It’s been said human beings are the end of the chain.
The last to crawl out of the primordial soup.
That deep down inside, we all still possess the primal traits of animals.
An inner desire to defend ourselves. To fight.
So it may come as no surprise then that thousands of people flocked to Melbourne’s Federation Square today for a glimpse of one of the most feared cage fighters on the planet.
On Sunday at Docklands Stadium, 60,000 people are expected to turn out to see American Ronda Rousey defend her Bantamweight world title against former boxer, Holly Holm.
An actress and former Olympic Judo medalist, since her switch to mixed martial arts, Rousey is yet to be defeated.
As one of the world's highest paid female athletes, the 28-year-old is a trailblazer not only for her sport, but arguably women in general.
Strip back the layers though, and like most champions, the same traits hold true.
How she lives and breathes her passion.
How the gym is the only place where she doesn’t have a first or last name.
“Do you think Holly Holm looks at a matt and cries because she loves it so much? No”.
Her secret to success? As simple as her "Americana" move or "Anaconda Choke" in the cage.
“Because I work harder than anybody else. Because I want it more”, she says.
Just like boxing, cage fighting continues to polarise opinion.
For some, it will always be an unnecessary and futile exercise in barbarism.
Muhammad Ali once famously challenged the press corps as to why they enjoyed watching two fighters beating each other up.
For Rousey, the opposite applies as she pondered her early struggles.
“I always wondered why people watched fishing on TV and not something I’m good at”, she says.
Perhaps a member of the Melbourne crowd provided the ultimate vindication.
“I used to think what I did was so unappreciated”.
Just before she could finish her sentence, came the cry from the crowd “We Love you, Ronda”.
Laughing, Rousey added, “And that’s proof that’s changed”.
Holm is a 20 to 1 underdog for the bout despite being undefeated herself.
Time will tell if she will be yelling, "Help me Ronda".
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