OVER the years, it’s been Lionel Messi, Roger Federer, Tiger Woods who has been the athlete of the moment. There have been others too, although almost all have been men. But right now, that icon is Ronda Rousey. It is not easy for a competitor to transcend their sport but that is exactly what Rousey has done.

The 28-year-old from California is a mixed martial artist and over the last year-or-so, has staked a legitimate claim to be the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world. Better even than Floyd Mayweather. Rousey competes in the UFC, which features the best MMA fighters in the world, and through dominating her sport in a manner that few athletes have ever done, has become a superstar. She has appeared on some of America’s biggest talk shows, been in Vogue, Maxim and the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit edition, made appearances in films and last month, she won Best Fighter at the ESPYs, America’s equivalent of Sports Personality of the Year.

Rousey has had an interesting journey to this point. She was born with the umbilical cord wrapped round her neck and because of this, was not able to speak coherently until she was six years old. When she was eight, her father committed suicide. Until then, swimming was Rousey’s sport but after his death, she gave it up and turned to her mother’s sport, judo. Rousey’s mother was the first American ever to become judo world champion and she was tough on her young daughter, to the extent that she would wake Rousey up in the morning by trying to catch her in an arm bar – an MMA move – to teach her to always be prepared.

The lessons seemed to work – in 2004, Rousey went to the Athens Olympics as a 17-year-old, the youngest judoka to compete there. Four years later, at the Beijing Olympics, Rousey became the first American to win an Olympic judo medal when she won bronze and after contemplating embarking on another four-year cycle towards London 2012, she decided against it. It had annoyed her that after winning her nation’s first judo medal, all she got from the US Olympic Committee was “10 grand and a handshake”. She spent the next year working at a bar, drinking, smoking weed and generally living like a ‘normal person’.

But then MMA caught her attention. It was a risky plan; women’s MMA had only just begun to build momentum in 2007 and there was no guarantee that Rousey would be able to make any kind of career out of it. Indeed, Dana White, the male president of UFC, was extremely reluctant to allow women to compete but Rousey’s dominant performances in her MMA fights persuaded the UFC owners to sign her. In late 2012, Rousey became the UFC’s first female fighter and was installed as bantamweight champion.

Since then, she is undefeated but this does not do justice to just how utterly dominant she has been. Her 12 fights have ended in nine submissions and three knockouts. Only three of her fights have lasted over one minute. She is not a hero to everyone though; she is, for many, the fighter they love to hate. While some embrace her confidence, her personality, her physicality, others dislike her brashness, her trash-talking and her no-holds barred attitude. Talking about her opponents, she has said “I'm gonna break a couple of girls' arms, and I'm not gonna feel the least bit sorry about it,” but her response to the haters has always been, “I like it that way.”

There are many who disapprove of the UFC, whether it be men or women fighting, but whatever your opinion of the sport, there is much to admire about Rousey. She is one of the few superstar athletes who is willing to give opinions without a thought that it might damage her marketability. In winning her ESPY, she beat Mayweather, who had claimed that he didn’t know who the UFC star was. On being awarded the prize, Rousey called him out on his history of domestic violence, asking “I wonder how Floyd feels being beaten for a woman for once.”

And the American is an excellent role model when it comes to body image. She is lean and athletic but has been accused of looking masculine. Her reply? “I think it’s hilarious if my body looks masculine or something like that. Just because my body was developed for a purpose other than f***ing millionaires, doesn’t mean it’s masculine. I think it’s femininely bad-ass because there’s not a single muscle on my body that isn’t for a purpose.” Good answer…

Rousey’s superstardom is just in its infancy. UFC President, Dana White, has described Rousey as “the greatest star we’ve ever had” and “the greatest athlete I’ve ever worked with, she’s one in a million.”

Rousey’s one single problem is that so dominant is she, no one can currently get close to her. Stronger competition would enhance her reputation further but regardless of who she comes up against, a defeat seems like a long way away.