“USA Judo Brass Was Constantly Looking for Ways to Punish Me”: Ronda Rousey Laid Down Her Struggles With American Officials During Her Prime Days

Ronda Rousey is called ‘Rowdy’ for a reason. The former UFC fighter, and now a WWE attraction, remained vocal about her feelings throughout her career and wore her passion on her sleeves. The voice, however, brought her a lot of trouble, too. There was a time in her career as a judoka when the USA Judo Association wanted to punish her as she had been dismissive of their efforts towards athletes and the sport. In her memoir, My Fight/ Your Fight, Ronda Rousey remembered the tough times when in bizarre situations, USA officials wanted an athlete from their own country to be punished.

Rousey had mentioned in detail why she didn’t believe in the coaches and the US Judo Organization. Both coaches and the organization had failed her at critical junctures in her career. This resentment was something that was visible in Ronda Rousey and put her in a soup at the 2009 world Junior championships.

When the USA Judo wanted to punish Ronda Rousey

At the 2009 World Judo Championships, ‘Rowdy’ was touted to be the winner. She was expected to defend her title, but things didn’t happen the way they were planned. In the Semi-final, Rousey went against a Cuban fighter. The fight was pointless for the majority of the time and in an attempt to carve out a result, Rousey tried a throw that landed her on her back. While she was successful in completing the throw, referees thought otherwise.

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They awarded the points to Rousey‘s Cuban opponent. This didn’t go well with ‘The Arm Collector’ who remembered the incident in her book. She wrote, “My hands shook with rage. It took all the strength I had not to scream. It was so fu**ing unfair. I stormed off the mat and threw my gi jacket on the ground as hard as I could. I had been robbed because of someone else’s screwup, and it cost me the championship and the opportunity to be the first American to win the junior worlds twice.”

This angry outburst gave an opportunity to the USA judo Brass, who had been looking to punish Rousey. She further added, “Instead of holding me up as a successful American athlete, the USA Judo brass was constantly looking for ways to punish me.

The referee saved Ronda Rousey

The Judo organization officials went to the referee to understand what they could push out against Ronda Rousey as a punishment. But the answer they got was not what they had expected. Carlos Chavez was a very respected referee from Venezuela. Ronda Rousey mentioned the referee’s answer in the book she wrote, “Ronda felt she had been wronged,” Carlos said. “Correctly or incorrectly, she believed that. She’s very passionate about judo and very passionate about winning. In the moment, she was upset. This is what we want in judo: athletes who are passionate about the sport. She’s young, and we’re not going to do anything.”

The referee and her performance saved her from a punishment that her own association wanted to gift her for her performance. Would You like to know more about Ronda Rousey’s Judoka days?

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