Directed by Nadine Mundo & Rena Mundo Croshere
MMA is a sensation gobbled up by many whenever a pay-per-view event comes around. I am not a fan. The Mundo sisters have not managed to change my opinion of the sport with their film about the sports biggest female star, Ronda Rousey, but they have managed to call my attention to the sport, to the person, the woman, and brought a newfound respect for what Rousey has managed to accomplish. A bronze medalist in Judo in the Olympics, Rousey has managed to not only make a brand out of herself, but a brand out of female MMA fighting. As she says in the film, it remains to be seen if female MMA will last, but for now she has seen herself and the sport come to fame within the Octogon.
Rousey is a remarkable person. She is a smart businesswoman and one hell of a fighter. But it is important to see how she approaches her goals, and how she reaches them. Her goal was to bring relevancy to female MMA and to be world champion. These were not easy tasks when the president of UFC, the big leagues of MMA, was quoted s having said women would never fight in his league. To break down these barriers, and be a true pioneer for women, Rousey had the tall task of convincing Dana White. But her passion for fighting, and will to make it work is what made it work in the end, and the main reason the film is so effective, and Rousey herself can be looked up to as a role model.
The thing that sticks with me most from the viewing are a few lines she says at the end, which perfect summarize her story as a pioneer, a person, and as a woman. She said she was never into Sleeping Beauty and Snow White, believing more about doing than being a princess waiting for someone to do for you. Always work for what you want, and never expect it. But more importantly she says that she doesn’t want girls to have the same ambitions as her, she doesn’t want them to say the same things she says. Instead, she wants them to know that they should have ambition, and that they can say what is on their minds. Not only does this show that she is aware of herself as a role model, but it also shows the open-minded humility of her character. I never knew I could respect Ronda Rousey this much.
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