Ronda Rousey had a lot on her plate when she was UFC Champion of the world.
The first woman to capture a UFC title paved the way for many after her, as Ronda Rousey was simply a superstar inside and outside of the Octagon.
An Olympic Bronze Medalist in Judo, Rousey finished her first 11 opponents inside of the opening round, nine by her signature armbar submission. To this day, Rousey holds the record for fastest submission in a UFC title fight at 14 seconds when she tapped out Cat Zingano in 2015.
Of course, Rousey wasn’t able to stay on top as she lost her title to massive underdog Holly Holm via head kick KO later that year.
‘Rowdy’ returned a year later against the greatest female fighter of all time Amanda Nunes, where she was brutally TKO’ed on the feet in 48 seconds. That was Rousey’s final fight.
Almost a decade removed from her retirement, Rousey’s controversial head coach speaks out on where it went wrong.
Photo by Mike Roach/Zuffa LLC/Zuffa LLC via Getty ImagesRonda Rousey’s coach didn’t like her doing movies at the same time as MMA
Edmond Tarverdyan was a longtime coach of Rousey’s. Tarverdyan received much criticism for Rousey’s final performance against Nunes, which saw him yell ‘head movement’ at his fighter repeatedly as she took massive shots in the stand-up.
When asked about Rousey’s careers outside of fighting, Tarverdyan said he liked her going to the WWE with her teammates Shayna Baszler, Jessamyn Duke, and Marina Shafir—AKA ‘The Four Horsewomen’.
Coach Tarverdyan didn’t feel the same way about Rousey taking acting roles in movies during the peak of her UFC run.
“The movies were bugging me more,” Tarverdyan said of Rousey on the Jaxxon Podcast.
“Because I was telling her, like, don’t carry two watermelons….”
“What’s your problem with watermelons?” ‘Rampage’ Jackson responded.
“No, I’m saying don’t carry both of them,” Tarverdyan explained the analogy.
“One of them is gonna fall and break,” said Tarverdyan.
“That’s a good point. Watermelons are heavy,” Jackson said.
What films did Ronda Rousey star in?
Rousey had a relatively short-lived career as an actress.
In 2014, Rousey starred as ‘Luna’ in ‘The Expendables 3’ alongside a star-studded cast including Sylvester Stallone, Jason Statham, Antonio Banderas, Jet Li, Wesley Snipes, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Mel Gibson, Harrison Ford, and more notable names.
Former two-division UFC champion Randy Couture was also in the film.
Rousey was a part of the Fast and The Furious franchise in ‘Furious 7’ (2015) as ‘Kara’.
Rousey is also credited for ‘Mile 22’ and ‘Entourage’.
Rousey is currently working on her own biopic for Netflix, with Euphoria’s Augustine Frizzell set to direct.