https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ljV3ORrPek0 Ronda Rousey has credited what she has become today to her mother AnnMaria De Mars. De Mars was herself a groundbreaking athlete in judo as she was the first American woman to win a Judo World Championship back in 1984. She also earned a doctorate at UC Riverside all the while raising her four daughters after the death of her husband Ron Rousey. In addition to having the successful Ronda in MMA, her daughter Maria is a sports journalist on ESPN. To say De Mars is a successful woman is an understatement. It was the same intensity that De Mars has faced everything in life that she personally coached her young daughter Ronda in judo. In the UFC Primetime program Ronda mentioned that one extreme teaching method De Mars used was randomly pull an arm bar yelling "Always ready!". When Ronda coached on season 18 of The Ultimate Fighter, De Mars came by and helped with some coaching. Ronda revealed there was some tough love methods that De Mars used in coaching but it was done to make Ronda better. Needless to say it worked with Ronda not only in judo but into her MMA career as well.
Matthew Salzer fell in love with Mixed Martial Arts when he watched Pride Fighting Championships on Japanese TV. He is a lifelong wrestler having earned a Bachelor of Science at Missouri Baptist University. Matthew is the Senior Editor at MMA Freak and has written for Funky Monkey MMA, H4 Entertainment, and MMA Fiends.