UFC women’s 135-pound champion Ronda Rousey has been selected to appear on the cover of ESPN The Magazine for the second time.
The 26-year-old submission ace announced Tuesday via Twitter that she will front the magazine’s 15th anniversary issue, which hits newsstands this Friday. Rousey will serve as one of four cover athletes, sharing duties with the NFL’s Robert Griffin III, the NBA’s Blake Griffin and MLB’s Bryce Harper.
Last summer, Rousey was chosen to grace the cover of ESPN The Magazine’s Body Issue, which features elite athletes posing mostly nude. Mixed martial artists Gina Carano, Jon Jones, Cristiane “Cyborg” Justino and Evangelista “Cyborg” Santos previously represented the sport in past iterations of the special issue.
An Olympic judo bronze medalist, Rousey has yet to lose an MMA contest, submitting each of her first seven pro opponents via first-round armbar. “Rowdy” captured the Strikeforce bantamweight title from Miesha Tate last year and defended the belt once before signing with the UFC as the promotion’s first women’s champion. Rousey retained her new UFC belt in her most recent outing, surviving an early rear-naked choke attempt from Liz Carmouche at UFC 157 before submitting the “Girl-Rilla” late in round one.