Ronda Rousey is the hottest thing to hit the UFC in quite awhile – in more ways than one. The 26-year-old has gone from a rising StrikeForce star, to the UFC’s first female bantamweight champion and all while becoming one of the hottest new sex symbols. With that title comes plenty of opportunities, including interest from Playboy, but Rousey recently made it clear she’s not interested.
Tuesday night’s episode of HBO’s Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel featured Rousey, who is promoting her pay-per-view title match – the first female main event in UFC history – against Liz Carmouche. The topic of posing nude came up at one point in the conversation and Rousey spoke out about it.
“I don’t really see myself as a sex symbol because ever since people have started calling me a sex symbol, I haven’t had a lot of sex in my life,” Rousey admitted.
This after she posed with very little on in last year’s “Body Issue” of ESPN The Magazine. And that became the focus of the conversation but just like in the octagon, Rousey had an answer for it.
“I felt like it [ESPN The Magazine] was a good way to promote myself and women’s MMA,” she added. “If you want exposure, you have to expose yourself, to some extent. No one should be able to see my cash and prizes for $5, okay? I don’t care how much money they gave me.”
It appears that for now the MMA sensation is adamant about focusing on fighting and not letting any of the side attention get in the way. Let’s see what happens in 10 years, when she’s nearing the end of her career and the magazine throws a substantial amount of money at her.
Ed is a UFC/Extreme Sports contributor for CraveOnline Sports. You can follow him on Twitter @PhillyEdMiller, and subscribe on Facebook @ CraveOnlineSports.
Photo Credit: Getty
