Ronda Rousey was looking massive ahead of her UFC fight with Bethe Correia.
She told Cosmopolitan Magazine how gaining weight made her feel much stronger and also more beautiful:
You said that you purposefully tried to gain weight and get out of your best fighting shape before stripping down to pose for the 2015 Sports Illustrated swimsuit edition. Why?
I felt like I was much too small for a magazine that is supposed to be celebrating the epitome of a woman. I wanted to be at my most feminine shape, and I don’t feel my most attractive at 135 pounds, which is the weight I fight at. At 150 pounds, I feel like I’m at my healthiest and my strongest and my most beautiful.I grew up as an athlete doing judo, so I didn’t really have a conventional, feminine body type. I grew up thinking that because my body type was uncommon [i.e., athletic], it was a bad thing. Now that I’m older, I’ve really begun to realize that I’m really proud that my body has developed for a purpose and not just to be looked at.
But to be honest, it took a lot of time to develop a healthier relationship with food and with my weight. My mind was backward. I thought I wanted my body to look a certain way so I could be happy. But it got to the point where I didn’t feel I looked good at 135 pounds, the weight that qualifies me for the weight class that I fight in.
Ronda Rousey says there isn’t a muscle on her body that doesn’t serve a purpose:
