Ronda Rousey is Totally Stoked to Defend Earthrealm as Sonya Blade in Mortal Kombat 11

Some kids want to grow up to be astronauts. When Jurassic Park came out, a whole generation of children wanted to become paleontologists. As soon as Ronda saw Mortal Kombat, she knew she wanted to run around chasing a metal-faced, laser-eyed dude while defending Earthrealm from evil forces.

“When I was a little kid, there wasn’t many female role models in any kind of action, kick-ass space. I used to have to invent people in my head,” Ronda said. “But with Mortal Kombat, I didn’t have to make anyone up. There was Sonya Blade. She was the one who looked the most like me.”

Of course, when you’re raised by a world champion judoka who woke you up with armbar threats, it’s no surprise that Ronda thought she was being groomed to grow up into one of our world’s great defenders. Aside from her mom, there wasn’t a lot of badass ladies around.

“The idea that the fate of the world would have to be fought over in a martial arts tournament was the coolest thing ever. Of course, in my mind, I’m like, ‘I want to fight to defend Earthrealm,'” she said. “It wasn’t just a bunch of tough guys, but there was this beautiful blonde woman there who was just as tough if not tougher than all of them blew my mind a little kid.”

Along with Sonya Blade, the kombatants revealed for the new Mortal Kombat 11 game are Sub-Zero, Scorpion, Skarlet, Baraka, Raiden, Geras, and Shao Khan. That’s already an imposing challenge tower, but if anyone can do it, it’s Ronda. After all, she’s been training her whole life for this.

“I literally did everything that I could to grow up to be Sonya Blade. This is the closest that I could get to being Sonya Blade in real life,” she said. “If people did come to Earth and was like, ‘send us your best warriors,’ I would totally be one of those warriors. I am totally ready to defend Earthrealm. Finally, my chance has come.”