October 16, 2025 • 47 mins
Today on The Breakfast Club, Ronda Rousey Talks 'Expecting the Unexpected,' UFC Career; Stardom, Motherhood. Listen For More!
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Don't every day up waiting clicks up the breakfast club.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
You don't finish for y'all dumb.
Speaker 1 (00:07):
Yeah, it's the world most dangerous morning to show to
Breakfast Club. Charlamagne and God, DJ Mby and Jess aren't
in today, but Lauren Lorossa is here, and we got
a special guest, a legend.
Speaker 3 (00:15):
Who made the MMA mainstream. Mitch ron de Rowsey is here.
Speaker 4 (00:18):
Thank you for having me.
Speaker 3 (00:19):
Good morning. How you feeling fantastic?
Speaker 4 (00:21):
I mean it's still bitter earlier, 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.
I'm on my own. But I haven't had a choice
in a long time.
Speaker 1 (00:30):
Absolutely, But you got a comic book, got a graphic
novel called Expecting the Unexpected.
Speaker 3 (00:35):
What made you want to step into the comic book world?
Speaker 5 (00:38):
Uh?
Speaker 4 (00:39):
You know what? I 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 eleven hour thumb typing,
I like in my notes, binge, I just became obsessed
with fining the story and getting it out there, and
(01:02):
once the idea of making into a graphic novel came up,
it was like I couldn't stop and 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 yere.
Speaker 5 (01:16):
I feel like people have always looked at you and
everything that you've done is kind of like a mythical
like story, even your name. It's like if you've never
even like watched I fight, you know, Ronda Browsey, what
have been moments for you in your career where you're like,
oh wow, like this is happening and this is actually happening.
Speaker 4 (01:34):
Oh god. Well, I think when I first won the
UFC title, I was like it was one of those
moments where 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. Joe
Rogan's like, what's your impression, I'm like, I need to
quote the dentist kid, and then that was That was
(01:56):
one of them. But there's been quite a few or
have 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, Ooh, if I got
to pick anyone's lifetime to live, I'm gonna pick the
Ronda Rousei lifetime. I'm gonna live that.
Speaker 3 (02:15):
Jesus Seid gosh. But so you would, you would pick
it over and over what you're saying.
Speaker 4 (02:21):
I don't know. I like 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, oh,
I want to pick the Ronda Rousei lifetime, you know,
and try and live that because it's been so ridiculous.
I don't know, Like sometimes I can't even believe it's happening.
Speaker 1 (02:38):
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
it the winds au the walls you broke down.
Speaker 4 (02:50):
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
need do?
Speaker 3 (03:02):
Yeah. Wow.
Speaker 4 (03:03):
And so now it's really leaked over not just from MMA,
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.
Speaker 3 (03:22):
Yeah, I never thought about that.
Speaker 1 (03:23):
I mean I read, you know, Don Staley's book Uncommon Favor,
and it was kind of a similar story. You have
this amazing career in college, you go off to the
Olympics and you win a medal, but then it's just
like it's 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 of my life?
Speaker 3 (03:39):
Looked like it's got to be like a mind fuck
for women, right.
Speaker 4 (03:42):
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 achieved this one thing, it'll 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 you want in the Olympics or whatever. And
(04:03):
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 not exactly what
you expected.
Speaker 5 (04:22):
But is that 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 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 to again because
(04:42):
they weren't they weren't out there in the beginning.
Speaker 4 (04:44):
I mean, yeah, that 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 wiped away. It means nothing. My mom had a
saying that you're only as good is your last fight.
And you know what I mean, like, what have you
done lately? Kind of a thing. And yeah, it's I
(05:09):
think every every one time that you come to that
that situation, those high pressure situations, it's it doesn't get
any less or any easier, but I guess you get
more 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 about like a little kid and I
(05:29):
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 I 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
(05:50):
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, and 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.
Speaker 1 (06:10):
I've heard you speak about, you know, after losses. You
spoke about like being in a doc mental space and
having like I guess, an identity crisis. What do those
moments teach you about your self worth beyond just winning
and losing.
Speaker 4 (06:24):
Well, I think when I lost, it wasn't just oh,
I lost a fight, you know, because people will be like, oh,
how could you feel get that depressed about just losing
a fight? It's not the big of a deal. It
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, and yeah, I knew because
(06:48):
I'd been dealing with I just had like a lot
of like neurological issues that I've been dealing with that
I hadn't been able to tell anyone about. Because you're
the chance you can't let anyone know that you have
any weakness, you know, if anything, like people thinking I
haven't a weakness that like that does a lot of
the work for me, you know, upfront, and so kind
of portraying that was really important and not letting anyone
(07:09):
know what was 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 own, you know, accept it. And I 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 you're so obsessed with it
(07:31):
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.
Speaker 3 (07:45):
Do you believe elite athletes a condition to suppress vulnerability?
Speaker 4 (07:50):
I mean, yeah, you kind of have to, especially like
a like a contact sport, but I think anybody that
is in a high pressure situation and that's that just
comes with it.
Speaker 3 (08:01):
But you gotta think.
Speaker 1 (08:02):
When you walk in that that ring, there's a chance
you could lose, right like it.
Speaker 4 (08:07):
I mean, that's why you're in there wrestling, you know,
And that's that's part of it. That's like part of
what I think brings the best out of me. You know,
some people, they they they 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 their best,
when they can really relax like that. And I just
(08:30):
realized I'm the kind of person that needs that that pressure.
You know. I fight above myself under under pressure. So
it's not exactly enjoyable, but it brings the best out
of me.
Speaker 1 (08:40):
Yeah, I think that's a present vulner Suppressing vulnerability eventually
breaks you down because I'm a person that deals with
like really bad anxiety, right like, I'm going in there
before for a long, long, long time. But I think
that Ryan Holliday, well, I love I love soul SYSM.
He you know, you got to remember, like one day
you're going to die, right like, and that gives you
just the sense of freedom knowing that you wake up
(09:02):
in the every day and just live your best because
anything could happen, it could potentially be your last day.
I would feel like if you're going to going through
the ring all the time thinking that you you know,
you're suppressing your vulnerability, eventually it could just break you
down mentally.
Speaker 3 (09:15):
Outside the ring.
Speaker 4 (09:17):
I think if you don't take any time away from it,
and if it's constant and NonStop, and I think that's
one of the one of the things that I didn't
do it was I didn't take any time away. And
you know, there's if you're holding up basically the whole
company at that point, you know, and I like took
(09:39):
a blood oath to Dana, like you sign me and
I will be your fucking girl and anything that you need.
I don't know if I can swear in here, but
it gets to a point where if you're trying to
be everything to everyone, you're not going to have much
much left for yourself. And you're in that in mind
space of like, oh, I want to be a champion,
(10:00):
and you can't admit any weakness and you can't ever
speak up and say, like, you know what, I need
a rest, you know, I need a moment to not
to not be on all the time. And it's uh,
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 yourself that you have no weaknesses,
(10:20):
and then at the same time be like, yeah, I
need a break badest a woman on the planet needs
to fucking sit.
Speaker 2 (10:29):
But what do you do in those breaks?
Speaker 5 (10:31):
So, like you said, you 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?
Speaker 2 (10:38):
And what do you do when you need those breaks?
Speaker 4 (10:40):
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 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 seeing things that, like, you know, a lot
(11:03):
of people, all they wanted to see me do is
hurt other people, you know, and that's where they see
that My value is in, you know, is in fighting people.
And and I had to try and look for something
in myself that other people weren't weren't asking for. And
that's kind of what this whole journey of becoming, you know,
(11:23):
a writer has been of, Like I 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 and it mattered to me, and I willed
it into reality and I'm so so proud of it.
And yeah, might not be like the it might not
(11:48):
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 for everyone else how awesome
(12:08):
I am. I won't trying to achieve something because I
find it personally fulfilling to me, which is a huge pivot.
You know.
Speaker 3 (12:14):
Do you see the comic book as an evolution or escape?
Speaker 4 (12:18):
Ooh, I think it is an escape in a way.
You know, I think a lot of time you say
that 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
(12:40):
thinking about, I would purposefully direct my mind back to
it what I was doing creatively, you know, when writing
the story or something like that. And so if I
started like picking at myself mentally, you know what I mean,
like just picking out your own scabs of your brain
and being like, you know, what's not that like slap
my own hand and be like, Okay, what's going on
(13:00):
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 take
all of that destructive mental energy and put it towards
something that that is creative.
Speaker 5 (13:16):
I noticed 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.
Speaker 4 (13:27):
Become a mom.
Speaker 5 (13:28):
So talk about choosing to have you Know that as
the cover art for the comic.
Speaker 4 (13:38):
Well, I guess like how this started. It was strange. Well,
it was the go home before WrestleMania, where I was
meant I was said to be the first ever woman's
main event with Becky Lynch and Charlotte Flair and in
true w W design, I mean fashion, it was about
like seven o'clock. The doors had already opened in the
(13:59):
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, yeah, for the last show before WrestleMania.
I saw it's the go home for WrestleMania, but the
mash of WrestleMania we put together the night before, they're
not that still, not that planning that much. So I
(14:20):
was kind of like freaking out and Paul Hayman pulled
me aside, and I think he was just trying to
like get me to stop being less nervous and thinking
about something else, and he was saying, what kind of
movie do you want to start in? I'm like, what
do you what? And he was like, what kind of
movie would you want to start in? And I never
thought about that because I'd been a little spoiled bratt
waiting for someone just to hand me my green light
(14:42):
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
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
(15:06):
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 at 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
(15:27):
to fight her way to the abortion clinic and by
the time she gets there, she's you know, had all
these like you know, close calls with the baby on
the way that by the time she gets there, you know,
like she's gone through this, this whole journey of whether
she wants to become a mother or not, and she
kind of like has.
Speaker 3 (15:43):
To find it before you even get to the clinic.
Speaker 4 (15:45):
Yeah, so all of the closet calls making her realize,
you know, how much she wants to keep it. And
I guess it was kind of confronting my own insecurity
is 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
(16:09):
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 to go in 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.
(16:30):
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.
It was like everything else. So this is like john Wick,
John Wick on the way to 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 Wes knocked up.
Speaker 1 (16:48):
That's so interesting because you're a fighter, right, So, but
you didn't feel like you were a natural protector.
Speaker 4 (16:56):
Uh. I mean, I feel like I'm a natural protector.
But I'll 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. And my
(17:18):
mom is you know, she's she's a legend, like my mom.
She got a perfect score on the SATs at sixteen,
graduated college at nineteen. She was working as a single
mother engineer in the eighties while she was getting her
PhD and won the world championships in judo all at
the same time. Like yeah, and I'm like I only
(17:41):
got my ged Oh man, I don't know if I
could do this, and yeah, she's just like this the
super super mom, and I I don't know. I don't
know if I had on my own insecurities, if if
I could take up that mantle or not, And so
I don't know. This is like a funny kind of
an ex floration of all of that. And obviously it's
(18:02):
like my husband is in it and everything, and yeah
it's I still am writing it. I'm still obsessed with it.
I've already written a sequel to it. Wow, 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 set up and keep writing
and just thinking about it all the time. And this
(18:23):
is like, I don't know, this is like my baby
and something that I just comes entirely from me and
hasn't been demanded from anybody else, but hopefully other people
with demand more.
Speaker 1 (18:32):
You see it when you think about people's well, superheroes
origin stories, right, they either come from like pain, power
or purpose?
Speaker 3 (18:39):
Oh, which one best describes your personal journey?
Speaker 4 (18:42):
My personal journey, Oh god, I guess it is started
out his pain and then became power and then morphed
into purpose. 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 is what I started with,
(19:06):
and that that really became a great way to be
able to vent all of 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.
Speaker 3 (19:20):
You remember the first time you had that, I had to.
Speaker 4 (19:23):
Defend myself, like in an actual confrontation.
Speaker 3 (19:25):
What does your first fight period?
Speaker 4 (19:27):
Oh God, some kid like grabbed me by the throat,
I like tossed him onto the ground, but like asphalt
on the back of his head. Yeah. And then then
the bell rung, so we all had to go to class.
Speaker 2 (19:42):
Wage was this This was like great.
Speaker 4 (19:44):
Sixth grade And 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 on the back
of his head, and yeah, then it all came out
then around 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 gotten
(20:06):
away with a fight. Everyone always has his stories about
Oh yeah I got this fight, this is and that,
Like how are people getting away with fights? I've never
ever gotten nowadays?
Speaker 3 (20:14):
With this phone got their phones out?
Speaker 4 (20:16):
Yeah, I don't know what did that give.
Speaker 3 (20:18):
You a rep back?
Speaker 4 (20:19):
Dan?
Speaker 3 (20:19):
Though? Like did people see it that they were like,
oh shit, ron To just slam the ship? I just kid.
Speaker 4 (20:23):
I mean kind of. I was like really muscular, it's
like you know, at that age. But it was the
kind of thing I got teased 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, Rondo's
fucking Ronda's jack or ron ron was really strong or
something like that. But it was kind of like something
(20:43):
I got teased for more.
Speaker 3 (20:45):
But would you embrace it?
Speaker 4 (20:46):
When did I embrace it? Oh god? I think in
my mid twenties when I realized I was sexy. Wait
a minute, I look great. Oh yeah, it was kind
of about that. I think it was when I was
switching over from Judo into MMA, and I had I
knew that there was a window there, but I had
(21:07):
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 that confidence, and I kind of
had to fake it until until I made it. And
(21:27):
that was basically it. You know, you had to pretend
to sleep before you get to sleep. So I was like, whatever,
I'm gonna 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 bit
the bullet and put myself out there. And then I
just actually started to be like, well, you know what,
(21:49):
I actually I'm really happy with how I look and
and things like that, and and everything kind of came
from that.
Speaker 5 (21:57):
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 on like how ripped you are
right now and people see you posting these videos on
your Instagram and all things, So what is there, Like,
what's happening? Are we going to see happening return somewhere
because these videos you're posting, it'd be like, Oh, just
having lunch with my friend and you're like in the ring,
(22:19):
like it's so casual in the caption.
Speaker 4 (22:22):
Yeah, well I have I have a cage in my garage.
It's not like I went anywhere. I really did like
mosey on out there and like that's how you post it.
I'm like this video, yeah, 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 and bring my friends over and do some karate,
(22:44):
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 for reasons other than my own.
And I think it's having my last baby. It just
being pregnant is it's fucking tough, you know. I literally
(23:06):
it felt like I was like handicapped just compared to
being finally tuned athletic machine. Right, you know, I feel
like I can do anything to suddenly like if I
did a forward role, 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,
(23:29):
and just get that freedom of movement back. And so
then yeah, I started training in MMA again because I
feel like when I kind of lost that identity as
being a fighter, it 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
(23:49):
to the extreme of like I don't want to train
on and want to do anything at all. And and
actually was a friend of mine who with one of
my coaches, who he was like, oh, well, I really
want to give my black belt in judo, can you
like help me get my black belt? And I'm like
all right, And so I had a couple of mats
in my garage, so you'd come over, I'd show them
some judo. And then then I started like getting like
(24:11):
enjoying it. You know again. And then you know he
does like wrestling in jiu jitsu 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 paddles for me and hit some mits and
stuff like that. And then so it just kind of
(24:31):
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 one reason or another and so and and
it's what my body really wants, you know, It's what
(24:51):
I've been training to do my whole life. And I
just feel healthier and better and I want to train again.
It makes me happy. And it 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 own joy? Is that is that bad?
Speaker 3 (25:10):
They see you training, but they automatically think you want
to come back?
Speaker 4 (25:12):
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,
it is what I This is what happens when I train.
You know, I look great. Sorry, Like 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
(25:32):
that I don't think anyone's ever really done.
Speaker 1 (25:35):
It's weird though, right, Like do you think the public
is addicted to watching people so called for? Because I
mean the reality of situation is, you only lost two fights,
but the media made it seem like it was just
completely over, like you could never win again. Like did
you think you think you let the media get to
you more than anything?
Speaker 4 (25:52):
Uh? No, it was more of like what I was
dealing with personally and physically. I'd had uh so many
can Hians since I was a kid, and they were
getting progressively worse and worse, and I was getting concussion
symptoms easier and easier, and it got to the point where,
like any kind of impact at all, I was basically
(26:14):
like losing my vision.
Speaker 3 (26:16):
Wow.
Speaker 4 (26:17):
And I actually recently got some really great news about
that because Dana had me. You want 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 to actually
(26:40):
give me good news because yeah, because a lot of
times it's just like neurologically, you're 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 he said that I used to get migraines as
a kid, and he told me that people that get
(27:03):
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 when I'm
(27:26):
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 lose my
death perception and my ability to track moving objects or
(27:47):
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 geting a and
so and so it's got to the point where, like
I I can't fight safely because if I get hit,
(28:09):
I basically can go blind. But the thing is there's
things I can also do about it. So I'm like
trying to address it like nutritionally and things like that.
But but yeah, it's it's kind of nuts because I thought.
I thought, I'm like, okay, well, I'm just gonna get
CT any day now, you know. And he was like, yeah,
I finally got some good news of like maybe there's
(28:31):
something you can do about it. And it's not a
you know, a the nail on the coffin of your
of being able to be able to fight. So that's
actually actually great news. But I don't know what I'm
going to do with that.
Speaker 3 (28:44):
I would like, what's the point?
Speaker 5 (28:48):
I don't think it sounds like you kind of are like,
I mean, not did 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.
Speaker 4 (28:57):
So yeah, I mean, I 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 and packs to see if it
like if it works or not right?
Speaker 3 (29:13):
You know, unless you can find like a YouTuber, like
maybe there's a female YouTuber that wants to get it popping.
Speaker 2 (29:18):
I don't know, Like why, how scared were you?
Speaker 5 (29:21):
Because there were fans that were saying that the retirement
was like abrupt. 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.
Speaker 4 (29:36):
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 headspace that you're in when
you're out there. It's just more of like disabled and
like trying not to panic and.
Speaker 5 (29:52):
Not even in the moment in the ring though, just
like in life of like like I want to be healthy,
I want to be okay, and I'm exp into 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?
Speaker 2 (30:07):
Like I'm not okay.
Speaker 4 (30:08):
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
(30:29):
of what I was worried about than how it was
affecting me in the fights itself. 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
(30:49):
I'm not doing well physically, then people would be like, oh,
women shouldn't do mma because that'll that's what will happen
to you, right, you know, so I have to kind
of think about that. Aging gracefully is actually pretty important
for the sport because I represent the sport.
Speaker 1 (31:06):
It's just it's just interesting because, like, you know, you
even think about somebody like Mike Tyson, he's lost multiple fights. God,
that's day. Muammad 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 of fights and people like
(31:26):
like it's in the world, it's over, she's done, she's finished.
Speaker 4 (31:30):
Well, what do you think the difference is.
Speaker 3 (31:32):
I don't know.
Speaker 4 (31:32):
Oh, that's true.
Speaker 5 (31:38):
I mean when you decided to walk away after those fights,
people were talking about this changing the trajectory of your
Like those fights single handedly changed the trajectory of your career.
Speaker 1 (31:47):
Nobody even took into consideration all the other things that
you're telling us now, yeah, mental issues, it could be
physical issues. It's just it was it literally felt like
it's over, no longer the bad it someone on the
planet done.
Speaker 4 (31:59):
I mean I didn't want to like go out. I
don't want people think I was making excuses, you know,
So I was just like, what's the point.
Speaker 2 (32:10):
Do you feel like people threw you away? In a sense?
Speaker 4 (32:14):
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 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 fame at a certain
(32:39):
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, 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
(32:59):
was crazy for a while. I remember once I was
in the in the line for in and out to
get you know animal, Yeah, not even in the store,
in the car, and someone noticed me in the in
the car and like a whole mob flooring 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
(33:19):
standing up and lining up at the table, or go
to the grocery store. And I 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 I entered into that like nostalgia phase where people
are like, oh, yeah, I remember you. You know. It's
(33:41):
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, two 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. And maybe it's
something that like, you know, fan of my ego, but
(34:01):
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 back doors of everywhere
for the rest of my life.
Speaker 3 (34:12):
So you're definitely not fighting at the UFC, have been
at the White House because people.
Speaker 2 (34:14):
Think you are on They think that that is the
next one coming.
Speaker 4 (34:18):
That'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 I had a baby like nine months ago. I'm
still walking it off.
Speaker 5 (34:29):
You know, did you receive an actual like invite because
you never specifically said if you got an invite or not,
people as soon you didn't.
Speaker 4 (34:37):
Because we open invitation at all times, you know what.
Speaker 3 (34:42):
I think.
Speaker 5 (34:42):
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
Musk 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.
Speaker 2 (34:57):
But it hasn't affected Dana White in his business. Why
do you think that that is?
Speaker 4 (35:03):
Probably because the people that he's selling to is a
very different group, you know what I mean. UFC fans
and Tesla fans or that that Benn diagram is not a.
Speaker 2 (35:16):
Stark difference.
Speaker 3 (35:17):
But yeah, yeah, how has motherhood changed your relationship with
competition and ego?
Speaker 4 (35:25):
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
(35:47):
of my niche one of my random, like deep cut
movie references. But remember and Jerry maguire with Cush, the
guy he was representing, and he was asking how his
day was, and he not a press conference all day,
and he said he was so tired of talking about himself,
and he got cushlash. Is that cushlash, cush slash. I
(36:07):
had a big time cush lash. I was tired of
my self. I don't want to talk about myself anymore.
We focus on my own ship. And so I think
the great one of one of the great things while
being a mom is like I'm not the focus in
the center anymore. Yeah, And so I think that that's
one of the great things I did for my ego
(36:29):
is I'm not ruminating over my own crap. You know,
I am dealing with actual crap.
Speaker 1 (36:38):
So do you think like true confidence comes from I
guess being dominance or surrenders.
Speaker 4 (36:45):
Does confidence come from dominance? True dominance or true confidence?
Speaker 3 (36:52):
Confidence? I'm sorry, true confidence? Yes? You think true confidence
comes from dominance? Are surrender?
Speaker 4 (36:57):
Oh?
Speaker 3 (36:58):
God?
Speaker 4 (36:59):
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
(37:20):
coming in and that's their first sport. Iam had, you know, competition,
sperience in something else where they have that confidence from
having hundreds of matches doing something else. And yeah, So
like that's where a lot of my confidence came from,
was I'd been in hundreds and thousands of matches and
(37:43):
that 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.
Speaker 3 (37:54):
What does peace look like for Ronda Rowley today.
Speaker 4 (37:57):
Peace, Oh man, I want to go. Well, my younger,
my youngest son is he just committed to Boise and 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
(38:17):
that's that's that's my peace.
Speaker 2 (38:20):
I love that. Yeah, I love that you had that
place in life.
Speaker 5 (38:23):
A lot of times 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.
Speaker 2 (38:31):
Yeah, you have to settle for other things.
Speaker 4 (38:32):
Well, I think like my mom, she 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. He
don't have kids young? Why not? Well she I think
she felt pressured at a young age. She got married
at like nineteen and you know, Catholic upbringing, felt like
she was living in sin and had had to marry
(38:55):
the guy, you know what I mean. And so I
think he just you're still getting to know yourself at
that age and you're not gonna I think you're lucky
if you find the one, because otherwise it's like, how
are you gonna know what you're gonna want for the
rest of your life? You don't even know who you are.
And so she always told us to make sure that
(39:17):
we wait. And so I'm really glad that I waited,
and I got wanted all my career stuff to be
done upfront so then I could just focus 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
(39:37):
then do you know, momming on easy level, which I think, yeah,
well it's easy level compared to having three jobs 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 something like that,
(39:58):
or help me like watch the kids, I'm not like
I have the means to do it, you know. And
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 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
(40:20):
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.
Speaker 3 (40:30):
And you know, you talked about writing the sequel to
Expect Unexpected. Do you see storytelling as a new form
of healing for you?
Speaker 4 (40:37):
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
(40:57):
a situation where I can find people like the you know,
the guys at Awa that that I can use my
name or even just get them to read it and
get you know, Axel Alonzo as a former like you
know editor in Cheat at Marvel to like look at
my scripts and 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
(41:20):
am 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 be able to exceed every expectation, because
you know, I'm not really good at half assing things.
I want. 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
(41:42):
best sequel possible, and if possible, like make it into
like make it into a film, make it into whatever,
create something out of nothing, out of just your mind.
I think that that that's incredible, especially when everything that
I've done that people really value has been so physical.
To be able to do something stable like this is, uh,
(42:03):
it's really valuable to me.
Speaker 3 (42:04):
So what still drives you now, legacy? Love? Something deep?
Speaker 4 (42:08):
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 our self fulfilling instead of looking
for that fulfillment outside of myself. Has been the real
lesson that I've gleaned from all of this and real happiness,
(42:30):
you know, and 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 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 end, instead of being like, oh, what's
gonna be like my post today? How do I make
(42:52):
sure that people know that I'm I'm doing stuff and
looking good and you know, still in the mix or
something like that, and it's otherwise being like what I
really I don't want to think about it. Me and
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 have
our work phone with all of our stuff and stuff
on it, but have something with no social media, know anything,
(43:14):
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 yeah.
Speaker 5 (43:26):
I was just wait, I get to that point in
career that was cute. Yes, start over a fresh phone
laid on the beach.
Speaker 4 (43:35):
On my side, Yeah exactly. Oh yeah, it's so close
I can I can taste it.
Speaker 2 (43:40):
You know, I really believe you not getting back in
the ring now.
Speaker 5 (43:43):
After talking to you. At first, I was like, it's
no because you're posting these videos. But after talking to you,
I mean, if you would, I'd be confused because you're.
Speaker 2 (43:49):
So happy right now.
Speaker 4 (43:50):
Oh thank you.
Speaker 2 (43:51):
You seem happy anyway.
Speaker 4 (43:52):
Yeah, if I if I would, it wouldn't be in
a place to like I'm trying to patch up my
happiness and try to like find an antidote. I think
that's what it was before. If like, oh if I
get this fight, if I win this, then I'll be happy.
You know. I think like if it would come from
an entirely different space, if ever, if ever came at all,
(44:12):
that it might happen. Okay, that Mike Tyson, you can
never say never. Now.
Speaker 3 (44:19):
Look at the shitty gets though, like like, oh you
come out there.
Speaker 4 (44:22):
You got he got twenty million dollars.
Speaker 3 (44:24):
I mean some ship I wasn't get for whatever reason.
You're right, it is agenda thing. You just got to
tell them what it is. End thin.
Speaker 1 (44:31):
It's just different for them, Like they can come out
there fight the youtubeers. Nobody says, oh, it's a trash
ass fight. Nobody says, you just collecting a check like
it's and he still gets tired.
Speaker 3 (44:41):
It's the baddest man on the planet.
Speaker 4 (44:42):
Baddest man on the planet. One hundred and eight million views,
So fucking comment whatever you want. That's the most watched
fight of all time. And he was almost sixty. Yeah,
like that's that's 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
(45:03):
to see to see him do that.
Speaker 1 (45:05):
We need a popular female YouTube with a turn m
m a fighter real quick, all right, that's real quick.
Speaker 3 (45:10):
Who's who is it?
Speaker 4 (45:11):
Jenna Marbles?
Speaker 5 (45:12):
I'm coming for you, demol Jenn State right there in
front of that camera.
Speaker 3 (45:18):
Just get the money on Netflix. That'll be a quick.
Speaker 5 (45:20):
Little you know, who is she don't need to be
in the ring with keeping getting like house tours and
all those stream.
Speaker 3 (45:33):
Who do you think you lie? Krishan Rock versus Ronda Rowsey?
What were doing?
Speaker 4 (45:38):
Netflix? Zeus?
Speaker 1 (45:39):
What's up? Versus Randa Rousey. Everybody will tune in to
watch that.
Speaker 2 (45:48):
Do you know who Christian is?
Speaker 4 (45:51):
Am I aging myself by saying no, you're not, No,
you're not.
Speaker 5 (45:55):
There are people of all ages that may not be
into the Chris Shawan Rock of Things.
Speaker 1 (46:00):
She's younger than you and she can scrap, but I
got my money on you.
Speaker 3 (46:04):
But everybody will tune in for that.
Speaker 1 (46:06):
Okay, Kashan Rock versus Ronda Rowsey, Dana White, what's up?
Speaker 3 (46:10):
Netflix? What's up? Zeus? What's up? Let's make that happen.
Speaker 1 (46:14):
We'll come out there, host it, getting on all the
iHeart stations promoting crazy Shan Rock versus Ronda Rowsey. I'm
putting everything on Ronda.
Speaker 3 (46:24):
What's up?
Speaker 2 (46:25):
Heart?
Speaker 3 (46:26):
That's the matchup you would if you can make it happen.
Speaker 4 (46:29):
Well, what's what's like? Sean's like logline like.
Speaker 5 (46:33):
Who is just this?
Speaker 2 (46:36):
And blue face? You know who blue faces down?
Speaker 4 (46:39):
No, listen, Miss Rachel is like my whole universe right now.
She's beautiful.
Speaker 3 (46:51):
She fights, he's fighting like street fight.
Speaker 2 (46:54):
Got to God though.
Speaker 1 (46:55):
She reasonedly got twenty five, got a couple of kids,
suit the matchup.
Speaker 4 (46:59):
I don't know she found God him. I have to
go like hit up Azalea Banks or something.
Speaker 3 (47:05):
Oh my god, now we were shot the rock banks.
Oh my god, we're.
Speaker 2 (47:12):
Doing some great, great.
Speaker 3 (47:16):
Banks. What were doing?
Speaker 2 (47:16):
I'm there.
Speaker 4 (47:18):
I'd walk out to her song, just.
Speaker 3 (47:21):
We gotta make this happen.
Speaker 1 (47:22):
It's Ronda Rowsey Expecting the unexpected is available now.
Speaker 3 (47:26):
Thank you for joining us.
Speaker 4 (47:27):
Thank you for having me. It's a great time.
Speaker 3 (47:28):
Absolutely. It's the Breakfast Club, every.
Speaker 1 (47:32):
Day, a week ago, up the Breakfast Club.
Speaker 3 (47:35):
You don't finish, y'all done,
Don't every day up waiting clicks up the breakfast club.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
You don't finish for y'all dumb.
Speaker 1 (00:07):
Yeah, it's the world most dangerous morning to show to
Breakfast Club. Charlamagne and God, DJ Mby and Jess aren't
in today, but Lauren Lorossa is here, and we got
a special guest, a legend.
Speaker 3 (00:15):
Who made the MMA mainstream. Mitch ron de Rowsey is here.
Speaker 4 (00:18):
Thank you for having me.
Speaker 3 (00:19):
Good morning. How you feeling fantastic?
Speaker 4 (00:21):
I mean it's still bitter earlier, 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.
I'm on my own. But I haven't had a choice
in a long time.
Speaker 1 (00:30):
Absolutely, But you got a comic book, got a graphic
novel called Expecting the Unexpected.
Speaker 3 (00:35):
What made you want to step into the comic book world?
Speaker 5 (00:38):
Uh?
Speaker 4 (00:39):
You know what? I 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 eleven hour thumb typing,
I like in my notes, binge, I just became obsessed
with fining the story and getting it out there, and
(01:02):
once the idea of making into a graphic novel came up,
it was like I couldn't stop and 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 yere.
Speaker 5 (01:16):
I feel like people have always looked at you and
everything that you've done is kind of like a mythical
like story, even your name. It's like if you've never
even like watched I fight, you know, Ronda Browsey, what
have been moments for you in your career where you're like,
oh wow, like this is happening and this is actually happening.
Speaker 4 (01:34):
Oh god. Well, I think when I first won the
UFC title, I was like it was one of those
moments where 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. Joe
Rogan's like, what's your impression, I'm like, I need to
quote the dentist kid, and then that was That was
(01:56):
one of them. But there's been quite a few or
have 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, Ooh, if I got
to pick anyone's lifetime to live, I'm gonna pick the
Ronda Rousei lifetime. I'm gonna live that.
Speaker 3 (02:15):
Jesus Seid gosh. But so you would, you would pick
it over and over what you're saying.
Speaker 4 (02:21):
I don't know. I like 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, oh,
I want to pick the Ronda Rousei lifetime, you know,
and try and live that because it's been so ridiculous.
I don't know, Like sometimes I can't even believe it's happening.
Speaker 1 (02:38):
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
it the winds au the walls you broke down.
Speaker 4 (02:50):
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
need do?
Speaker 3 (03:02):
Yeah. Wow.
Speaker 4 (03:03):
And so now it's really leaked over not just from MMA,
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.
Speaker 3 (03:22):
Yeah, I never thought about that.
Speaker 1 (03:23):
I mean I read, you know, Don Staley's book Uncommon Favor,
and it was kind of a similar story. You have
this amazing career in college, you go off to the
Olympics and you win a medal, but then it's just
like it's 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 of my life?
Speaker 3 (03:39):
Looked like it's got to be like a mind fuck
for women, right.
Speaker 4 (03:42):
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 achieved this one thing, it'll 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 you want in the Olympics or whatever. And
(04:03):
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 not exactly what
you expected.
Speaker 5 (04:22):
But is that 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 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 to again because
(04:42):
they weren't they weren't out there in the beginning.
Speaker 4 (04:44):
I mean, yeah, that 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 wiped away. It means nothing. My mom had a
saying that you're only as good is your last fight.
And you know what I mean, like, what have you
done lately? Kind of a thing. And yeah, it's I
(05:09):
think every every one time that you come to that
that situation, those high pressure situations, it's it doesn't get
any less or any easier, but I guess you get
more 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 about like a little kid and I
(05:29):
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 I 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
(05:50):
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, and 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.
Speaker 1 (06:10):
I've heard you speak about, you know, after losses. You
spoke about like being in a doc mental space and
having like I guess, an identity crisis. What do those
moments teach you about your self worth beyond just winning
and losing.
Speaker 4 (06:24):
Well, I think when I lost, it wasn't just oh,
I lost a fight, you know, because people will be like, oh,
how could you feel get that depressed about just losing
a fight? It's not the big of a deal. It
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, and yeah, I knew because
(06:48):
I'd been dealing with I just had like a lot
of like neurological issues that I've been dealing with that
I hadn't been able to tell anyone about. Because you're
the chance you can't let anyone know that you have
any weakness, you know, if anything, like people thinking I
haven't a weakness that like that does a lot of
the work for me, you know, upfront, and so kind
of portraying that was really important and not letting anyone
(07:09):
know what was 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 own, you know, accept it. And I 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 you're so obsessed with it
(07:31):
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.
Speaker 3 (07:45):
Do you believe elite athletes a condition to suppress vulnerability?
Speaker 4 (07:50):
I mean, yeah, you kind of have to, especially like
a like a contact sport, but I think anybody that
is in a high pressure situation and that's that just
comes with it.
Speaker 3 (08:01):
But you gotta think.
Speaker 1 (08:02):
When you walk in that that ring, there's a chance
you could lose, right like it.
Speaker 4 (08:07):
I mean, that's why you're in there wrestling, you know,
And that's that's part of it. That's like part of
what I think brings the best out of me. You know,
some people, they they they 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 their best,
when they can really relax like that. And I just
(08:30):
realized I'm the kind of person that needs that that pressure.
You know. I fight above myself under under pressure. So
it's not exactly enjoyable, but it brings the best out
of me.
Speaker 1 (08:40):
Yeah, I think that's a present vulner Suppressing vulnerability eventually
breaks you down because I'm a person that deals with
like really bad anxiety, right like, I'm going in there
before for a long, long, long time. But I think
that Ryan Holliday, well, I love I love soul SYSM.
He you know, you got to remember, like one day
you're going to die, right like, and that gives you
just the sense of freedom knowing that you wake up
(09:02):
in the every day and just live your best because
anything could happen, it could potentially be your last day.
I would feel like if you're going to going through
the ring all the time thinking that you you know,
you're suppressing your vulnerability, eventually it could just break you
down mentally.
Speaker 3 (09:15):
Outside the ring.
Speaker 4 (09:17):
I think if you don't take any time away from it,
and if it's constant and NonStop, and I think that's
one of the one of the things that I didn't
do it was I didn't take any time away. And
you know, there's if you're holding up basically the whole
company at that point, you know, and I like took
(09:39):
a blood oath to Dana, like you sign me and
I will be your fucking girl and anything that you need.
I don't know if I can swear in here, but
it gets to a point where if you're trying to
be everything to everyone, you're not going to have much
much left for yourself. And you're in that in mind
space of like, oh, I want to be a champion,
(10:00):
and you can't admit any weakness and you can't ever
speak up and say, like, you know what, I need
a rest, you know, I need a moment to not
to not be on all the time. And it's uh,
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 yourself that you have no weaknesses,
(10:20):
and then at the same time be like, yeah, I
need a break badest a woman on the planet needs
to fucking sit.
Speaker 2 (10:29):
But what do you do in those breaks?
Speaker 5 (10:31):
So, like you said, you 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?
Speaker 2 (10:38):
And what do you do when you need those breaks?
Speaker 4 (10:40):
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 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 seeing things that, like, you know, a lot
(11:03):
of people, all they wanted to see me do is
hurt other people, you know, and that's where they see
that My value is in, you know, is in fighting people.
And and I had to try and look for something
in myself that other people weren't weren't asking for. And
that's kind of what this whole journey of becoming, you know,
(11:23):
a writer has been of, Like I 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 and it mattered to me, and I willed
it into reality and I'm so so proud of it.
And yeah, might not be like the it might not
(11:48):
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 for everyone else how awesome
(12:08):
I am. I won't trying to achieve something because I
find it personally fulfilling to me, which is a huge pivot.
You know.
Speaker 3 (12:14):
Do you see the comic book as an evolution or escape?
Speaker 4 (12:18):
Ooh, I think it is an escape in a way.
You know, I think a lot of time you say
that 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
(12:40):
thinking about, I would purposefully direct my mind back to
it what I was doing creatively, you know, when writing
the story or something like that. And so if I
started like picking at myself mentally, you know what I mean,
like just picking out your own scabs of your brain
and being like, you know, what's not that like slap
my own hand and be like, Okay, what's going on
(13:00):
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 take
all of that destructive mental energy and put it towards
something that that is creative.
Speaker 5 (13:16):
I noticed 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.
Speaker 4 (13:27):
Become a mom.
Speaker 5 (13:28):
So talk about choosing to have you Know that as
the cover art for the comic.
Speaker 4 (13:38):
Well, I guess like how this started. It was strange. Well,
it was the go home before WrestleMania, where I was
meant I was said to be the first ever woman's
main event with Becky Lynch and Charlotte Flair and in
true w W design, I mean fashion, it was about
like seven o'clock. The doors had already opened in the
(13:59):
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, yeah, for the last show before WrestleMania.
I saw it's the go home for WrestleMania, but the
mash of WrestleMania we put together the night before, they're
not that still, not that planning that much. So I
(14:20):
was kind of like freaking out and Paul Hayman pulled
me aside, and I think he was just trying to
like get me to stop being less nervous and thinking
about something else, and he was saying, what kind of
movie do you want to start in? I'm like, what
do you what? And he was like, what kind of
movie would you want to start in? And I never
thought about that because I'd been a little spoiled bratt
waiting for someone just to hand me my green light
(14:42):
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
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
(15:06):
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 at 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
(15:27):
to fight her way to the abortion clinic and by
the time she gets there, she's you know, had all
these like you know, close calls with the baby on
the way that by the time she gets there, you know,
like she's gone through this, this whole journey of whether
she wants to become a mother or not, and she
kind of like has.
Speaker 3 (15:43):
To find it before you even get to the clinic.
Speaker 4 (15:45):
Yeah, so all of the closet calls making her realize,
you know, how much she wants to keep it. And
I guess it was kind of confronting my own insecurity
is 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
(16:09):
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 to go in 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.
(16:30):
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.
It was like everything else. So this is like john Wick,
John Wick on the way to 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 Wes knocked up.
Speaker 1 (16:48):
That's so interesting because you're a fighter, right, So, but
you didn't feel like you were a natural protector.
Speaker 4 (16:56):
Uh. I mean, I feel like I'm a natural protector.
But I'll 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. And my
(17:18):
mom is you know, she's she's a legend, like my mom.
She got a perfect score on the SATs at sixteen,
graduated college at nineteen. She was working as a single
mother engineer in the eighties while she was getting her
PhD and won the world championships in judo all at
the same time. Like yeah, and I'm like I only
(17:41):
got my ged Oh man, I don't know if I
could do this, and yeah, she's just like this the
super super mom, and I I don't know. I don't
know if I had on my own insecurities, if if
I could take up that mantle or not, And so
I don't know. This is like a funny kind of
an ex floration of all of that. And obviously it's
(18:02):
like my husband is in it and everything, and yeah
it's I still am writing it. I'm still obsessed with it.
I've already written a sequel to it. Wow, 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 set up and keep writing
and just thinking about it all the time. And this
(18:23):
is like, I don't know, this is like my baby
and something that I just comes entirely from me and
hasn't been demanded from anybody else, but hopefully other people
with demand more.
Speaker 1 (18:32):
You see it when you think about people's well, superheroes
origin stories, right, they either come from like pain, power
or purpose?
Speaker 3 (18:39):
Oh, which one best describes your personal journey?
Speaker 4 (18:42):
My personal journey, Oh god, I guess it is started
out his pain and then became power and then morphed
into purpose. 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 is what I started with,
(19:06):
and that that really became a great way to be
able to vent all of 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.
Speaker 3 (19:20):
You remember the first time you had that, I had to.
Speaker 4 (19:23):
Defend myself, like in an actual confrontation.
Speaker 3 (19:25):
What does your first fight period?
Speaker 4 (19:27):
Oh God, some kid like grabbed me by the throat,
I like tossed him onto the ground, but like asphalt
on the back of his head. Yeah. And then then
the bell rung, so we all had to go to class.
Speaker 2 (19:42):
Wage was this This was like great.
Speaker 4 (19:44):
Sixth grade And 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 on the back
of his head, and yeah, then it all came out
then around 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 gotten
(20:06):
away with a fight. Everyone always has his stories about
Oh yeah I got this fight, this is and that,
Like how are people getting away with fights? I've never
ever gotten nowadays?
Speaker 3 (20:14):
With this phone got their phones out?
Speaker 4 (20:16):
Yeah, I don't know what did that give.
Speaker 3 (20:18):
You a rep back?
Speaker 4 (20:19):
Dan?
Speaker 3 (20:19):
Though? Like did people see it that they were like,
oh shit, ron To just slam the ship? I just kid.
Speaker 4 (20:23):
I mean kind of. I was like really muscular, it's
like you know, at that age. But it was the
kind of thing I got teased 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, Rondo's
fucking Ronda's jack or ron ron was really strong or
something like that. But it was kind of like something
(20:43):
I got teased for more.
Speaker 3 (20:45):
But would you embrace it?
Speaker 4 (20:46):
When did I embrace it? Oh god? I think in
my mid twenties when I realized I was sexy. Wait
a minute, I look great. Oh yeah, it was kind
of about that. I think it was when I was
switching over from Judo into MMA, and I had I
knew that there was a window there, but I had
(21:07):
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 that confidence, and I kind of
had to fake it until until I made it. And
(21:27):
that was basically it. You know, you had to pretend
to sleep before you get to sleep. So I was like, whatever,
I'm gonna 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 bit
the bullet and put myself out there. And then I
just actually started to be like, well, you know what,
(21:49):
I actually I'm really happy with how I look and
and things like that, and and everything kind of came
from that.
Speaker 5 (21:57):
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 on like how ripped you are
right now and people see you posting these videos on
your Instagram and all things, So what is there, Like,
what's happening? Are we going to see happening return somewhere
because these videos you're posting, it'd be like, Oh, just
having lunch with my friend and you're like in the ring,
(22:19):
like it's so casual in the caption.
Speaker 4 (22:22):
Yeah, well I have I have a cage in my garage.
It's not like I went anywhere. I really did like
mosey on out there and like that's how you post it.
I'm like this video, yeah, 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 and bring my friends over and do some karate,
(22:44):
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 for reasons other than my own.
And I think it's having my last baby. It just
being pregnant is it's fucking tough, you know. I literally
(23:06):
it felt like I was like handicapped just compared to
being finally tuned athletic machine. Right, you know, I feel
like I can do anything to suddenly like if I
did a forward role, 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,
(23:29):
and just get that freedom of movement back. And so
then yeah, I started training in MMA again because I
feel like when I kind of lost that identity as
being a fighter, it 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
(23:49):
to the extreme of like I don't want to train
on and want to do anything at all. And and
actually was a friend of mine who with one of
my coaches, who he was like, oh, well, I really
want to give my black belt in judo, can you
like help me get my black belt? And I'm like
all right, And so I had a couple of mats
in my garage, so you'd come over, I'd show them
some judo. And then then I started like getting like
(24:11):
enjoying it. You know again. And then you know he
does like wrestling in jiu jitsu 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 paddles for me and hit some mits and
stuff like that. And then so it just kind of
(24:31):
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 one reason or another and so and and
it's what my body really wants, you know, It's what
(24:51):
I've been training to do my whole life. And I
just feel healthier and better and I want to train again.
It makes me happy. And it 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 own joy? Is that is that bad?
Speaker 3 (25:10):
They see you training, but they automatically think you want
to come back?
Speaker 4 (25:12):
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,
it is what I This is what happens when I train.
You know, I look great. Sorry, Like 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
(25:32):
that I don't think anyone's ever really done.
Speaker 1 (25:35):
It's weird though, right, Like do you think the public
is addicted to watching people so called for? Because I
mean the reality of situation is, you only lost two fights,
but the media made it seem like it was just
completely over, like you could never win again. Like did
you think you think you let the media get to
you more than anything?
Speaker 4 (25:52):
Uh? No, it was more of like what I was
dealing with personally and physically. I'd had uh so many
can Hians since I was a kid, and they were
getting progressively worse and worse, and I was getting concussion
symptoms easier and easier, and it got to the point where,
like any kind of impact at all, I was basically
(26:14):
like losing my vision.
Speaker 3 (26:16):
Wow.
Speaker 4 (26:17):
And I actually recently got some really great news about
that because Dana had me. You want 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 to actually
(26:40):
give me good news because yeah, because a lot of
times it's just like neurologically, you're 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 he said that I used to get migraines as
a kid, and he told me that people that get
(27:03):
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 when I'm
(27:26):
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 lose my
death perception and my ability to track moving objects or
(27:47):
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 geting a and
so and so it's got to the point where, like
I I can't fight safely because if I get hit,
(28:09):
I basically can go blind. But the thing is there's
things I can also do about it. So I'm like
trying to address it like nutritionally and things like that.
But but yeah, it's it's kind of nuts because I thought.
I thought, I'm like, okay, well, I'm just gonna get
CT any day now, you know. And he was like, yeah,
I finally got some good news of like maybe there's
(28:31):
something you can do about it. And it's not a
you know, a the nail on the coffin of your
of being able to be able to fight. So that's
actually actually great news. But I don't know what I'm
going to do with that.
Speaker 3 (28:44):
I would like, what's the point?
Speaker 5 (28:48):
I don't think it sounds like you kind of are like,
I mean, not did 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.
Speaker 4 (28:57):
So yeah, I mean, I 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 and packs to see if it
like if it works or not right?
Speaker 3 (29:13):
You know, unless you can find like a YouTuber, like
maybe there's a female YouTuber that wants to get it popping.
Speaker 2 (29:18):
I don't know, Like why, how scared were you?
Speaker 5 (29:21):
Because there were fans that were saying that the retirement
was like abrupt. 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.
Speaker 4 (29:36):
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 headspace that you're in when
you're out there. It's just more of like disabled and
like trying not to panic and.
Speaker 5 (29:52):
Not even in the moment in the ring though, just
like in life of like like I want to be healthy,
I want to be okay, and I'm exp into 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?
Speaker 2 (30:07):
Like I'm not okay.
Speaker 4 (30:08):
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
(30:29):
of what I was worried about than how it was
affecting me in the fights itself. 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
(30:49):
I'm not doing well physically, then people would be like, oh,
women shouldn't do mma because that'll that's what will happen
to you, right, you know, so I have to kind
of think about that. Aging gracefully is actually pretty important
for the sport because I represent the sport.
Speaker 1 (31:06):
It's just it's just interesting because, like, you know, you
even think about somebody like Mike Tyson, he's lost multiple fights. God,
that's day. Muammad 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 of fights and people like
(31:26):
like it's in the world, it's over, she's done, she's finished.
Speaker 4 (31:30):
Well, what do you think the difference is.
Speaker 3 (31:32):
I don't know.
Speaker 4 (31:32):
Oh, that's true.
Speaker 5 (31:38):
I mean when you decided to walk away after those fights,
people were talking about this changing the trajectory of your
Like those fights single handedly changed the trajectory of your career.
Speaker 1 (31:47):
Nobody even took into consideration all the other things that
you're telling us now, yeah, mental issues, it could be
physical issues. It's just it was it literally felt like
it's over, no longer the bad it someone on the
planet done.
Speaker 4 (31:59):
I mean I didn't want to like go out. I
don't want people think I was making excuses, you know,
So I was just like, what's the point.
Speaker 2 (32:10):
Do you feel like people threw you away? In a sense?
Speaker 4 (32:14):
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 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 fame at a certain
(32:39):
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, 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
(32:59):
was crazy for a while. I remember once I was
in the in the line for in and out to
get you know animal, Yeah, not even in the store,
in the car, and someone noticed me in the in
the car and like a whole mob flooring 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
(33:19):
standing up and lining up at the table, or go
to the grocery store. And I 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 I entered into that like nostalgia phase where people
are like, oh, yeah, I remember you. You know. It's
(33:41):
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, two 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. And maybe it's
something that like, you know, fan of my ego, but
(34:01):
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 back doors of everywhere
for the rest of my life.
Speaker 3 (34:12):
So you're definitely not fighting at the UFC, have been
at the White House because people.
Speaker 2 (34:14):
Think you are on They think that that is the
next one coming.
Speaker 4 (34:18):
That'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 I had a baby like nine months ago. I'm
still walking it off.
Speaker 5 (34:29):
You know, did you receive an actual like invite because
you never specifically said if you got an invite or not,
people as soon you didn't.
Speaker 4 (34:37):
Because we open invitation at all times, you know what.
Speaker 3 (34:42):
I think.
Speaker 5 (34:42):
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
Musk 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.
Speaker 2 (34:57):
But it hasn't affected Dana White in his business. Why
do you think that that is?
Speaker 4 (35:03):
Probably because the people that he's selling to is a
very different group, you know what I mean. UFC fans
and Tesla fans or that that Benn diagram is not a.
Speaker 2 (35:16):
Stark difference.
Speaker 3 (35:17):
But yeah, yeah, how has motherhood changed your relationship with
competition and ego?
Speaker 4 (35:25):
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
(35:47):
of my niche one of my random, like deep cut
movie references. But remember and Jerry maguire with Cush, the
guy he was representing, and he was asking how his
day was, and he not a press conference all day,
and he said he was so tired of talking about himself,
and he got cushlash. Is that cushlash, cush slash. I
(36:07):
had a big time cush lash. I was tired of
my self. I don't want to talk about myself anymore.
We focus on my own ship. And so I think
the great one of one of the great things while
being a mom is like I'm not the focus in
the center anymore. Yeah, And so I think that that's
one of the great things I did for my ego
(36:29):
is I'm not ruminating over my own crap. You know,
I am dealing with actual crap.
Speaker 1 (36:38):
So do you think like true confidence comes from I
guess being dominance or surrenders.
Speaker 4 (36:45):
Does confidence come from dominance? True dominance or true confidence?
Speaker 3 (36:52):
Confidence? I'm sorry, true confidence? Yes? You think true confidence
comes from dominance? Are surrender?
Speaker 4 (36:57):
Oh?
Speaker 3 (36:58):
God?
Speaker 4 (36:59):
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
(37:20):
coming in and that's their first sport. Iam had, you know, competition,
sperience in something else where they have that confidence from
having hundreds of matches doing something else. And yeah, So
like that's where a lot of my confidence came from,
was I'd been in hundreds and thousands of matches and
(37:43):
that 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.
Speaker 3 (37:54):
What does peace look like for Ronda Rowley today.
Speaker 4 (37:57):
Peace, Oh man, I want to go. Well, my younger,
my youngest son is he just committed to Boise and 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
(38:17):
that's that's that's my peace.
Speaker 2 (38:20):
I love that. Yeah, I love that you had that
place in life.
Speaker 5 (38:23):
A lot of times 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.
Speaker 2 (38:31):
Yeah, you have to settle for other things.
Speaker 4 (38:32):
Well, I think like my mom, she 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. He
don't have kids young? Why not? Well she I think
she felt pressured at a young age. She got married
at like nineteen and you know, Catholic upbringing, felt like
she was living in sin and had had to marry
(38:55):
the guy, you know what I mean. And so I
think he just you're still getting to know yourself at
that age and you're not gonna I think you're lucky
if you find the one, because otherwise it's like, how
are you gonna know what you're gonna want for the
rest of your life? You don't even know who you are.
And so she always told us to make sure that
(39:17):
we wait. And so I'm really glad that I waited,
and I got wanted all my career stuff to be
done upfront so then I could just focus 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
(39:37):
then do you know, momming on easy level, which I think, yeah,
well it's easy level compared to having three jobs 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 something like that,
(39:58):
or help me like watch the kids, I'm not like
I have the means to do it, you know. And
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 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
(40:20):
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.
Speaker 3 (40:30):
And you know, you talked about writing the sequel to
Expect Unexpected. Do you see storytelling as a new form
of healing for you?
Speaker 4 (40:37):
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
(40:57):
a situation where I can find people like the you know,
the guys at Awa that that I can use my
name or even just get them to read it and
get you know, Axel Alonzo as a former like you
know editor in Cheat at Marvel to like look at
my scripts and 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
(41:20):
am 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 be able to exceed every expectation, because
you know, I'm not really good at half assing things.
I want. 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
(41:42):
best sequel possible, and if possible, like make it into
like make it into a film, make it into whatever,
create something out of nothing, out of just your mind.
I think that that that's incredible, especially when everything that
I've done that people really value has been so physical.
To be able to do something stable like this is, uh,
(42:03):
it's really valuable to me.
Speaker 3 (42:04):
So what still drives you now, legacy? Love? Something deep?
Speaker 4 (42:08):
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 our self fulfilling instead of looking
for that fulfillment outside of myself. Has been the real
lesson that I've gleaned from all of this and real happiness,
(42:30):
you know, and 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 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 end, instead of being like, oh, what's
gonna be like my post today? How do I make
(42:52):
sure that people know that I'm I'm doing stuff and
looking good and you know, still in the mix or
something like that, and it's otherwise being like what I
really I don't want to think about it. Me and
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 have
our work phone with all of our stuff and stuff
on it, but have something with no social media, know anything,
(43:14):
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 yeah.
Speaker 5 (43:26):
I was just wait, I get to that point in
career that was cute. Yes, start over a fresh phone
laid on the beach.
Speaker 4 (43:35):
On my side, Yeah exactly. Oh yeah, it's so close
I can I can taste it.
Speaker 2 (43:40):
You know, I really believe you not getting back in
the ring now.
Speaker 5 (43:43):
After talking to you. At first, I was like, it's
no because you're posting these videos. But after talking to you,
I mean, if you would, I'd be confused because you're.
Speaker 2 (43:49):
So happy right now.
Speaker 4 (43:50):
Oh thank you.
Speaker 2 (43:51):
You seem happy anyway.
Speaker 4 (43:52):
Yeah, if I if I would, it wouldn't be in
a place to like I'm trying to patch up my
happiness and try to like find an antidote. I think
that's what it was before. If like, oh if I
get this fight, if I win this, then I'll be happy.
You know. I think like if it would come from
an entirely different space, if ever, if ever came at all,
(44:12):
that it might happen. Okay, that Mike Tyson, you can
never say never. Now.
Speaker 3 (44:19):
Look at the shitty gets though, like like, oh you
come out there.
Speaker 4 (44:22):
You got he got twenty million dollars.
Speaker 3 (44:24):
I mean some ship I wasn't get for whatever reason.
You're right, it is agenda thing. You just got to
tell them what it is. End thin.
Speaker 1 (44:31):
It's just different for them, Like they can come out
there fight the youtubeers. Nobody says, oh, it's a trash
ass fight. Nobody says, you just collecting a check like
it's and he still gets tired.
Speaker 3 (44:41):
It's the baddest man on the planet.
Speaker 4 (44:42):
Baddest man on the planet. One hundred and eight million views,
So fucking comment whatever you want. That's the most watched
fight of all time. And he was almost sixty. Yeah,
like that's that's 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
(45:03):
to see to see him do that.
Speaker 1 (45:05):
We need a popular female YouTube with a turn m
m a fighter real quick, all right, that's real quick.
Speaker 3 (45:10):
Who's who is it?
Speaker 4 (45:11):
Jenna Marbles?
Speaker 5 (45:12):
I'm coming for you, demol Jenn State right there in
front of that camera.
Speaker 3 (45:18):
Just get the money on Netflix. That'll be a quick.
Speaker 5 (45:20):
Little you know, who is she don't need to be
in the ring with keeping getting like house tours and
all those stream.
Speaker 3 (45:33):
Who do you think you lie? Krishan Rock versus Ronda Rowsey?
What were doing?
Speaker 4 (45:38):
Netflix? Zeus?
Speaker 1 (45:39):
What's up? Versus Randa Rousey. Everybody will tune in to
watch that.
Speaker 2 (45:48):
Do you know who Christian is?
Speaker 4 (45:51):
Am I aging myself by saying no, you're not, No,
you're not.
Speaker 5 (45:55):
There are people of all ages that may not be
into the Chris Shawan Rock of Things.
Speaker 1 (46:00):
She's younger than you and she can scrap, but I
got my money on you.
Speaker 3 (46:04):
But everybody will tune in for that.
Speaker 1 (46:06):
Okay, Kashan Rock versus Ronda Rowsey, Dana White, what's up?
Speaker 3 (46:10):
Netflix? What's up? Zeus? What's up? Let's make that happen.
Speaker 1 (46:14):
We'll come out there, host it, getting on all the
iHeart stations promoting crazy Shan Rock versus Ronda Rowsey. I'm
putting everything on Ronda.
Speaker 3 (46:24):
What's up?
Speaker 2 (46:25):
Heart?
Speaker 3 (46:26):
That's the matchup you would if you can make it happen.
Speaker 4 (46:29):
Well, what's what's like? Sean's like logline like.
Speaker 5 (46:33):
Who is just this?
Speaker 2 (46:36):
And blue face? You know who blue faces down?
Speaker 4 (46:39):
No, listen, Miss Rachel is like my whole universe right now.
She's beautiful.
Speaker 3 (46:51):
She fights, he's fighting like street fight.
Speaker 2 (46:54):
Got to God though.
Speaker 1 (46:55):
She reasonedly got twenty five, got a couple of kids,
suit the matchup.
Speaker 4 (46:59):
I don't know she found God him. I have to
go like hit up Azalea Banks or something.
Speaker 3 (47:05):
Oh my god, now we were shot the rock banks.
Oh my god, we're.
Speaker 2 (47:12):
Doing some great, great.
Speaker 3 (47:16):
Banks. What were doing?
Speaker 2 (47:16):
I'm there.
Speaker 4 (47:18):
I'd walk out to her song, just.
Speaker 3 (47:21):
We gotta make this happen.
Speaker 1 (47:22):
It's Ronda Rowsey Expecting the unexpected is available now.
Speaker 3 (47:26):
Thank you for joining us.
Speaker 4 (47:27):
Thank you for having me. It's a great time.
Speaker 3 (47:28):
Absolutely. It's the Breakfast Club, every.
Speaker 1 (47:32):
Day, a week ago, up the Breakfast Club.
Speaker 3 (47:35):
You don't finish, y'all done,
The Breakfast Club News
Hosts And Creators
Charlamagne Tha God
DJ Envy
Jess Hilarious
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