people act like, like, like, it's the end of the world, it's over.

She's done, she's finished. Well, what do you think the difference is? I don't know. That's you're a woman. Ooh. I don't say it. It's true, though. When you decided to walk away after those fights, people were talking about this changing the trajectory of your career.

Like, those fights single-handedly changed the trajectory of your career. Nobody even took into consideration all the other things that you're telling us now. Like, it can be mental issues. It could be physical issues. It's just, it was, it literally felt like it's over. No longer the baddest one on the planet, done. I mean, I didn't want to like. could go out. I don't want people think I was making excuses, you know? So I was just like,

what's the point? Do you feel like people threw you away? In a sense? I mean, I don't know. Like, it's not really what I've concerned myself with. I think it like, it really taught me to like separate public perception from my self perception, which I think is the best thing that that I got out of it, you know? And I think that's like a trap that a lot of people fall down, that they're trying to constantly keep that, that fame at a certain level because they feel like if that goes down, then their self-worth goes down. And that's kind of like Tommy of like, you know what, I actually didn't enjoy being that famous, you know what I mean? Like not being able to do normal stuff and go to the grocery store and go to a restaurant or even be in the line in and out

drive-through. I mean, it was crazy for a while. I remember once I was in the line for in and out to get, you know. Animal fries. Yeah. Not even in the store, in the car. And someone noticed me in the car and like a whole mob floored around the car, you know, with my kids in there and everything like that. And yeah, I couldn't go into a restaurant without everybody standing up and lining up at the table or go to the grocery store. And I kind of realized that, like, I don't think that anybody would want to be that famous unless, you know, there's something wrong with them. Like, I enjoy being able to live a normal life. And I've like entered into that like nostalgia phase where people are like, oh yeah, I remember you. You know, it's so, it's like, it's so great to see you

again kind of a thing. And instead of being like an event, you know, to people. And so yeah, I think it kind of made me realize that that, that lifestyle actually wasn't really something that I personally wanted it maybe it's something that like you know um fanned my ego but it didn't like you know feed my soul kind of a thing like i want to just be be with my kids and be with my family and not have to be like going through the the back doors of everywhere for the rest of my life so you're definitely not fighting at the ufc event at the white house because people think you are they think that that is the next one coming it's so funny i literally said that i wasn't yeah they're like that's exactly what you would say if you were but uh i had a baby

like nine months ago. I'm still walking it off. Did you receive an actual like invite? Because you never specifically said if you got an invite or not. People assume you didn't because we know, you know what? I'm sure I have an open invitation at all times. You know what I think it's interesting. Like I know Dana White like in everything that he's doing and at the White House and stuff

like that. Like a lot of people, I remember Elon and people were like destroying the Teslas and all that because they didn't like the fact that he was like so involved with politics and all these things, but it hasn't affected Dana White in his business. Why do you think that that is? Probably because the people that he's selling to is a very

different group. You know what I mean? You have to see fans and Tesla fans or that that bend diagram is not a circle. Stark difference, but yeah. Yeah. How has motherhood changed your relationship with

competition and ego? Oh, God. I don't know. I guess I won't know until my kids start competing in something, you know, but my own competition, my own ego, I think, I don't know, I think it's a great, it's had a great effect on my own ego because I was just getting tired of myself. I don't know if this is like one of my niche, one of my, one of my random, like, deep cut movie references. But you remember in Jerry McGuire with Cush, the guy he was representing? representing and he was asking how his day was and he'd been at a press conference all day and he said he was so tired of talking about himself and he got cush lash absolutely he's like kush lash kush lash I had big time kush lash I was tired of my fucking self I don't want to talk about myself anymore be focused on my own shit and so I think the great one of the great thing is all being a mom is like I I'm not the focus in the center anymore it's not about you

yeah yeah and so um I think that That's one of the great things I did for my ego is I'm not ruminating over my own crap. You know, I am dealing with actual crap. So do you think like true confidence comes from, I guess, being dominance or surrender? Does confidence come from dominance or surrender? True dominance. True dominance or true confidence. Confidence, I'm sorry, true confidence, yes.

Do you think true confidence comes from dominance or surrender? Oh, God. I think it comes from experience. You know, my mom had a saying that winning is a habit. And I think that the experience of being through something and knowing that you're capable, I think that's where that confidence comes from. And I think that's something that that's missing a lot in MMA today is that a lot of people are coming in. And that's their first sport. They haven't had, you know, competition experience and something else where they have that, that confidence from having hundreds of matches doing something else.

And that's where a lot of my confidence came from was I'd been in hundreds and thousands of matches and that experience of, I am in these scary situations, but when I'm in these scary situations, I do my best, that's where a lot of that confidence comes from. what does peace look like for ronda rousey today peace oh man i want to go well my younger my youngest son is um he just committed to boise and uh yeah and so we're going to be moving to Hawaii and I'm going to go you know wrinkle under the sun in paradise and bang out some babies and that is that's that's that's my peace I love that you had that place in life a lot of when you have such a big career as a woman, you don't always get to this place of like peace where that can be your piece where it's like family.

Yeah. You have to settle for other things. Well, I think like my mom, she got married and had kids really young and she always told us, like, don't get married young. And don't get married young is don't have kids young. Why not? Well, she, I think she felt pressured at a young age.

She got married at like 19 and, you know, Catholic upbringing. felt like she was living in sin and had to marry the guy, you know what you mean? And so I think you just, you're still getting to know yourself at that age and you're not going to, I think you're lucky if you find the one because otherwise it's like, how are you going to know what you're going to want for the rest of your life if you don't even know who you are? And so she always told us to make sure that we wait. And so I'm really glad that I waited and I got, wanted all my career. stuff to be done up front so then I could just focus on on my kids because I saw my mom having

three jobs and raising us and you know just doing doing everything on expert level because having kids makes everything expert level and I want to do the career on easy level and then do you know momming on easy level which I think um no such thing though yeah well it's it's easy level compared to having three jobs and and being a mom you know but having three jobs of being a mom compared to like I could just focus on being a mom and if I need someone to help me like clean the house or or something like that or help me like watch the kids I'm not like I have the means to do it you know and um it that's what my mom wanted for us is she I think she didn't want us to have to be working three jobs and have her kids at the same time and have it be as as difficult as it was for her you know

she wants every generation to have it easier than the one before that and so that was kind of like now Now it's like, oh, I've done it all, and I can go, I can do, I can mom real hard right now. And I can just focus on that and not worry about it. And, you know, you talked about writing the sequel to expect the unexpected. Do you see storytelling as a new form of healing for you? Yeah, I think that's a really great way to put it and why I got into it. I didn't get into comics to be the next great comic book writer. Like, this is something that, like, really feeds my soul and makes me happy.

and I'm just obsessed with it and I can't walk away from it and I can't stop doing it. And I'm just really lucky to be in a situation where I can find people like the, you know, the guys at AWA that I can use my name to even just get them to read it and get, you know, Axel Alonzo as a former like, you know, editor-in-chief of Marvel to like look at my scripts and help me out with it and get like said like a dream team of people to make this as good as possible. And, you know, I'm able to do that because of the other things that I accomplished before, but I'm also not going to try and just, like, you know, coast on that. I want this to feel to exceed every expectation because, you know, I'm not really good at half-assing things.

So if I want to make, like, a graphic novel, I'll make the best fucking graphic novel I can make and make the best universe possible and make it the best sequel possible. And if possible, like, make it into, like, get into a film. into whatever and create something out of nothing out of just your mind i think that it that that's incredible especially when um everything that i've done that people really value has been so physical to be able to do something cerebral like this is uh it's really valuable to me so what still drives you now legacy love something deeper oh i don't know i guess i guess love i'm very much in love with my amazing husband and my amazing kids and yeah it's i think trying to find things that are are

self-fulfilling instead of looking for that fulfillment um outside of myself is has been what the real lesson that i've gleaned from from all of this and real happiness you know and um it's it's really nice to be able to kind of like i don't know separate myself from that having to feel like i'm I have to like perform my life for people watching and just be like you know what I'm really happy not not posting anything for for weeks on an on end instead of being like oh what's going to be like my post today how do I make sure that people know that I'm doing stuff and looking good and you know still in the mix or something like that and it was otherwise being like what I really don't want to think about it me my husband we all got all new phones when we moved to Hawaii and we're

just going to have to start over again and not have you know we'll have our work phone with all of our stuff and stuff on it but have something with no social media no anything you know just give the number to people that are close to us and then once a day go and check the work phone and check everything out instead of just being like mentally stuck in this like that's an amazing yeah you i was just thinking like i can't wait till i get to that point in career right can just be like you know what that was cute yeah start over a fresh phone Layed on a beach, a lot-tie. Yeah, exactly.

Oh, yeah. It's so close, I can taste it, you know. I really believe you're not getting back in the ring now after talking to you. At first I was like, it's no, because you're posting these videos. But now after talking to you, I mean, if you would, I'd be confused because you're so happy right now. Oh, thank you. This seem happy anyway. Yeah.

If I would, it wouldn't be in a place to, like, where I'm trying to patch up my happiness and try to, like, find an antidote for it. I think that's what it was before of like, oh, if I get this fight, if I wouldn't this then I'll be happy you know I think like it it would come from an entirely different space if ever if ever came at all that meaning it might happen okay well as Ron is that Mike Tyson you need you can never say never now oh look at the shit he gets though like oh you come out there and you fight he got he got 20 million dollars I mean yeah that's some shit

once again it's for whatever reason you're right it is a gender thing you just got to tell it it is a genit it's just different for them like they can come out there fight the YouTubers nobody says it's a trash ass fight nobody says you're just collecting the check and he still gets touted as the baddest man on the planet baddest man on the planet

108 million views yeah fucking comment whatever you want the most watched fight of all time and he was almost 60 yeah like that's that and that's how much his legacy means how much his name

his name means you know like that that that was really inspiring to me personally to to see him do that. We need a popular female YouTuber to turn MMA fighter real quick. All right, that's real quick. Who is it?

Jenna Marbles, I'm coming for you. Oh, no. Babe, you demolish her. Jenna, stay right there in front of that camera. Hi, YouTube, welcome. Let's get the money up, Netflix. That'll be a quick little link. You know who Jenna Marvel is?

No. She don't need to be in the ring with Ron DeRond. No, I love her. I love her. Please keep getting like house tours and all those things. Who are you a scream on? Who is a sanction Pewty Pie.

Who do you think, Eli? Chrisan Rock versus Rhonda Rousey. What we doing Netflix? Zeus, what's up? Zeus, what's up? No, Zeus got bread, though. Creshaun Rock versus Rhonda Rousey. Everybody will tune in to watch that.

Rhonda Rousey, do you know who Christian Rock is? Am I aging myself? By saying, no, you're not. No, you're not. I promise you, there are people of all ages that may not be into the Christian Rock of things. She's younger than you and she can scrap But I got my money on you

Yeah But everybody will tune in for that Okay Chris Chris Sean Rock versus Rhonda Rousey Dana White what's up Netflix what's up Zeus what's up Let's make that happen

We'll come out and host it Get it on all the IHard stations Promoting crazy I love Chrishawn I just crazy Chrisan Rock versus Ronda Rousey I'm putting everything on Rhonda What's up

Chrison got heart That's the match up You with it if you can make it happen Well, what's like, what's Christian's, like, log line? Like, who is? Just trust us on this. You know who blue face? You know who blue face is? Bust down, Tatiana. No.

Listen. Miss Rachel is like my whole universe right now. Oh, no, no, no. It's very far removed. But I would not fight Ms. She's beautiful. She fights. She's known for, like, fighting, like street fight and stuff.

She's recently got to God, though. She recently got to God. She's 25. She got a couple kids. This could be the match up. I don't know. She found God. I might have to go, like, hit up Azalea Banks or something.

Damn! Now, my God. Now we're talking. Rashon Rock. Hunter's Azalea Banks. Oh, my God. What are we doing? It's so great because Azalea Banks actually has great music.

Rhonda Rousey versus Azelea Banks. What are we doing? I'm there. I'd walk out to her song just a... Oh, we got to make this happen. It's Rhonda Rousey. Expecting the Unexpected is available now. Thank you for joining us.

Thank you for having me. It's a great time. Absolutely, it's the breakfast club Every day I wake up The breakfast club You're all finished or y'all done Johnny Knoxville here Check out Crimeless Hillbilly Heist

My new true crime podcast From smartless media Campside media and big money players It's the true story Of the almost perfect crime And the Nimrods who almost pulled it off It was kind of like the perfect storm in a sewer That was dumb

Do not follow my example Listen to Crimless, Hillbilly Heist on the IHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Hey, it's Ed Helms host of Snafu, my podcast about history's greatest screw-ups. On our new season, we're bringing you a new snafu every single episode. 32 lost nuclear weapons. Wait, stop? What? Yeah, it's going to be a whole lot of history, a whole lot of funny, and a whole lot of fabulous guests.

Shear, Angela and Jenna, Nick Kroll, Jordan, Klepper. Listen to season four of Snafoo with Ed Helms on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Two rich young Americans move to the Costa Rican jungle to start over, but one of them will end up dead and the other tried for murder three times. It starts with a dream, a nature reserve, and a spectacular new home. But little by little, they lose it. They actually lose it. They sort of went nuts. Until one night, everything spins out of control. Listen to Hell in Heaven on the IHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

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