Ronda Rousey holds court at Glendale Fighting Club

GLENDALE — Nobody draws a crowd or media attention quite like “Rowdy” Ronda Rousey.

With her women’s bantamweight title defense against Cat Zingano at UFC 184 at Staples Center looming on Feb. 28, the reigning queen of the Ultimate Fighting Championship held court at the Glendale Fighting Club on Wednesday, hosting a media scrum just minutes after taking part in a UFC conference call that included Zingano and co-main event combatants Holly Holm and Raquel Pennington.

PHOTOS: Ronda Rousey talks about upcoming championship defense

A multi-tasker if ever there was one, Rousey (10-0, 4-0 in UFC) has a pair of major motion pictures set to hit the theatres this year, she currently graces the pages of the iconic Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue and, in her usual quick-thinking, fast-talking fashion, took on a cavalcade of questions unspecific to her impending rendezvous with Zingano (9-0, 2-0 in UFC).

But first and foremost in her focus was defending the championship that only she has ever held.

“I know I’m still better in every single area, but she’s definitely the most well-rounded fighter I’ve ever come across,” Rousey said, “and she has the best mentality of any opponent I’ve come across.”

Perhaps the best evidence of that was when she was asked about her upcoming movies — “Furious 7” due out in April and “Entourage,” due out later in the spring. Rousey wasn’t quite certain about the dates, soliciting the aid of her nearby manager.

“The fact that I don’t even know the dates of when my movies are coming out really shows how focused I am on beating Cat first,” Rousey said.

Not only undefeated in her mixed martial arts career, which extends into a 3-0 amateur campaign, Rousey has finished every one of her opponents, extending past the first round in just one fight.

She’s quickly risen into a bona fide star for the UFC and will now return to Southern California to defend her title for the first time since UFC 157 in Anaheim in February of 2013, when she submitted Liz Carmouche in the first-ever UFC women’s fight. Only this time, her fight will be a little closer to her Venice home and her home away from home in Glendale at GFC, where she’s trained for the duration of her career under coach Edmond Tarverdyan.

“I’m pretty stoked to fight in L.A.,” Rousey said. “It’s nice to drive past the Staples Center every day. I see me and Cat flash up on the billboard.”

Alas, with Rousey’s ability to provide sound bites aplenty, there was more than just the fight to talk about.

Earlier Wednesday, UFC co-owner Lorenzo Fertitta and president Dana White held a press conference announcing more stringent testing and punishment for performance-enhancing drugs. It’s an area Rousey, a two-time Olympian in judo and a bronze medalist, has always been outspoken about, and still is.

“It’s not that, ‘Oh this is unfair,’ it is unsafe. Someone could get hurt, someone could really die,” Rousey said of using PEDs in MMA. “It’s not like you can keep feeding the weightlifting world record and like, ‘Oh it’s 500 pounds, now it’s 550, now it’s 560.’ No, now, another human being could hit another human being harder. And there is a limit to how much a person can take and once you pass the threshold of what’s natural, then you start to get into a whole other level of where it’s like these people are taking unnatural amounts of punishment and something bad is going to happen and I’m so happy that the UFC has really realized how serious this is and are treating it like that.”

Other highlights were:

Rousey, at the media scrum, talking about a heated exchange between her and a reporter on the preceding conference call who questioned whether her main event against Zingano could harm women’s MMA if it resulted in a poor pay-per-view buy rate.

“That’s the difference between a journalist and a mama’s basement blogger,” the UFC champ said. “It’s not trying to get any actual information and report the news, it’s just trying to get a rise out of people, which is really unprofessional.

“I know what a journalist is supposed to look like and supposed to behave and that guy wasn’t it. But whatever. Not everybody can be good at their job.”

Rousey was later asked about the pay of UFC fighters, which has come under heavy scrutiny lately.

“I think that they should get paid more than the ring girls and I don’t know if it’s because the ring girls get paid too much or the fighters don’t get paid enough,” she said. “But, yeah, there’s definitely a lot more into what the fighters do than what they do. That’s one thing that’s unfair.”

After Rousey’s time in front of the cameras and recorders, Tarverdyan fielded questions and might well have delivered the boldest statement when he was asked about how Rousey would fare against Holm, a burgeoning and undefeated mixed martial artist who was previously a world champion boxer considered one of the all-time greats.

“Ronda beats Holly in a boxing match,” Tarverdyan said. “I don’t think, I know.”

Perhaps another statement of Tarverdyan’s was a little safer and simpler.

“She’s always exciting to watch,” Tarverdyan said of Rousey.

Evidence of that came with the media parade that once more stopped off in Glendale on Wednesday afternoon with the UFC champion, smiling from ear to ear and always quick with a retort, taking center stage.

“Now the [Glendale Fighting Club], because of her, has a big name,” Tarverdyan said, “and I want to thank her for that.”