Ronda Rousey recently shared some footage of her training with Justin Flores, where the two elite grapplers were flow rolling for quite some time. They actually have a very long history together too, as Flores was one of Rousey’s coaches over the years and helped develop her into the fierce competitor she became. Some of those skills are on display in the footage of them rolling together too, particularly the armbars that she was known for throughout her career. She was one of the pioneers of women’s MMA and her skills on the ground was how she won fights, finishing the majority of her fights by armbar.
Rousey was always destined for a great MMA career really, as she was the first American to ever win a medal at the Olympics for Judo. After a perfect 3-0 amateur career with 3 armbar finishes, Rousey turned professional in 2011 and continued in that fashion immediately. She finished all of her first six fights by armbar in the first round and won the Strikeforce bantamweight championship, before moving to the UFC and immediately being awarded the bantamweight title there. Although she eventually retired from the sport on a two-fight losing streak, Rousey had an impressive 12-2 professional record and finished all of her wins.
It’s no exaggeration to say that Rousey was one of the best female grapplers in MMA history and although she pursued a career in the WWE, she clearly hasn’t lost those skills since retiring. Interestingly, this most recent flow rolling with Flores is just the latest in a series of increased training footage from Rousey. She was recently training with her old rival Cat Zingano, so there’s clearly no shortage of elite talent for her to practice with. It’s unlikely that Rousey is planning on a return to MMA but a grappling match might not be totally out of the question, so it’ll be interesting to see if anything gets announced soon.
Ronda Rousey shared the footage of her flow rolling with Justin Flores in a recent post to her official Instagram account:
