EMMA ALBERICI, PRESENTER: For years mixed martial arts, sometimes known as cage fighting, was considered a blood sport at the exclusive domain of men.

No-one could have predicted that a female athlete would become the sport's biggest star.

Ronda Rousey has been described as the "Mike Tyson of the ultimate fighting championship" and she's coming to Melbourne for a major bout later this month.

Ronda Rousey is inspiring women all over the country to take up this often brutal sport. Lateline's Hamish Fitzsimmons has our story.

(Footage of women training)

JESS FRASER, MIXED MARTIAL ARTS CHAMPION: My name's Jess Fraser. I'm the head of Australian Girls in Gi. It's an organisation of around about 1,000 women that actively participate in grappling arts: so jujitsu, judo, MMA, that sort of thing. I've been running that since 2010.

I have been in martial arts for 10 years, so the past 10 years I have made it my entire life.

I started with Krav Maga, which is predominantly a self-defence. And then, once I realised that I genuinely like fighting - not just to save myself - I moved into Brazilian jujitsu, which I do competitively.

LIVIA GLUCHOVSKA, MMA FIGHTER: The biggest thing for me is that it translates to my everyday life.

My name is Livia Gluchovska. I'm a Brazilian jujitsu fighter. I've been training for about 5.5 years. I have a long history in sports: I was a rhythmic gymnast for 12 years beforehand and then I switched into track cycling.

And I watched Brazilian jujitsu in the corner of my eye and it just caught my attention. I looked like a lot of fun. It looked tough. And I started it and never looked back.

CAITLAND COULSON, MMA FIGHER: And I really like the camaraderie. Even though you are fighting against someone: as soon as you tap, as soon as that round ends, you guys are friends again. You guys are part of the same team and it's beautiful.

MMA INSTRUCTOR: Once you get your knee clear, you can use your spare foot to hook their leg and pass all the way through the mount. And sprawl through, look over your left shoulder, finish the choke.

ADELE FORNARINO, MMA FIGHTER: I pretty much just wanted to become a police officer and I Googled the closest place to me. And I came up with Brazilian jujitsu, so I trained here. I just feel, like, confident walking around the streets. I feel like I can protect myself. My parents feel a lot better about me being out kind of alone, 'cause they just know that I have the ability to kind of protect myself. Like, I'm in no danger.

JESS FRASER: After the attack and murder of Jill Meagher, I was triggered quite badly. For me, because I have a history of violent sexual assault, it triggered me really badly. Really relatable for me.

She felt like all of us, you know, and all of my friends and my family. And it did something to my brain and I cried for days, literally days.

And so I got really proactive in wanting to help other women that I could see in the community, really feeling that one as well. So I did a series of 10 free self-defence seminars for women across Melbourne. And in the end we taught just over 1,000 women in personal protection and awareness.

CAITLAND COULSON: I'm a very anxious person. I find that all martial arts - aikido, Brazilian jujitsu, combat sports, Muay Thai - they all give me a little bit of confidence. They help me be more confident on the mat and I carry that off the mat with me.

KIRSTY MATHER, MMA FIGHTER: I like it because I'm small. I'm five foot one and it gives me the techniques to be able to handle myself in a situation where, you know, I'm fighting someone bigger than me.

And also just 'cause it's fun. It's just a really good thing to have in your life, you know. It keeps you focused and happy and it's a great community to be a part of.

JESS FRASER: I think it's always been popular with women, but retention hasn't been focused on as much as it could be. So women definitely come to the sport. Women like fighting. We genuinely like it. It's fun. This is the thing that people don't mention so much is: it's genuinely fun.

LIVIA GLUCHOVSKA: I'm not a violent person. None of the people I know that do the sport - MMA or jujitsu - are violent.

It's actually a skill, it's an art. It's extremely respectful. We're friends with all my competitors. You know, we train together, we fight and then we have a beer together.

So I think once people start seeing that it's your daughter or your sister or your wife coming to doing martial arts and learning confidence and self-defence and respect and they get fit; then hopefully it will start changing over time. But I think it's going to take a little while.

(Footage of UFC Women's Bantamweight Championship MMA fight between Ronda Rousey and Cat Zingano, Los Angeles, 1 March 2015)

COMMENTATOR 1: Here we go! Wow, right down!

JESS FRASER (voiceover): I think that men are taking more notice of us: that's the really big thing, you know. Like, one of the things that I notice when Ronda is being interviewed is: the questions are always, like, "Do you feel like this is bringing more women to the sport? Do you feel like you're inspiring women and do you feel like you're inspiring girls?"

(Footage ends)

JESS FRASER: There is millions of men watching her and they're fans too - and I think that we're sort of forgetting that; that the change in the way that men think is actually going to boost our sport more than anything.

(Footage of UFC Women's Bantamweight Championship MMA fight between Ronda Rousey and Cat Zingano, Los Angeles, 1 March 2015)

COMMENTATOR 1: Good overhand right by Ronda!

COMMENTATOR 2: Big throwdown!

COMMENTATOR 1: Can she do it right here? It's all over!

(Footage ends)

ADELE FORNARINO: She's an inspiration to people that don't do the sport, 'cause people look up to her and they say, "Hey, you know, you're not a stereotypical kind of woman. You're strong, you can protect yourself, you know how to fight." She's somebody to look up to, I guess.

(Footage of UFC MMA fight between Ronda Rousey and Bethe Correira, 2 August 2015)

COMMENATOR 3: Ronda's hand speed: unbelievable.

(Footage ends)

KIRSTY MATHER: Ronda Rousey is the most dominant athlete, male or female, on the planet, you know. So that's special. Like, that's awesome. Yeah, and we're all loving it. Like, you know, all the chicks in martial arts are just going: "Finally, like, finally women are getting recognition," you know.

(Footage of UFC MMA fight between Ronda Rousey and Bethe Correira, 2 August 2015)

COMMENATOR 4: That young lady is the greatest in the world and we haven't found a close second yet.

(Footage ends)