Ronda Rousey is on top of the world. Never before have women’s combat sports so feverishly captivated national attention as they have since Rousey became the first female fighter to sign with UFC back in 2012. Not to mention the fact that you can go ahead and add author, actress, and Olympic bronze medalist to her ever-growing list of hyphens. Also, if you didn’t know, the 5’ 7” bruiser is actually part Venezuelan, so we can proudly claim some stake in the undefeated UFC Bantamweight Champion and global sports phenomenon.
So it’s a big deal that she’s getting a biopic. Yes, Paramount Pictures has picked up the rights to Rousey’s autobiography My Fight/Your Fight, co-written with sister Maria Burns Ortiz. The book details the 28-year-old’s difficult road to MMA superstardom. That means a Latina is actually getting a biopic, which is about as rare as a green meteorite over Buenos Aires. In fact, a recent study found that only three of 120 high-grossing Hollywood biopics profiled women of color, while a paltry 21 featured any women at all. To boot, the actress slated to play the part of Rowdy is part Venezuelan too. No, it’s not Mariah Carey – it’s Ronda Rousey herself.
That’s right, it seems like Rousey took a page out of Eminem’s playbook and decided she was the best candidate to portray her own life story. Eminem may not have won an Oscar for Best Lead Actor, but things kinda panned out for 8 Mile (we’ll go ahead and not mention 50 Cent’s failed attempt to do just that with 2005’s Get Rich or Die Tryin’. Whoops, we just did). Whether Rousey will be shooting for a golden statue or merely giving her legions of rabid fans something more to chew on, we can be sure the upcoming feature will last more than 34 seconds. In the meantime, homegirl’s gotta train.