Ronda Rousey says professional wrestling was a key step in her return to MMA, crediting the experience with teaching her how to promote herself.
Speaking with Whistle ahead of her MMA return on Netflix, Rousey traced a through line from judo to MMA to acting to pro wrestling.
“I feel like MMA was a good segue because being purely an athlete was doing judo at the Olympics. You know, being an athlete that also has to entertain was in MMA and having to learn how to be on camera and stuff like that. I used to be petrified of public speaking. Then that was kind of like a good segue, and then I started acting more in action films and stuff like that where I could do fight choreography and things like that.”
She described pro wrestling as the purest form of that evolution.
“And that kind of segued me into pro wrestling, which I feel like is the purest form of fight choreography. It was a first step and it was an experiment and there was a lot of pressure. So now I’m returning back to MMA with everything that I learned from pro wrestling and how to promote and be a promoter. Because that’s basically what pro wrestling is. It’s just like playing into the fictional promotional part.”
Rousey’s MMA return takes place this weekend on Netflix.