Ronda Rousey isn’t just a champion of her chosen profession. She’s a certified rock star.
That became apparent at WrestleMania 31 last March, specifically the moment when 76,976 sports-entertainment revelers exploded with delight at the sight of a WWE ring being occupied for the first time by the greatest pound-for-pound female mixed martial artist alive today. The WWE Universe witnessed Rousey for the first time on The Grandest Stage of Them All, but already knew her well from her Olympics and MMA achievements as well as her starring roles in films like "The Expendables," "Furious 7" and the upcoming "Entourage."
Rousey’s resume is well documented, but the triumphs and tragedies that brought her to this point are shared with unflinching honesty in "My Fight / Your Fight," a new memoir she co-wrote with her sister, Maria Burns Ortiz. Rousey recently spoke with WWE.com about the details of her new book, the afterglow of her WrestleMania appearance and the influences that helped cultivate her larger-than-life personality.
WWE.COM: Why was now a good time to publish your memoir?
RONDA ROUSEY: Well, it just seemed like so much has happened that if I wait until the end of my career, it's going to be a thousand-page book. And I honestly wouldn't have done it now if it didn't just happen that my sister’s an award-winning sports journalist, and she would be able to write it with me. So, everything just kind of fell together and I was really happy to do such a big project like this with her. We're a lot closer now because of it.
WWE.COM: There was a moment early on in "My Fight / Your Fight" where you reference how one of the things that was appealing to you with judo was that it didn't allow you much time for introspection, that it was very much reactionary and in the moment. Was it difficult for you to be very candid and open? Because you can't just say a couple of quick lines and get through a memoir.
ROUSEY: No, not at all because I did it with Maria. Every single word in that book was spoken from the heart to somebody that I really love, that went through a lot of those experiences with me.
WWE.COM: One of those candid stories was that it took you a while to actually start speaking as a kid. There was an episode that occurred at a very young age, around three years old, where you were unable to communicate your wish for a Hulk Hogan Wrestling Buddy. 
Do you remember much of that, or is that one of those stories that you were told when you were older?
Do you remember much of that, or is that one of those stories that you were told when you were older?
ROUSEY: No, I remember the "Balgrin." (Ed. Note: As she reveals in "My Fight / Your Fight," "Balgrin" was the word Rousey substituted for Hulk Hogan, a name she was literally unable to annunciate as a young child.) I remember even going into toy stores and seeing the toy, and not being able to tell anyone that that's the one that I wanted. And then we would have to go to another toy store and another toy store and it was very, very frustrating. But when I finally got him, it was just ... it's hard to forget being that happy.
WWE.COM: Do you remember why you preferred Hogan as opposed to "Macho Man" Randy Savage, Ultimate Warrior or some of the others that were available?
ROUSEY: I was just a little three-year-old kid and I loved Hulk Hogan. And when you're a three-year-old kid, you don't list off the reasons. I was just drawn to him. He was always my favorite, even in the video games and everything like that. He was the one that I always remembered and liked the most.
WWE.COM: In the book, you mentioned that his arm was ripped off. Do you remember how that happened?
ROUSEY: Oh, it happened over and over, like several times.
WWE.COM: So there was emergency surgery?
ROUSEY: It was sewed on a lot. I don't remember how I originally did it; I was just really rough on him.
