Ronda Rousey

About the Author

Ronda Rousey has completely transformed the world of martial arts, beginning with a historic bronze medal showing in judo in the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics and, most notably, a record-setting career as the UFC’s first and most dominant female fighter and Bantamweight Champion. She was the first woman inducted into the UFC Hall of Fame, in 2018, the same year she exploded onto the WWE scene, catapulting the women’s division towards its first WrestleMania main event in history. The self-proclaimed “Rowdy” Ronda Rousey, Baddest Woman on the Planet, returned to the WWE in January of 2022, four months after giving birth to her daughter, La’akea, to win the Royal Rumble. During her time in WWE, she held the Raw, SmackDown, and multiple Tag Team titles. Rousey is also a New York Times bestselling author, the most-followed female athlete on social media, and an actress who has appeared in both the Fast and the Furious and The Expendables franchises. She is married to former UFC heavyweight contender Travis Browne. They live with their two sons and daughter on their small farm east of Los Angeles, California
 
Maria Burns Ortiz is a New York Times best-selling author and award-winning sports journalist. Maria spent over a decade in sports media, including seven years as a writer and columnist for ESPN.com, and was the National Association of Hispanic Journalists’ Emerging Journalist of the Year. She is a teaching artist on the topic of memoir writing at The Loft Literary Center in Minneapolis, where she lives with her husband and three kids.