Around Town: Rousey rouses fear and admiration

All roads lead to La Cañada.

School’s about to start and hundreds of local kids will sign up for martial arts classes in La Cañada — Tae Kwon Do, kung fu, karate and judo. They don’t have to look far for motivation. A Glendale martial arts studio has a special connection to the top UFC champion.

Her name is Ronda “Rowdy” Rousey. She is the world’s greatest female mixed martial arts fighter. Rousey is the reigning Women’s Bantamweight UFC champ.

Last weekend, some Marines clued me in to Rowdy Ronda. The Marines love her. They say she’s evil, which is a compliment.

Rousey is a Bronze Medal Olympian. She was the first American to win an Olympic medal in judo. Her mom, AnnMaria De Mars, was a world judo champion who competed before judo was recognized as an Olympic sport.

After the Olympics, Rousey switched to MMA, or mixed martial arts. MMA is a sport that allows full contact combat. This includes punching, hitting, elbowing, kicking, grappling, wrestling and martial arts moves.

As a result of her judo background, Rousey became famous for the “arm bar,” a grappling move where the winner hyper-extends the opponent’s arm. This requires the referee to end the fight.

Rousey has fought 12 times. She has won all 12 fights. Nine of those wins were by arm bar and only three were by knockout.

Last weekend, Rousey traveled to Brazil to fight their female champ, Bethe Correia. The fight was aired on Pay-Per-View. As reigning champ, Rousey could have scheduled the fight in the U.S., but she wanted to beat Correia on her home turf.

The Rousey-Correia match lasted 34 seconds. The big surprise was that Rousey won with a knockout as opposed to the arm bar. Correia expected a judo- or wrestling-oriented fight. This time, Rousey threw a flurry of punches until the referee called a knockout. It was the first loss of Correia’s career.

As for the local connection, Rousey has several trainers, but her fight coach is Edmond Tarverdyan at the Glendale Fighting Club.

The Glendale Fighting Club is on South Brand Boulevard. There are no spin classes, no Pilates. The club offers classes in boxing and karate mixed martial arts beginning at age 4, and in Muay Thai (a mixed martial art) and judo beginning at age 5. There are also adult classes. I wonder if they accept Silver Sneakers.

Rousey’s presence at the club is inspirational to the younger students, including the girls.

Girls today have many role models. The opinions of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg are now immortalized in hip-hop songs. Tennis legend Serena Williams scored wins this year at both Wimbledon and the French Open. The U.S. women’s soccer team won the World Cup.

Added to the list is MMA champion Rowdy Ronda Rousey. She has rocketed to the top of her sport.

Rousey is tough, unapologetic and amazing to watch. She’s got a big heart. Personable outside the ring, she looks plain scary inside the ring.

That’s why all doors are open for La Cañada’s little girls.

ANITA SUSAN BRENNER is a longtime La Cañada Flintridge resident and an attorney with Law Offices of Torres and Brenner in Pasadena. Follow her on Instagram @realanitabrenner, Facebook and on Twitter @anitabrenner.