Don't be a D.N.B. , UFC, Ronda Rousey and My Fight/Your Fight

Only ONE DAY LEFT to get "Don't Be A #DNB" swag!! Last 24 hours to get yours before the apparel is gone FOREVER: represent.com/ronda (link in bio!) portion of proceeds to go to @didi_hirsch_mhs

A photo posted by rondarousey (@rondarousey) on Aug 20, 2015 at 10:02am PDT

Have you seen this yet? Ronda, my favourite fighter/athelete/kicker of asses..... well actually she's more of an arm bar kind of girl, has coined the term "Don't Be a DNB" or Do Nothing B!tch.

Here's the backstory, in her own voice (mind the curse words).

So a little about my obsession (you might call it that) with Ronda Rousey. Once upon a time I rejected even the idea of MMA, from an outside perspective it just seemed like men beating each other senseless, in a chain link cage. And if you never watch a full fight night, or get to following any of the athletes, why wouldn't it seem like that. All of the clips and highlights that make it onto mainstream media are going to be selected for the most impact factor. Which in this case means the most blood.

So me from 5 years ago, arguing with my brother about why it UFC was just brutal, appealing to the audience's desire to see anything fight, is a far cry from the me who last month cheered her head off for Canadian Rory MacDonald in his rematch against Robbie Lawler, arguably one of the bloodiest, and best, fights in UFA history.

So how did I pull such a 180? Well two things contributed. 1, Kevin is arguably the biggest MMA superfan ever.... seriously, I mean he doesn't read my blog, but I'm pretty sure he reads every mma blog, watches podcasts, and any time he has a minute to kill, mmajunkie is loaded up on his phone.

So you just can't spend as much time as I do with Kevin without having some of that enthusiasm rub off on you. Not to mention that there is a fight night just about every other weekend, and we inevitably end up at Jamesons watching them.

The second thing that brought me around on MMA? Ronda Rousey, The first time I watched her fight was the much hyped Title defense against Miesha Tate, which she won handily in under a minute by arm bar.  And Kevin filled me in on some of her details, apart from being a totally gorgeous bad-ass, she was an Olympic Bronze Medalist in Judo before sweeping the MMA world by storm. Coming into this fight she had 7 professional wins, all by arm bar, and no losses.

Intrigued, I followed her twitter and instagram, and insisted to Kevin that we watch all of her future fights. And I'm glad I did, over her next 4 fights she diversified, with to KOs, a TKO and only one submission via arm bar. None of these fights lasted longer that a minute and 6 seconds, demonstrating just how far above these other fighters Ronda stands.

So there's no surprise that she was ESPYs best female athlete of the year in 2014 and 2015, and ESPYs Best Fighter of the Year in 2015, winning this over Flyod Mayweather, who incidentally said of Rousey, "I don't know who he is." Really? I doubt it.

Not to mention, that in between all her training and fights, she's had roles in Expendables 3 and the Entourage Movie, and in both roles I'd say  Ronda showed she was capable of holding her own on the big screen as well.

So continuing my obsession, I picked up a copy of her book this summer, My Fight/Your Fight, and I devoured it in about 3 days. This is a book that, regardless of whether you give a crap about fighting or MMA, every woman should read. It's full of lessons and Ronda's day to day example of working for what you want in life, and never letting anything hold you back.  The book is well written, which is no surprise as it's co-authored by Ronda's sister, writer Maria Burns Ortiz. Plus it's chuck full of great photography by Eric Williams, and each chapter is headed by lessons or words of wisdom from Ronda's mother.

Surprisingly real and relatable, the book takes your through Ronda's early childhood difficultly in learning to speak, the tragic loss of her father at 8 years old, her path to the Olympics 2004 at 17 and her Bronze medal in 2008. Along the way she battles body image issues, and some really terrible boyfriends, money problems and struggling with purpose before taking on the MMA world in 2010, and proving UFC President Dana White wrong when in 2011 he said Women would never fight in the UFC.

Overall, Ronda is just a shining example for hard work and determination, for never letting your gender hold you back and breaking stereotypes about the kinds of strength women can have.  So read the book, watch her fight again in January at UFC 195, and follow her advice and Don't be a DNB.