Last night (July 5th), the UFC held their Hall of Fame ceremony in Las Vegas where they honored and inducted Ronda Rousey to its Class of 2018.
During her MMA career, Rousey became UFC’s first women’s champion, holding the bantamweight belt from 2012 to 2015 and defending it six times. She headlined her last four PPV fights, with the final two drawing 1.1 million PPV buys, and the one before that producing 900,000 buys. She signed with the WWE in January 2018.
"It started with us."@DanaWhite recalls his first meeting with @RondaRousey. #UFCHoF pic.twitter.com/Vmr46Z4Qo5
— UFC (@ufc) July 6, 2018
HISTORY. ?
Tune in on @UFCFightPass ?? https://t.co/zLsnvTd7So #UFCHoF pic.twitter.com/W9ZVx0xl3b
— UFC (@ufc) July 6, 2018
UFC President Dana White, who once said women would never fight in the UFC, inducted Rousey and praised for her contribution to the sport:
In my almost 18 years as UFC president, I’ve learned many valuable lessons. And the one that comes to mind tonight is never say never, especially when you’re talking to UFC. In my defense, when I famously said women would never fight in the UFC, I had never met Ronda Rousey. I had never met the woman who would change everything. She started by changing my mind and she ended up changing the world.
The sport has been changed forever. #UFCHoF pic.twitter.com/rbejlZ84Pe
— UFC (@ufc) July 6, 2018
The first woman to enter the #UFCHoF.
Congratulations, @RondaRousey. pic.twitter.com/Y6jljPwhR2
— UFC (@ufc) July 6, 2018
During her induction speech, Rousey thanked her supporters and hopes to see the rise of female talents honored:
I am not the first person who had the ability to do this, but I am here because I am the first person you took the time to watch. That you put the energy into supporting. Because of you, I am the first woman standing up here accepting this incredible honor. May I be the first of many. I look around and think, together we built this, this division, this sport, this revolution. Together we have redefined what it means to be strong, to be sexy. We have changed what it means to ‘fight like a girl.’
Immortalized. #UFCHoF pic.twitter.com/XIhmToa2NF
— UFC (@ufc) July 6, 2018
[H/T: ESPN]
Congratulations to Ronda Rousey.
