Ronda Rousey profoundly influenced numerous individuals pursuing careers as MMA fighters, with an undefeated PFL athlete detailing the diverse ways ‘Rowdy’ impacted her. The fighter in question is Sara Collins, slated to compete against Cris Cyborg for the latter’s featherweight title during the co-main event of PFL Europe 4 on December 13th.
The Australian competitor was, in fact, present at the renowned UFC 193 card, an event where Holly Holm secured a major upset victory over Ronda Rousey in Australia. When asked about her recollections of being there for such a significant moment in MMA history, Collins stated [via Bowks Talking Bouts],
“Well, the arena was so vast, it was difficult to discern much from our seating area [chuckles]. I was a huge admirer of Ronda, so I felt considerable sadness that day when she suffered a loss. Yet, I was pleased for Daniel [Kelly] because he triumphed that day, so it wasn’t entirely bad.”
Sara Collins encountered Ronda Rousey, who she found to be “exceptionally pleasant”
Her long-standing trainer ‘Judo’ Dan Kelly achieved a win against Steve Montgomery on the same card, which was alluded to in Collins’ earlier remarks. When questioned if she was already engaged in substantial training with Kelly around that period a decade ago, Collins clarified [via Bowks Talking Bouts],
“Indeed, I believe I assisted him with his weight management for that specific fight and was just commencing. That marked my initial venture into MMA. Thus, I was still participating in some judo but progressively transitioning to MMA at that stage.”
To connect this back to Ronda Rousey, the then-UFC bantamweight champion occasionally trained at the same facility as Kelly and Collins leading up to that UFC 193 contest. When asked if she had any brief interactions with Rousey in the training space whatsoever, Collins playfully observed [via Bowks Talking Bouts],
“Yes, she gave me a t-shirt when I encountered her at the gym. She was exceedingly amiable.”
