Ronald Rousey and Ann Maria De Mars had little baby Ronda on February 1st, 1987 when her mother (pictured) was already a well-established athlete.
Ann Marie was a judo fighter who got to be the first American to win the gold at the World Judo Championships. Her fantastic combat genes were passed on to little Ronda.
Making a Champion
Giving birth is one of the most difficult things in a woman's life, and it was even harder for Ann Marie.
Ronda's birth was extra complicated because the baby came out with the umbilical cord wrapping her neck. Her oxygen flow was compromised, but she survived that very first fight.
Learning to Speak
Rousey's traumatic birth completion resulted in apraxia — a neurological disorder that caused Ronda a disability, she could not form coherent words and sentences.
Rousey worked with a speech therapist for years, fully recovered, and won that fight as well.
Then Came the Accident
When Rousey was eight years old, she suffered a terrible loss. That winter, Ronda and her family went sledding and their lives changed forever. Her father had a sledding accident and broke his back.
A previously unknown blood condition was preventing Ron from healing properly and left him paralyzed from the waist down. The doctors only gave him a few more years to live, which sent him spiraling and led him into taking his own life.
Learning from Mom
At 11 years old, Ronda started training with her mother. She learned everything she could about judo, worked hard, and a couple of years later became strong enough to accidentally break her mother's wrist.
Ronda turned out to be a natural fighter and joined the Olympic team when she was 15. The year after that, she was ranked number one in her weight category, making history as the youngest American to achieve that title.