They popped the wine and brought out plates of glazed shrimp, chicken skewers and Mr. Chow noodles – a signature item at the famed, namesake Beverly Hills restaurant – and yet, Ronda Rousey still didn't truly understand why she was even there.





This was last August and Dana White, president of the Ultimate Fighting Championship, had called a couple days prior to invite Rousey out with a big group of people. First there would be dinner at Mr. Chow, White's favorite restaurant in Los Angeles. Then the premiere for season five of the FX hit "Sons of Anarchy."

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Rousey was stunned yet excited. She was, after all, a fighter – a bronze medalist in judo at the Beijing Olympics with a budding mixed martial arts career and thus the dream of one day making the UFC, the sport's elite promotion.

The problem was White's long-held opposition to ever letting women fight in the UFC. Over and over he had said he wouldn't even entertain the thought.

"Do you know what's special about this restaurant?" White said he finally asked Rousey that night at Mr. Chow.

"No," Rousey recalled answering.

"About a year ago TMZ stopped me outside this restaurant and asked me if the UFC would ever have a female fighter," White said. "I said, 'never.'"

Rousey's heart sank a bit.

"Well, I brought you here to say women are going to be in the UFC," White said. "And you're the first fighter."

[Kevin Iole: Ronda Rousey is a promoter's dream come true]

This may not be Jackie Robinson breaking into the majors or even Billie Jean King whipping Bobby Riggs, but it was a groundbreaking moment nonetheless.

On Sunday, in Anaheim, Calif., Rousey takes on Liz Carmouche in the first UFC women's fight ever.

This isn't some soft opening or novelty act, either. White promises it's part of a long-term investment in women's MMA. It's the UFC trying to use the star power of Rousey to build entire weight classes, an entire sport nearly from scratch.

Rousey and Carmouche aren't just on the card, they're headlining the pay-per-view telecast, as in: "UFC 157: Rousey vs. Carmouche." The undercard is all men – high-profile fighters such as Dan Henderson, Lyoto Machida, Urijah Faber and Josh Koscheck – serving as the warm-up act, if you will, for the ladies.

"A dream come true," Rousey said.

A dream that wasn't easy to come by.









Rousey returned from the 2008 Olympics with few options and less money. There were a limited number of women fighting in mixed martial arts, which she still needed to learn and develop at, and even then major paydays were rare. She's not one to be intimidated by great challenges though so she trained for it anyway. To pay the bills, she tended bar around Los Angeles. That included a stint at the pirate-themed Redwood in downtown Los Angeles where one day, Rousey said, actor George Wendt came in and ordered an Oban Scotch. "I served Norm from Cheers," she said. "I figured that was the Holy Grail of bartending."

By 2011, she made her professional MMA debut, winning in 25 seconds with an arm bar. She would win five more the same way, which was part of the reason she found herself on White's radar. His company, Zuffa, bought the Strikeforce promotion that Rousey was fighting under, but the acquisition didn't necessarily mean a job for Rousey in the flagship promotion.

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