Ronda Rousey Defeats Bethe Correia In 34 Seconds: Here's 7 Reasons Why The MMA Star Inspires Us

Mixed Martial Arts has well and truly hit the mainstream and one woman is to thank for the sudden interest in the sport.

Ronda Rousey defeated Bethe Correia at UFC 190 on Saturday night in Rio de Janeiro, after knocking out her opponent in just 34 seconds.

The 28-year-old has won her last three fights in 16, 14 and 34 seconds - not bad for someone who only began competing in MMA in 2010 (she previously trained in judo).

Still not convinced Rousey is a lady you need on your radar? Here are seven other reasons we think she's awesome:

Speaking as part of the UFC Embedded video series, Rousey said: “I’m just like, listen, just because my body was developed for a purpose other than f**king millionaires doesn’t mean it’s masculine. I think it’s femininely badass as f**k. Because there’s not a single muscle on my body that isn’t for a purpose. Because I’m not a do-nothing bitch," she said.

"That’s why I think it’s hilarious when people say my body looks masculine or something like that."

Rousey was incredibly close to her father, Ron, as a child, but he died from suicide after years of suffering from chronic back pain when she was eight years old.

Despite citing her father's death as the most formative event of her life, Rousey rarely talks about it in interviews.

“I never wanted to be in the situation where I’ve told the story so many times that I become detached from it and don’t cry,” she said, according to the New York Post.

"She’s by far the finest female grappler in MMA and her skills in that area rank alongside the acknowledged greats like Demian Maia, Fabricio Werdum and Rousimar Palhares as the best in the sport, period," Kevin Iole wrote on Yahoo Sports.

"The only reason she hasn’t been widely discussed as the greatest active fighter or the best of all time already is because of her gender."

In her memoir My Fight/Your Fight, Rousey reveals that after winning the bronze medal in judo in the 2008 Beijing Olympics, she took time off "to party".

She developed an addiction to both alcohol and Vicodin, and has said at one stage she started her day with a cigarette and a vodka espresso.

But she "cleaned herself up" after watching a MMA highlight reel in a bar as she realised this was what she wanted to do.

Rousey used to pocket, on average, $400 a fight early in her MMA career. Now, she's reported to earn up to $1 million on a pay-per-view event.

She's made appearances in Furious 7 and The Expendables 3, and is set to take on a role in upcoming movie Portal to Hell!!!.

Rousey was born with the umbilical cord around her neck and suffered from hypoxia, which is deprivation of oxygen at birth. As a result, she suffered from brain damage which delayed her speech development.

"I didn’t really speak words until I was four and didn’t speak full sentences till six," she told Fox News.

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