AG: How's that?

RR: As a bartender, I am having pretty much the identical conversation over and over all day, but I still have to be present and genuine with every single response and try to get the other person to like me because that's what gets you tips. And really, how is that different from media? I did an appearance with fans recently, and people were like, "Are you getting tired of this?" And I'm thinking, "No, this is the same as Mother's Day at Gladstones. Instead of giving out drinks, I'm giving out signed pictures."

AG: You worked at Gladstones in Malibu?

RR: I wore the red polo and the blue hat. The khakis. And then they made me start wearing skirts. It was bulls---. I got skorts instead. I wasn't about to be working in a skirt.

AG: You've evolved from not caring about clothes at all to being somewhat into fashion.

RR: Actually, my coach started it. All the guys at my gym are Armenian and extremely well dressed. I was rolling in looking like a bum, mostly because I was wearing clothes I'd had since I was 17. I owned, like, four outfits, and they weren't in the best of shape. So my coach said, "Ronda, you have to dress up a little more. Put on makeup in the morning. Make it a habit." When I started making a bit of money, I got better clothes, and now I'm sponsored by Buffalo David Bitton. I'm wearing it right now [points to her gray, perforated T-shirt and camel-colored leather jacket].

AG: Yours is the first fashion sponsorship anyone in MMA has ever gotten.

RR: Yes! And now that I'm into it, I look at fashion all the time. You know, "Who are you wearing?" I kinda feel bad because sometimes the worlds clash. The last fight, at the staredown on press day, I was wearing this white, leather Alexander McQueen dress, and I was going to post it, but then I worried maybe I shouldn't because people might think that I'm not serious about MMA.

AG: I don't think there is any risk of that. Besides, it would be a bit of a double standard given someone like Conor McGregor is such a dandy. No one is accusing him of not being a serious athlete.

RR: No kidding, right? Ultimately, though, I didn't tag the photo. I was like, "Alexander doesn't pay me. Screw it." I do get gifted some things. I have a stylist now because I've got several trips coming and I don't have that many outfits. A lot of my best clothes I buy at photo shoots because I don't have time to shop. I actually bought that McQueen dress from the ESPN 15th anniversary photo shoot. I bought it from you guys, so thank you for making me look really hot.

AG: You're welcome. [She puts on an oversized trucker cap the restaurant just gave her, snaps a photo.] That looks pretty hot, too.

RR: [Makes a goofy face] I've got a really good hat head. But my hair is still done, so the struggle is real. Do I cover the amazing hair? Or do I show how great my head is in hats?

AG: You gotta go back and forth. You gotta mix it up.

RR: I gotta gesture with it and take it on and off. [She does just that, starts laughing.]

AG: Are you fussy about your food when you're not training?

RR: I try to keep healthy-ish, but I'm so on point when I'm in camp that having a vegetable wrap would actually only be healthy-ish because of the wrap on it.

AG: The wrap is the sin? That's a lot of sacrifice.

RR: Yeah. Like last night, I got the fried calamari and I took all the bread off before dipping it, and that was my treat. And I had one little rip of the cotton candy because I thought maybe gourmet cotton candy would be different. It wasn't. And I ate all the raspberries off the desserts. Everyone else had dessert. I ate the raspberries. And I wouldn't even do that during camp. Let me show you what my training diet looks like. [Takes out her phone, pulls up a sample menu.] Here we go. 8 a.m.: Two teaspoons oat bran, two teaspoons chia seeds, two teaspoons hemp seeds; 10 a.m.: Train; 11:45: Post-exercise smoothie; 12 p.m.: Farmer's scramble: one whole egg, plus two egg whites, two sides of turkey bacon; 4 p.m.: Snack: one apple, one-fourth cup raw almonds, one-fourth cup raw cashews; 6 p.m.: Train. Post-exercise smoothie, da, da, da. Before bed: Chamomile tea. Everything's got an hour, an amount, everything.

AG: And you follow it to the letter?

No one puts more pressure on Ronda Rousey than Ronda Rousey. Esther Lin/Getty Images

RR: Yeah. And instead of vitamins, I have this giant shake twice a day, so it's all fresh vegetables and fruits: a whole beet, a whole apple, two carrots, four strawberries, one cup of blueberries, two handfuls of red grapes, one whole lemon, one handful of spinach, one handful of kale, one-fourth handful of parsley, two stalks of celery, two tablespoons of hemp seeds, two tablespoons of chia seeds, one tablespoon of coconut oil, one chard leaf, no stem.

AG: Just the one chard leaf.

RR: [Laughs.] Just the one, yeah. Listen, after I stopped competing in judo, before I began fighting MMA, I partied hard. I felt like I'd been training my whole life and missed out on the whole good-time club scene.

AG: How long did that debauchery last?

RG: Long enough. It ended after being on the other side of the bar. Bartending took the romanticism out of drinking. Any time I saw a white chick go, "Woo!", it was not hot. There is nothing sexy about a drunk girl. You really don't know how dumb you look.

AG: Speaking of letting off steam, do you dance or sing?

RR: I'm a terrible singer, but I'm not shy about it. I'm shy about dancing.

AG: Do you do karaoke?

RR: I sang karaoke in Japan, but they didn't have the right song. I've always wanted to sing "Take Me Home Tonight," but I've never gotten the chance.

Josh Hedges/Zuffa LLC/Getty Images

AG: Wow, if only we had more time. Do you prefer a shower or bath?

RR: A bath. I have a candle permanently on my Jacuzzi, because I love me some candles.

AG: Cat person or dog person?

RR: Dog. My dog, Mochi, she changed my life.

AG: In what way?

RR: Knowing I was responsible for another living thing. When I got her, I decided even if I was a loser, my dog didn't deserve to suffer for it. So though I was bartending and working three jobs, I made sure I woke up extra early in the morning to drive her to doggy day care. The first $35 of my shift went to Mochi. Even when I was eating Top Ramen noodles, I bought her top-shelf dog food because it wasn't her fault that I was broke. There were times when I lived in my car, and I was like, "I have a dog, I need to ..."

AG: You lived in your car?

RR: For a week or so once, yeah, after judo, before MMA. And I realized I couldn't let that situation ever happen again because what would my dog do? It put pressure on me to succeed when I was responsible for another living thing.

Rousey attends the 2014 premiere of "The Expendables 3" in Los Angeles. Allen Berezovsky/Getty Images

AG: You seem to put pressure on yourself regardless.

RR: Pretty much. I figure, what's the worst that could happen?

AG: You could have projectile diarrhea in front of everyone you respect.

RR: Yeah, I guess. But compared to soldiers fighting wars or families in refugee camps, that's really not a big deal, is it?

AG: What do you wish you could change about yourself?

RR: A lot of things. I wish I could cook. I wish I could speak Spanish. I want to speak Spanish and Armenian and Russian.

AG: What is your biggest vice?

RR: Buffalo wings.

AG: What is the last television show you binge-watched?

RR: [The HBO documentary series] "Vice." I watched all of the first two seasons. And I like Bill Maher a lot.

AG: Have you been on his show?

RR: No, I'm not that cool. There's a lot of pressure on that panel. Some people, they just bomb. I don't want to look dumb in front of Bill Maher. [Pauses for a beat.] Is he single?

AG: I think he is aggressively single.