Watch a Secretly Injured Ronda Rousey Make Her Pro Debut at King of the Cage

Justin Golightly
Ronda Rousey Ediane Gomes KOTC

Fighters go into their fights with nagging injuries all the time. It could be a pulled muscle or a minor ligament tear. Fighters never compete with nine stitches in their foot. No one but Ronda Rousey.

Ronda got bit breaking up a fight between her dog Mochi and her roommate’s pitbull Porkchop. She could barely walk, but pulling out of her pro debut against Ediane Gomes at King of the Cage was out of the question.

There was just one problem: Sneaking it past the athletic commision at the weigh-ins. 

“I had socks on because I wanted to hide it. Then the guy specifically said, ‘You have to be in your underwear. No socks on. Nothing,'” she told MMASavvy.com. “I was like, ‘Oh my God. What am I going to do?’ So I was like, ‘Wait a minute, I’m going to get naked and then they won’t be able to look at me!”

After a nude sleight of foot, Ronda was ready to limp into her fight with Gomes. She went for a ko uchi, fell on top of Gomes, got into mount and took her iconic armbar all in 25 seconds.

It’d be the first submission of a ridiculous streak that boasted eight armbars, leading all the way up to capturing both the Strikeforce and UFC women’s bantamweight titles in just two years.

Relive Ronda Rousey’s entire MMA career right here and start with her first fight on UFC Fight Pass.  

cartchevron-leftchevron-rightemail-share-iconfacebook-share-icongoogle-share-iconlinkedin-share-iconlocked megaphone play-signshirtstartvtwitter-share-iconunlocked user-signuserCrossed Legs Ronda Rousey Pointing