Ronda Rousey to Be First Woman in UFC Hall of Fame

UFC's first women's champion has not fought since 2016, but left huge legacy.

Ronda Rousey poses for a portrait during a UFC photo session inside the MGM Grand Conference Center on December 26, 2016 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images)
Ronda Rousey poses for a portrait during a UFC photo session inside the MGM Grand Conference Center on December 26, 2016 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images)

UFC will honor it’s first women’s champion with a first in the history of the sport.

Ronda Rousey will be inducted into the UFC Hall of Fame on July 5, becoming the first woman to receive the honor, the organization announced Saturday night.

For a time, Rousey dominated both the sport and the headlines — both as bantamweight champ from 2012 until 2015 and as winner of her first 12 professional fights, all by submission. She used that dominance to build a career outside of the ring, with roles in movies like Entourage and Furious 7. But her mystique took a hit with a surprise second round knockout loss to Holly Holm in 2015. A comeback attempt a year later ended in another loss, to Amanda Nunes.

A former judo champion and Olympic bronze medalist, Rousey is now wrestling with a career change in the WWE.

“There would be no women in UFC without Ronda Rousey,” UFC President Dana White said in a statement. “Ronda is an absolute pioneer who helped me personally, and a lot of other people, look at women in combat sports differently.”

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