Ronda Rousey used her voice to get her a title shot. She will take on Miesha Tate for the Strikeforce bantamweight belt on Saturday in part because she persistently asked for the fight. She knows how to use her mouth to get what she wants.
This isn't new for her. Before becoming the first U.S. woman to win a judo medal in the Olympics, Rousey used her mouth to make a positive change in the judo community.
In 2008, when Rousey had already made the U.S. Olympic judo team, she wrote a post on her blog that shined a light on a judo official. Rousey wrote about accusations made against Fletcher Thornton. In sworn affidavits, then-teenaged judo players said Thornton had drugged and molested them.
The complaints against Fletcher didn't keep him from holding high offices within the judo community until Rousey spoke up. He resigned two weeks before the 2008 Games started.
"I felt it was the right thing to do, and I had already made the Olympic team, so there was nothing anyone could do to me," Rousey told Cagewriter during our January interview.
[ Related: Ronda Rousey can break out in Strikeforce title bout vs. Miesha Tate ]
"Someone had to speak up against this pervert. I thought, if I'm the only one who has the balls to do anything about it, then I'll deal with the consequences. I got a hold of all the affidavits, I spread it all around, and we got the New York Times to write an article about it. Now, he's never going to be around judo or any young women ever. I felt obligated as a woman to do that."
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