Ronda Rousey is a force to be reckoned with. The 34-year-old mixed martial arts master has had many milestones in her career, including the Olympics, a record-setting Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) reign, and a successful foray into acting. But recently, she’s been focusing on another important role in her life as the wife to fellow UFC fighter, Travis Browne. Here’s everything you need to know about Ronda Rousey’s husband and the relationship they have together.
Ronda Rousey Is A Former Olympian And UFC Champion
Born in Riverside, California, on February 1st, 1987, Ronda Rousey began practicing judo when she was just 11 years old. By the time she was 17, she had become the youngest judoka to qualify for the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens. The young athlete continued to make strides in the sport, winning the silver medal at the 2007 World Judo Championships in the middleweight division and becoming the first American to win an Olympic medal in women’s judo at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, China.
After her bronze medal win at the 2008 Olympics, Rousey retired from judo and began pursuing a career in mixed martial arts (MMA). She trained with some of the biggest names in the sport and made her professional debut in 2011. In 2012, she became the first woman to sign with the UFC, and eventually, the first female inductee into the UFC Hall of Fame.
In the mid-2010s, Rousey crossed over into acting, appearing in movies like The Expendables 3 and Furious 7. But in 2015, she faced her first MMA loss, which prompted her to retire and pursue a career in professional wrestling.
After making sporadic appearances at various World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) events, she signed with WWE and made her debut at WrestleMania 34.
“It’s funny — it’s kind of like acting, in that it was something I always wanted to do but I never thought was in the cards for me,” Rousey told ESPN.com about becoming a professional wrestler. “And now that I realize I really do have this opportunity, I feel like my 6-year-old self would totally kick my ass if I didn’t take it.”
After spending time killing it in the ring, Rousey decided to step away from the WWE in 2019. She said that the schedule had become too grueling and that she wanted to spend more time with her family.
“People think you’re only wrestling as much as they see you on TV, but they don’t realize that there’s three or four other days of live shows during the week,” she said on Steve-O’s Wild Ride podcast. “If I looked at all the live shows, I was only home a day and a half a week. It was just not worth it for my family … No, I’ll never be full time again – over 200 days a year on the road like that ever again.”
Ronda Rousey’s Husband Is Travis Browne
With such a busy career, it’s hard to imagine Rousey finding time for romance. But she met her perfect match back in 2015 when she started dating fellow MMA fighter, Travis Browne. In August of 2017, the couple tied the knot in a beautiful outdoor ceremony in Hawaii.
Just like his wife, Browne is a formidable opponent in the UFC Octagon. During his seven-year career with UFC, Browne had a total of 18 wins and was named Breakthrough Fighter of the Year at the 2013 World MMA Awards. He was also ranked number five in the official UFC Heavyweight rankings. While he never officially retired from UFC, he has not participated in a match since 2017.
Although he has taken a step back from fighting, he’s been very supportive of his wife’s career in wrestling. He even teased the idea of getting into the ring with her someday.
“I’ll never say no to the possibility of going out there and wrestling,” Browne told TMZ. “I’d love to go out there and work with my wife!”
The closest we’ve gotten to seeing a Browne and Rousey tag team match was in 2019. Although it was technically outside the ring, Browne finally got in on the WWE action with his wife. Check it out below.
Before meeting Rousey, Browne had been married twice —to Erin Browne from 2001 until 2009 and Jenna Renee Webb from 2015 until 2016. In fact, he was still legally married to Webb when he began dating Rousey, though the couple were separated and in the process of finalizing their divorce. Browne has two young children from his first marriage, Kaleo and Keawe.
In 2015, Browne was temporarily suspended from the UFC when Webb brought domestic violence allegations against him. After conducting a two-month investigation into the accusations, the UFC reinstated the heavyweight champ after determining there was not enough evidence to support the claims of physical abuse.
Ronda Rousey And Travis Browne Are Expecting Their First Child
Rousey has been talking about having kids for a while now. Even before she left the WWE, the judo champ said she was eager to become a mom. “I’ve not kept it a secret that I would definitely want to start a family,” she said in a 2019 interview with ESPN.com. “But how do you go about doing that? I love [wrestling] way more than I thought that I would. So do you just keep going until you just happen to get pregnant? Or should you stop and go try and get pregnant? Or is going and trying to get pregnant putting yourself on the spot and then you’re less likely to get pregnant? I’ve never had a baby before, I don’t know these kinds of things.”
Around that same time, Rousey hinted that she and Browne were making their baby dreams a reality when she posted a pic of the couple kissing alongside the hashtag #impregnationvacation.
Now it’s two years later, and the UFC duo has finally gotten their wish! Rousey and Browne recently announced they’re expecting their first child in September 2021. “I’ve been pregnant since January, so…. Woo-hoo baby bump! I can’t hide it anymore so it’s time to show it off,” the mom-to-be said in a video revealing the news.
“Thank you, everybody, for all the well wishes and all the positivity to get us to this point,” Rousey adds at the end of the video. “We’re really excited for you all to meet [the baby] just like we are. … Baddest baby on the planet coming to you soon, September 22!”
We’re so happy for these two UFC bad asses!