UFC women’s bantamweight champ Ronda Rousey has opened up about the darkest period of her life in her upcoming book.
Rousey’s biography ‘My Fight/Your Fight’, is set for release on 12 May, and the New York Post have given us a sneak peek at its contents.
Before joining the UFC, Rousey was a decorated judo practitioner. She claimed a silver medal in the 2007 World Championships and earned an Olympic bronze in the 2008 Beijing Olympics before changing disciplines to MMA.
In her new book, Rousey detailed how the pressure of training for Olympic judo weighed her down, which lead to the lowest point of her life. She explained that following the Beijing games, she used her $10,000 prize money to fund a year-long party binge.
Her $10,000 prize money ran out quickly, and she got a job bartending at a theme place in Los Angeles.
Rousey began smoking and drinking heavily, often beginning her day with a cigarette and a vodka espresso. She developed a pot-and-Vicodin habit. She’d sleep in her car, and when she did find an apartment, all she could afford was a 12-by-12-foot studio.
“On more than one occasion,” she writes, “sewage would come up out of the toilet and shower, and I’d come home from work to an apartment filled with s- -t. I didn’t think I could get any lower.”
Rousey eventually turned her fortunes around and returned to training. As fate would have it, she revealed becoming inspired to try her hand at MMA while working at an LA bar.
Then one day at work, Rousey caught an MMA highlight reel on the flat-screen over the bar.
“I could totally do that,” she thought.
Since making the switch to the sport, Rousey became the undisputed women’s bantamweight UFC champion by amassing a perfect 11-0 record and finishing every opponent in her path. she’ll be looking to extend it to 12 straight wins when she takes on Brazilian Bethe Correia in the main event at UFC 190.
