People Are Calling This Gold Medal Winner the ‘Real Ronda Rousey’
Ronda Rousey isn’t the real Ronda Rousey, because this gold medal winner who just won the final Judo match at the 2016 Rio Olympics is.
Kayla Harrison, a 26-year-old American Olympian, just won her second gold medal in the final match of her 78-kilogram weight class for Team USA in Judo. She’s the first American to defend her gold medal in Judo.
Judo is a mixed martial art type sport in which the judoka’s goal is to pin down their opponent. A judoka is the person who practices judo, and it’s nowhere near as aggressive as full contact MMA fighting we’re used to seeing in like UFC fights.
Kayla was a two-time national champion before she was 18, and her first gold medal was in the 2012 London Olympics. People are calling her the “Real Ronda Rousey” because she was the first American Judoka to defend the title.
She is probably going to retire after this year’s Rio Olympics and move into professional mixed martial arts according to USAToday. Meaning she could face off against the real real Ronda Rousey. It’s nice when things come full circle.
Ronda has been the talk of the UFC for the last few years as she kind of dominated the women’s division of MMA, especially after losing that controversial Holly Holm fight, after which she admitted to Ellen DeGeneres that the loss made her contemplate suicide.
But Ronda hasn’t even come close to Kayla’s Olympic achievements, only earning a bronze medal from the 2008 Beijing Olympics, whereas Kayla has won gold in the past two Olympics.
So maybe Ronda has some competition coming her way if Kayla decides to go the professional MMA route. We’d love to see that matchup.
