Ronda Rousey says her time in WWE completely changed how she approaches combat sports — and she’s now using lessons from pro wrestling for her MMA comeback against Gina Carano.
While speaking with Whistle, Rousey reflected on how every stage of her career helped prepare her for the next chapter. She explained that Olympic judo was purely athletic competition, MMA forced her to become both an athlete and entertainer, action movies introduced her to fight choreography, and WWE added another layer entirely.
While discussing the transition from acting into pro wrestling, Rousey explained why WWE stood out differently from everything else she had done before.
“Well, I feel like MMA was a good segue because being purely an athlete was doing judo at the Olympics. You know, being an athlete that also has to entertain was in MMA and having to learn how to be on camera and stuff like that, which I used to be petrified of public speaking. Then that was kind of like a good segue, and then I started acting more in action films and stuff like that where I could do fight choreography and things like that, and that kind of segued me into pro wrestling, which I feel like is the purest form of fight choreography.”
The conversation then shifted toward Rousey becoming the first woman signed by UFC, which led into the bigger point she wanted to make about bringing WWE experience back into MMA promotion. Rousey explained that pro wrestling taught her how to build fights as events and understand the promotional side of the business much differently than before.
“It was a first step and it was an experiment and there was a lot of pressure. So now I’m returning back to MMA with everything that I learned from pro wrestling and how to promote and be a promoter, because that’s basically what pro wrestling is. It’s just like playing into the fictional promotional part.”
Rousey spent years in WWE after her UFC run and quickly became one of the company’s biggest crossover attractions. Now she’s preparing to step back into MMA carrying a completely different perspective than she had during her original rise in combat sports.
At this point, Rousey clearly sees WWE as more than just another stop in her career. She believes pro wrestling directly changed how she handles pressure, promotion, and the business side of fighting ahead of her return against Gina Carano.
Do you think WWE genuinely helped Ronda Rousey become a better overall performer for combat sports, or was her MMA legacy already set long before wrestling? Leave your thoughts and feedback in the comments below.
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