Ronda Rousey is the fighter of the year

Thursday afternoon Ronda Rousey hosted a media day in anticipation of her UFC 190 fight versus Bethe Correia. The fight takes place on August 1 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. A packed house of media showed up at the GFC gym in Glendale to hear from the undefeated UFC women’s bantamweight champion.

Rousey as always appeared to be ready to travel to Brazil but made it clear that her intent was to punish her opponent who has made quite the reputation off of beating some of Rousey’s friends.

“I’m focused on every single opponent but I’m starting to think of legacy. I want to be that one dominant athlete who retires on top,” said Rousey.

The talk of legacy may seem strange as many see the undefeated champion at the peak of her prime but with every fight before her, Rousey seems to be searching for a challenge within her division.

Dominant performances have left her asking for more but understands that the line of opponents jumping at the chance to fight her isn’t getting any smaller anytime soon.

Against Correia she faces another undefeated opponent that believes she has what it takes to defeat Rousey. The build-up to the fight has made things a bit personal to where Ronda is now more than happy to travel to Brazil for the chance to embarrass Correia before her hometown crowd.

“The fight had already become personal for me and I wanted to beat her in the most devastating way possible. Now I get to beat her in front of her own people,” said Rousey.

Rousey’s confidence as an athlete can only be attributed to her dedication to hard work in the gym, no matter what is going on outside of her fighting career.

At the end of the day she understands that opportunities to be in movies and advertisements come from her success as a fighter. Something she plans to continue to do until she feels there are no more challenges. No one understands that better than her trainer Edmond Tarverdyan who was happy to see his fighter win the ESPN Espy for fighter of the year.

“Very happy for her. Ronda is an amazing athlete and an amazing human being. She trains really hard. I never doubted in my mind that she’s the greatest and that she’s the best. My job is just to make her better every day in the gym,” said Tarverdyan.

The challenge of going to Brazil doesn’t bother him one bit as he is confident his charge will do what is needed to secure the victory. He also understands what other fighters bring as a challenge.

“Every fighter is a fighter and you have to beat them first before you can say anything. These girls come out swinging and everyone wants to do something to beat the best fighter in the world,” said Tarverdyan.

The fight is a few weeks away and Rousey is out to prove that she is the most dominant champion in the UFC. Just as she was the first female fighter to be awarded the Espy as fighter of the year, she plans to be the first to overcome anything she sees as a challenge.