Leo Frincu, trainer of former UFC Women’s Champion Ronda Rousey, shares some interesting insights on Rousey’s relationship with boxing.
Have you noticed that Ronda Rousey’s posts to social media show her in training for boxing more than any other discipline? I have a theory as to why this is.
As an MMA athlete, you train several hours a day in various disciplines. You predominantly practice the skills you believe you lack the most. Grappling, kickboxing, wrestling and boxing are just some of the skills these athletes practice year after year in order to become the best fighters.
In Ronda’s case, we all know that she is an accomplished judoka.
Based on her background, Ronda is an experienced world-class judo athlete, not a seasoned boxer. So one explanation is, she simply needs to train in boxing more than other disciplines. But I think there is another reason that Ronda prefers boxing over other types of training.
I think she loves boxing. I think she loves it because she loves how boxing makes her feel. Boxing makes Ronda Rousey feel like a bad ass.
Like any athlete, she wants to feel stronger, and better about herself. And this recently acquired skill does just that for her. I believe Ronda wants to feel different than she felt when she was a judoka. We all know she is an accomplished judo competitor; however, that is part of her past, or better said, that is who she is, which she never fully embraced and always struggled with.
In addition, she was never happy with the USA Judo organization and how they treated her. That also contributed to her distancing herself from what judo represents.
Her past is a conglomerate of unfortunate events that culminated with her living out of her car.
Ronda fell in love with boxing because boxing has given her a fresh and different identity. The only reason she is still training in judo or Jiu Jitsu is that she wants to maintain her level of expertise in these arts. I think that if it was up to her, boxing would be her only choice of training.
This would explain why she posts more photos and videos showing her training in boxing on social media.
After all this time practicing this skill, would it be safe to call her a striker, rather than a judoka?
Whether she is a boxer or not, I am not qualified to say. That's not the point.
The point is that boxing, and everything related to it, gives her what she wants, regardless of whether these things are good, or healthy for her or not.
We can see what happens when Ronda gets in trouble inside the octagon. Although she would like to stand up and strike (she would probably love to be considered a striker), as soon as she get punched in the face, rightfully so, she goes straight to her judo background, and eventually the infamous takedown slash arm bar. This is not by choice. Once she is faced with a threat, her instincts just kick in.
She might not like it, and she may or may not have accepted it, but that’s who she is.
That is why she absolutely hates it when people say she's a bad striker. She works so hard to feel good about herself through boxing. So of course, it won’t make her happy when someone puts her boxing skills down.
This is also why she stands by her boxing coach, regardless of what her mother, or everyone else says. She doesn't stand by her boxing coach because she's just loyal.
She just stands by and supports her new identity, and don't you fucking dare trying to take that away from her.
Ronda’s boxing isn’t just a skill that she practices daily to help her inside the octagon. It’s also a tool for helping her to feel stronger and better about herself.
So the next time you are thinking about criticizing Ronda’s boxing skills, think twice. If you say something bad about Ronda, or Ronda’s striking, or her boxing coach, be prepared to fight back, because Ronda will not take it easy on you.