Ronda Rousey's phobia of high-def camel toe forced change in UFC attire
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Ronda Rousey will always be enshrined as one of the best to ever step into the Octagon, but the former UFC and current WWE ace's influence also extends way beyond the ring
UFC and WWE ace Ronda Rousey once revealed her phobia of “high-def camel toe” instigated a significant change in her fighting attire.
Rousey has been a huge trailblazer for women's martial arts, becoming the first woman to sign for the UFC in 2012. For three dominant years, Rousey became known as “the baddest woman on the planet” accumulating a stunning 6-0 record in the UFC, submitting many of her rivals within the first minute.
But one of her most important, if not, memorable legacies could very well be her influence in the adaptation of female MMA fighters and wrestlers' attire. This significant influence was born out of a somewhat hilariously phrased, but yet completely understandable fear of a “high-def camel toe”, that arose after her first fight with Miesha Tate in 2012.
“The first Miesha fight, she got her hooks in from behind, and I was like, 'oh, I can get out of here easy'. But if I did, I would flash everyone, so I had to figure out a way to pull her feet out where my business was facing down, not facing the world,” she said in an interview with Rolling Stone magazine.
“And then I have a phobia about camel toe. I swear to God, every time after I win, even before I take my mouth guard out, I pull my shorts down.
“I went over to their campus and tried on a whole bunch of different stuff, and told them the kind of things that bother me," Rousey said to USA today, via ForTheWin. “Women that fight have bigger lats, and having your lats come out over the bra is annoying, and it needs to be really rigid around the neck, but really flexible.”
“Things like that. I'm constantly adjusting my shorts because they're constantly coming up, so they need to be gripped on the bottom. And that I'm constantly ripping the seams off of things. Clothes don't last very long with me.”
UFC eventually went on to unveil its new 'Reebok fight kits', which were introduced for UFC 189 in 2015. Rousey did not compete at the Las Vegas event, but she did take part in UFC 190 four months later, overcoming Bethe Correia in just 34 seconds.