Ronda Rousey quotes:

The Olympics is a once-in-a-lifetime thing. I was lucky enough to go twice, but most people only get one chance. And in judo you can train your whole life and it'll come down to a split second: You can lose everything or win anything.

Reality TV is set up to make people entertaining. A good person with values and principles is not good television.

When I was in school, martial arts made you a dork, and I became self-conscious that I was too masculine. I was a 16-year-old girl with ringworm and cauliflower ears. People made fun of my arms and called me 'Miss Man.' It wasn't until I got older that I realized: These people are idiots. I'm fabulous.

I think that going on any reality show is not good for your mental health because you behave differently when you are being watched, and you constantly have an extra bit of awareness of what's going on all the time.

One of my mom's best lines is... You're not training to be the best in the world, you're training to be the best in the world on your worst day.

At home, I watch fights and documentaries - that's it. If it's not about the birth and death of stars, 'Frozen Planet,' or someone getting punched in the face, I'm probably not watching it.

If you're unwilling to leave someplace you've outgrown, you will never reach your full potential. To be the best, you have to constantly be challenging yourself, raising the bar, pushing the limits of what you can do. Don't stand still, leap forward.

I had a certificate that said, 'Doctor of Mixology, Harvard University,' that I actually got from Harvard University. A friend of mine was a research assistant over there and it was one of those student or university perks and she brought me in on that. So I am a doctorate from Harvard and it only took me one afternoon.

I don't shy away from any questions. I'm not scared of any question. I'll give you an answer. A lot of people are scared of having actual opinions out there. People are so scared of criticism... I'm not scared of people disliking me.

When I looked at the state of women's MMA, what I saw was that it was missing rivalries or anything theatrical about it. Everybody was trying to be Miss America, unwilling to go under any kind of criticism, and taking the safe answers. I thought I needed to do whatever I could to get attention.

I think that Floyd Mayweather is the best boxer that's ever lived; like actual technical boxer.

My first injury ever was a broken toe, and my mother made me run laps around the mat for the rest of the night. She said she wanted me to know that even if I was hurt, I was still fine.

I was always pushed to do that much more, and in the long run that made me more of an MMA fighter. My mom always told me that if I let it go to the judges, I'd lost. There was no way I was going to win a decision, so I had to find ways to finish the fight fast.

I kind of like to think of myself as the bad girl Olympian that would get kicked out of the Miss America pageant.

People say to me all the time, 'You have no fear.' I tell them, 'No, that's not true. I'm scared all the time. You have to have fear in order to have courage. I'm a courageous person because I'm a scared person.'

I'm kind of like a middle mix between a warrior diet and a Paleo diet, so I only eat once a day and it's at night - so kind of like interval fasting. But I eat until I'm full, I eat as much as I want, and I really don't eat anything that you couldn't find, you know, 10,000 years ago.

For me, MMA is like speed chess. It's like I'm herding a person into a certain position. Say my endgame is an arm bar. I'm not gonna actually take you and put you there. What I'm going to do is convince you that it's a good idea to move in the direction I want you to go.

Where is women's sports prominently displayed with the men? Tennis is the only thing I can think of.

I'm going to beat Alexis Davis then take a nap

The whole 'bad girl' thing allows me to mess up sometimes. And I have freedom to say more of what I want to.

People say this all the time and everyone, like, nods their head and is like, 'Oh yeah, totally,' but no one ever does it, including myself. I can do better at it, is just drinking a lot of water, like a gallon and a half, two gallons a day, like, straight water all day.

Judo taught me that I am capable of anything... I can mentally push past anything and be victorious.

I don't want little girls to have the same ambitions as me. But I want them to know that it's okay to be ambitious.

If I could have had everything exactly the way I wanted, this is how I would have written it down. Win all my fights in the first round, then go to the UFC and headline a show, and have it as a pay-per-view and at home. People's dreams don't come true like that.

Being an athlete, you try to get protein.

I'm kind of like a middle mix between a warrior diet and a Paleo diet, so I only eat once a day and it's at night - so kind of like interval fasting. But I eat until I'm full, I eat as much as I want, and I really don't eat anything that you couldn't find, you know, 10,000 years ago."

A belt does nothing but hold your gi together. A belt has assigned significance, a belt is someone else saying you're good, you don't need other people saying that you're good in order to be good.

You have to have fear in order to have courage.

People say to me all the time, 'You have no fear.' I tell them, 'No, that's not true. I'm scared all the time. You have to have fear in order to have courage. I'm a courageous person because I'm a scared person.

If you ever wanna be motivated, go try and be homeless for a day and that will just light a fire under your butt like none other.

If there's a camera on me or off me, it's roughly the same, just a lot less energy.

Skinny girls look good in clothes, but fit chicks look good naked

My father would say, 'Ronnie, you're going to be someone special. Whatever it is that you want to do, you're going to be the best in the world at it.'

I'm going to retire undefeated. I'll take everybody out one-by-one then go on my merry way

I respect Georges St. Pierre as a businessman and an athlete. I don't have anything against him personally. But he's not the kind of fighter I like watching.

I train to be the best in the world on my worst day

I love Canadians. They are the coolest, nicest, most patriotic people, and they will support their countrymen no matter what, and I think that's commendable.

The bigger my chest is, the more it gets in the way. It just creates space. It makes me much more efficient if I don't have so much in the way between me and my opponent.

The style I have in judo is very unique... One big advantage a judo player has is they have very good posture and - like, wrestlers, they show when they're about to do a take-down... which judo players don't, and so I kind of incorporate the boxing style with a judo grip and finishing that way.

A loss leads to victory, being fired leads to a dream job..I find comfort in believing that good things can grow out of tragedy.

After I did the swimsuit issuе, I knew that I wanted to do it again.

As an athlete you're taught to be selfish. When I'm training, it's usually all about me.

Complimenting yourself is the funnest form of manifestation.

Do I ever get tired of being the first female everything? Not really, I just happened to be in a position where the job that I wanted was not really there for me. I had to create an opportunity instead of waiting for an opportunity.

Don't doubt, don't stop... The only 2 things that can stop you is to stop working and start doubting.

Easy lives make boring people.

Even before I was a fighter, I was a daddy's girl.

Even though I was painted, even though I had on seven layers of paint - to the point that I got a tan, it was as thick as a fabric - I think I felt the most naked because I couldn't cover myself at all. I didn't have to, so I had to be much more open and relaxed.

Everyone wants to win. But to truly succeed - whether it is at a sport or at your job or in life - you have to be willing to do the hard work, overcome the challenges, and make the sacrifices it takes to be the best at what you do.

Everything happens for a reason... even if you don't know it.

Fear of failure is always a driver but the thirst for more is a good one too... So I think you need a little bit of both.

For girls it raises your testosterone, so I try to have as much sex as possible before I fight actually. Not with like everybody, I don't put out like a Craigslist ad or anything, but if I got a steady I'm going to be like 'yo, fight time's coming up',

For girls, it raises your testosterone, so I try to have as much sex as possible before I fight.

I am vulnerable; that's why I fight.

I did what sports were supposed to be like, and I was living in my car. So you know what, fine. I'm gonna talk a bunch of sh*t. I'm gonna pose in a couple of pictures. And I'm gonna break a couple of girl's arms, and I'm not gonna feel the least bit sorry about it because you know what? At least I can feed my dog.

I don't shy away from any questions. I'm not scared of any question. I'll give you an answer. A lot of people are scared of having actual opinions out there. People are so scared of criticism I'm not scared of people disliking me.

I feel like when I fight it's an art, and Art isn't supposed to be 'nice', it isn't supposed to be liked. It's supposed to make you feel something.

I get asked that a lot and I always go back to my mom's, 'No one has the right to beat you.' I take that to every venue that I'm in. She would say, 'Someone has to be the best in the world, why not you?' I always try to keep that in mind.

I got a lot of body paint on me in a short period of time. I would definitely do it again because Joann [Gair] is so brilliant, but I would definitely need, like, a good long break for it.

I grew up with a lot of body image issues - not just about my weight, but I would always see these perfect orb, domed boobs on television, and think, "Mine don't look like that." I thought there was something wrong with me.

I knew that I liked what I was doing, that it was what I wanted to do for a living, and that the profession didn't really exist so much. So I had to create it.?

I never aspired to be 2nd. I was taught... you can do whatever you want in this world, so why not be the best in the world?

I really think that this magazine [Sports Illustrated] is a big step in the "healthy is the new skinny" movement.

I thought that I was mutant somehow. I eventually realized that I have a very natural look, and that's what God gave me, and I'm proud of it. It was kind of a way for me to get past that as well.

I try not to get caught up on how cool I am. That way nothing ever gets done. I'm always thinking about what I haven't done.

If you work hard the fight's easy. If you don't work hard then the fight's hard.

If you're fighting with emotion instead of structure... it's always going to be a mistake.

I'm a courageous person because I'm a scared person.

I'm living such a lucky and blessed life and I'm trying my best to deserve it.

I'm not a full model like those other girls. Mostly I was surprised that I could hang.

I'm scared of failure all the time. But not scared enough to stop trying.

I'm the most dangerous unarmed women in the world, I've prepared my entire life to be that way.

In MMA it's a lot less intimidating because it's not like you get one shot at a title every four years. You get a title shot every couple of months With the Olympics, you don't always have this, so there is so much more pressure involved.

It was a very bold step for Sports Illustrated, and a lot of people are taking notice. I want it to be so normal that people don't even notice anymore.

It's your purpose to leave the world better than how you found it.

I've coached doing judo, but I've never coached MMA. I'll have my own coach with me to help me along the way and I can't really fail with him by my side, but I'm a little nervous.

I've never had anything cold and wet touching my butthole before. That was quite the experience!

Life is a fight from the minute you take your first breath to the moment you exhale your last.

Look at my face. Does it look like I can take a good hit?

Most people focus on the wrong thing; They focus on the result, not the process. The process is the sacrifice; it's all the hard parts - the sweat, the pain, the tears, the losses. You make the sacrifices anyway. You learn to enjoy them, or at least embrace them. In the end, it is the sacrifices that must fulfill you.

My one fear is failure and that's one fear I have to face all the time. Yes, it's uncomfortable to be scared but I'm finally comfortable being uncomfortable.

No one has the right to beat you.

No one is easy until you actually beat them.

One thing that I learned from judo... Maximum efficiency and minimum effort.

Some people like to call me cocky or arrogant, but I just think 'how dare you assume I should think less of myself'

Sports are a metaphor for life.

Sports Illustrated is very serious about their covers. They'll never say, like, 'Oh you got it.'

Strong and healthy is the new sexy.

That I happened to fall into a career that no other girls wanted isn't surprising to me. I wanted something that didn't exist, so I had to create it.

That's why I love fighting, because I get to have a big battle every couple months to make up for the little battles I have to forfeit every day

The confusing thing is we now live in a society where it's not illegal to be an asshole, but it's illegal to slap one.

The kind of hope I'm talking about is the belief that something good will come. That everything you're going through and everything you've gone through will be worth the struggles and frustrations. The kind of hope I'm talking about is a deep belief that the world can be changed, that the impossible is possible.

The reaction has been amazing because there is no woman that could look at these covers and not be like, 'That's what I could look like,' or, 'I pretty much already look like one of these chicks.' It really makes beauty seem so much more attainable to people.

The Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue really sets the social standard for what people expect the perfect woman's body to look like, and a lot of those bodies usually look the same.

The thing that gets me up in the morning is that I'm really not ready to see someone that I know I can beat holding my belt.

The way that I like to fight is I like to paint myself into a corner and so the only way is for me to win.

There have always been people who have written me off. They're not going away. I use that to motivate me. I'm driven to show them just how wrong they are.

There have been times in my adolescence where I gave up. I was like, 'I'm just never going to be pretty. I'm never going to be like one of those people on the front of magazines.' It always seemed really strange to me that the projection of how people are in advertisements looked nothing like the people who were actually buying them. You know what I mean? I never understood that mismatch, and now I really start to see that the people you see in the media are a lot more like people actually are.

There was a long time I had no job security, no options and no education.

To be a fighter, you have to be passionate. I have so much passion, it's hard to hold it all in. That passion escapes as tears from my eyes, sweat from my pores, blood from my veins.

We were in the middle of a sandbar in the middle of the ocean with no one around, and still someone was following me from New York, and was hiding in some bushes like a mile away with a long lens, so he still got pictures. It was really an eye opener to how you really have to be careful about being followed everywhere. I was trying to go to the most remote place in the world, I was out on a sandbar in the middle of the ocean, and they still found me. It was definitely a very new experience.

When you shoot nude, you always find a way to, like, cover yourself up in a way. So you really don't feel like you're truly naked because you're still covering yourself.

When you're doing something like body paint or a nude shoot, you're making yourself very vulnerable, and you're really trusting people to really take care of you and make sure everything is very professional.

Whenever people call me the first female this or that, it doesn't make it more special because no one in front of me wanted the same job. I've always wanted weird stuff and enjoyed things differently than other girls.

You have to fight because you can't count on anyone else fighting for you. And you have to fight for people who can't fight for themselves. To get anything of real value, you have to fight for it.