I Promised the Brazilian People: Ronda

38 Building Bodies Transnational Historical 38 Approaches to Sport, Gender and Ethnicities

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Women are on the move. Traditionally, sport has been a masculine domain, dominated by men and capacities that have culturally been ascribed to men. But this is changing as women’s participation in sport continues to increase throughout the world, their successes Building Bodies are widely celebrated and ‘ﬁ tgirls’ have become part of popular culture. The 2018 Yearbook of Women’s History shows muscle. Its focus is on sport and sporting bodies: their transgressing practices, representations and impacts on femininities, masculinities and ethnicities. Fourteen contributions by di° erent authors elaborate on the processes that have underpinned these enormous and in many ways gendered changes. What was the role of female pioneers and their supporters? How have issues of gender changed sport and vice versa? And, ﬁ nally, what transnational and intersectional dynamics 38 of sports have played a role in these transformations? ‘I Promised the Brazilian People’

Ronda Rousey, Whiteness, and the ufc as a Neocolonial Enterprise

Scarlett L. Hester

Introduction

Ronda ‘Rowdy’ Rousey made Ultimate Fighting Championship (ufc) history on Feb- ruary 23, 2013. Rousey defeated opponent Liz Carmouche in the first ever women’s match for the ufc during a fight that lasted four hours and 49 minutes.1 Rousey and Carmouche’s debut fight marked the launch of the women’s division in a sport that had historically only included men.2 The ufc, which has existed since 1993, signed Rousey as a bantam weight champion in November 2012.3 Rousey’s inclusion in this organization marks the legitimization of the inclusion of women in mixed martial arts (hereafter mma). Historically, mma was regarded as a sport for men due to its violent nature. L.A. Jennings notes that mma ‘appears to be more violent because of the types of attacks fighters are allowed to execute and the small amount of protective gear fighters don in the cage’.4 While women have participated in combat fighting sports like boxing since the eighteenth century in England, the multiple ways fighters force opponents into submission, such as ‘breaking arms and tearing knees or ankle joints’ makes mma seemingly more brutal.5 Additionally, mma does not constrain participants to just one form of fighting. Rather, ‘[f]ighters prepare for these events in wrestling schools, karate and tae kwon do dojos, boxing gyms, and kickboxing studios’.6 Rousey’s presence in the ufc indicates a change in perspective regarding women in combat sport. She also paved the way for other female fighters to gain capital and recognition. Dana White, president of the ufc, had previously indicated that women would never fight for his organization. In spite of this claim, after signing Rousey, White stated, ‘She’s a real fighter and she’s very talented. She has the credentials, the pedigree; I mean everything. I think she has that “it” factor. I think she’s going to be a big su- perstar’. In the same interview White indicated that he had ‘four or five good fights’

Hester | ‘I Promised the Brazilian People’ 179 lined up in Rousey’s weight class for the upcoming two years. Additionally, following Rousey’s signing, White agreed to move eight female fighters from Strikeforce, the amateur affiliate of th ufc.7 Certainly, White’s decision to name Rousey the first female bantam weight champion in an organization that had previously ignored women is monumental for several reasons. First, it is indicative of a changing attitude toward women’s capacity to compete in male centric sporting events. Second, it aligns with the postfeminist notion that strong female bodies are sexy and that women can and should work to achieve this physical standard.8 While these are all laudable, Rousey’s rise to fame and success within the ufc should not go without critique. Because the ufc named Rousey the first female champion, she quickly became the face – the very white, blonde, and heterosexual face – of the organization. Undoubtedly, Rousey is a tremendous athlete who has earned accolades and praise. She is physically indomitable and has created a path for the success of other female ufc fighters. Nevertheless, through an analysis of the ufc vlog series Embedded, I argue that much of Rousey’s success is due to her utilization of white, neocolonial discourse. Both Rousey and the ufc mobilize a narrative that frames Rousey as the conquering heroine among the female fighters. Granted, Rousey’s fight record, which is 12-2, indicates that she was, in fact, the conquering heroine during her time actively fighting and participating in ufc title matches. How- ever, I assert that this is largely possible because Rousey is white. Rousey’s whiteness permits her to navigate the disciplinary power of sports culture in ways not granted to her non-white female peers. Further, Rousey utilizes her body and voice to colonize the women’s ufc. Additionally, both Rousey and the ufc function as a neocolonial power that frames Rousey as a practitioner of this power and discipline. I advance a neocolonial framework as a means to acknowledge that ‘neocolonial power operates through rhetoric, discourse, and representation’.9 A neocolonial approach understands that power is derived from ‘the discursive constitution of normal social and cultural relations that foreground, in particular, whiteness, masculinity, Euro-Americanism, and the accumulation of wealth with specific relevance to race, location and dislocation’.10 The utilization of a neocolonial framework atones for the history of settler colonialism while interrogating how the remnants of colonialism impact modern discourses that further privilege varying modes of Euro-American whiteness.

Women in martial arts

Women have participated in combat sports since the 1700s in England. According to Malissa Smith, the earliest female fighters were women like Elizabeth Wilkinson Stokes who ‘advertised her battles in the London newspapers of the day’.11 The early style of boxing was raw and featured a bare-knuckle style, which aligned it with hegemonic notions of masculinity. Historically, martial arts and combat sport are viewed as a space of masculinity. In her extended review of literature of women who practice martial arts, Giovanna Follo asserts that martial arts are ‘one of the few areas where wom-

180 Yearbook of Women’s History 38 en may be able to challenge gender norms the most by challenging the male gendered role of protector’.12 The subversion of gender norms has a deep historical connection to women in martial arts. In order to contest the presumption of weakness, women positioned themselves as protectors through martial arts. In her analysis of three famous women martial artists, Diana Looser states that the ‘strategic redeployment of martial arts skills’ help to reflect and ‘advance feminist political agendas’, especially for two of her examples of Edith Garrud and Florence Le Mar.13 While Looser lauds the adoption of martial arts among these women, it is important to note the aspects of colonialism sprinkled throughout this history. The Japanese martial arts of judo and jiu-jitsu (which I later explain becomes known as Brazilian jiu-jitsu in the ufc) were introduced in Victorian England as a system of athletics that was ‘pioneered by the upper and middle classes’.14 The history of white women’s involvement with martial arts directly ties with the need to commodify and colonize characteristics of Japanese culture. These women practiced jiu-jitsu as a means to advance their personal (i.e. white) political agenda in order to advance their socioeconomic status. In spite of its Asian origins, it is evident that Western history often co-opts martial arts in ways that represent neocolonial whiteness. This is not unique to women in martial arts. Akihiko Hirose and Kay ke-ho Pih reveal how the White hegemonic masculine form of mma became the desirable mode of performance. Within mma, ‘[s]trikes are associated with White hegemonic masculinity and submissions are associated with marginalized Asian masculinity’.15 Therefore, mma fighters view the white hegemonic form of striking as superior. The British suffragettes, at the guidance of Edith Garrud, adopted a similar desire to strike as a means to demonstrate power and control. Ac- cording to Looser, Garrud was able to ‘reframe the Japanese martial arts most signifi- cantly in terms of political activism and theatrical spectacle’.16 While Garrud and her cohort of suffragettes learned jiu-jitsu as a form of self-defense, the history of the sport seemingly lost its racial and ethnic identity. In fact, in her review of literature concern- ing female martial artists, Follo highlights the tension between femininity, masculinity, and cultural norms associated with gender, yet, a discussion centered on race and ethnicity is notably absent. However, u.s. women of color have made a large impact on the progress of the inclusion of women in martial arts and combat sports, especially within boxing. A few female boxers of color worth noting are Melissa Hernandez, who made her mark by defeating boxer Layla McCarter, known as ‘a true boxer’s boxer’, Chevelle Hallbeck, who ‘is renowned for her punching power and physique’, and perhaps most notable, Layla Ali, who transformed the sport of boxing for women.17 Cer- tainly, this list is not exhaustive, which indicates the lack of scholarly attention paid to women of color’s impact on martial arts and combat sports. While that is not the focus of this analysis, it is significant because Ronda Rousey serves as yet another example of a u.s. Western white woman who co-opts and performs martial arts for her personal political and economic gain.

Hester | ‘I Promised the Brazilian People’ 181 History of the ufc

According to the officia ufc website, the organization originated in 1993 and has ‘rev- olutionized the fight business’.18 Currently, Frank Fertitta, Dana White, and Lorenzo Fertitta run the ufc and purchased the company in 2001.19 Maybe not surprisingly, three white u.s. American men own and operate the ufc. However, the original con- ception for the organization came from renowned Brazilian jiu-jitsu (hereafter bjj) fighte , Rorion Gracie and advertising specialist, Arthur Davie.20 From its inception, the ufc functioned as a neocolonial enterprise, dating back to the originators of bjj, the Gracie family. While the family originated in Brazil, the commercialization of bjj via the ufc embodies sentiments of neocolonialism. Although the Gracie family is not u.s. American, they perpetuate a contemporary mode of colonialism, one that aims to maintain current mechanisms of power though representation. By ignoring the Japa- nese origins of judo and jiu-jitsu, the Gracie family whitewashes the history by placing their patriarch (Hélio Gracie) at the center of the sport, especially with the exportation of bjj to the u.s. I argue the ufc and by extension the Gracie family demonstrate notions of neocoloniality because, as Shome explains, both adopt a ‘flexible positional superiority, which puts the Westerner on a whole series of possible relationships with the Orient without ever losing him the relative upper hand’.21 With this understanding, the Gracie family maintains the upper hand over ‘the Orient’ due to their ability to gain and maintain capital power, which transfers to the ufc. Both seem to cultivate an air of flexibility and acceptance with the inclusion of jiu-jitsu. However, as I later argue, this inclusion comes at the service of the Gracie family and the ufc. While the expan- sion of bjj and the ufc appears innocuous, it serves as an example of the insidious nature of neocolonialism, which is interested in advancing the socioeconomic gain of those invested in the power of whiteness. The officia Gracie Jiu-Jitsu Academy website chronicles the Gracie family’s journey to discovering the martial arts as well as the foundation of the academy. Hélio Gra- cie (Rorion’s father) studied and practiced Japanese jiu-jitsu (or judo) in the late 1920s. However, his frail stature forced him to adapt his techniques to emphasize leverage and timing versus strength and speed. These adaptations resulted in the birth of bjj. The Gracie Academy website reports, ‘A modern-day legend, Hélio Gracie gained international acclaim for his dedication to the dissemination of the art and is recognized as the creator of Gracie/Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu’.22 The art of jiu-jitsu literally immigrated from Japan to Brazil with modifications to accommodate Hélio’s physical needs. Additionally, Hélio and his family continue to profit from the creation of bjj. The Gracie Jiu-Jitsu Academy currently has two locations in the United States, both in California. It is necessary to trace the origin of bjj and the Gracie Academy in order to understand the neocolonial economic connection to the ufc. The legacy of neocolonialism seems to run deep within the history of bjj and the ufc. The Gracie family utilized judo as a means to gain an upper hand in the economic landscapes of Brazil and the United States. Similarly, the ufc capitalized upon the power and reputation of the Gracie family and bjj as a way to launch the ufc brand.

182 Yearbook of Women’s History 38 While the credit for the creation of bjj goes to Hélio Gracie, it is his oldest son, Rorion, who made a name for the Gracie Jiu-Jitsu Academy. He moved from Brazil to Southern California in 1978 and began his entrepreneurial adventure in the United States. He established a jiu-jitsu academy in the United States in 1989 and shortly after, in 1993, he created the ufc. He believed this avenue was necessary to catapult the name of Gracie Jiu-Jitsu as well as showcase an athletic competition that had ‘no time limit and no rules’.23 The first ufc fight was a Pay-Per-View event that took place on No- vember 12, 1993. Royce Gracie, the sixth son of Hélio Gracie, was declared the winner by defeating three opponents. According to the Gracie Academy website, the creation of the ufc promised that the ‘world of martial arts would never be the same’, due to the fact that Royce Gracie used only the ‘basic techniques’ of jiu-jitsu.24 One of Royce’s most notable victories was over Sumo Grand Champion, Akebono, which further perpetuates the notion that bjj and perspectives invested in whiteness, will almost always triumph over that of the ‘Orient’. Royce’s smaller stature, lean frame, and controlled form of fighting is preferable over that of a Sumo wrestler. Royce, during his time figh - ing, was 6’1” and only 178 lbs versus Akebono’s measurements of 6’8” tall and 486lbs.25 Royce’s victory represents the neocolonial implications of the ufc in three major ways. First, Royce’s body is what the ufc marketed as desirable and admirable. He was able to conquer three opponents in spite of his seemingly small measurements. Royce was victorious because he trained with and was part of the Gracie family. Thus, in order to be successful in the ufc, fighters should aim to embody and mimic that of the Gracie legacy. Second, Royce was able to conquer Akebono and his other opponents using bjj techniques. This further positions bjj as the perceived superior style of combat. Any other variations of martial arts will not succeed. Third and perhaps most importantly, Royce’s victory over Akebono metaphorically represents the West prevailing over the Orient. While he utilized bjj, he participated in the ufc as a student of the u.s. extension of the Gracie Jiu-Jitsu Academy. Royce’s martial arts skills paired with his physical attributes positioned him to be the ideal body and ufc fighte . While the Gracie family created bjj and had deep roots in the foundation of the ufc, their reign was short lived. According to the website mma Odds, a ufc betting website, the lack of rules and extreme violence that occurred during fights made Pay- Per View carriers reticent to endorse and air the fights 26 Due to financial difficultie seg (Semaphore Entertainment Group) sold the ufc to Zuffa, a company owned by Frank Fertitta III and Lorenzo Fertitta.27 Interestingly enough, the ufc website does not mention the history of the organization’s association with the Gracie family. The new management of the ufc chooses to highlight its inception without the Gracie legacy. The new version of the ufc posits that it is an organization that ‘produces more than 40 live events annually and is the largest Pay-Per-View event provider in the world, broadcast in over 129 countries and territories, to nearly 800 million tv households worldwide, in 28 diffe ent languages’.28 Seemingly, the ufc welcomes athletes from all nations. However, as evidenced through my analysis of Ronda Rousey, this is not necessarily the case. In many ways, Rousey’s success story mimics that of the ufc as a whole. She is a white woman from the United States who is able to conquer fighter

Hester | ‘I Promised the Brazilian People’ 183 from all nations, especially Brazil. Much like White and the Fertitta brothers, Rousey is able to reaffir the neocolonial history of the ufc by spectacularly trash talking and defeating opponents like Brazil’s Bethe Correia.

ufc 190: Ronda Rousey vs Bethe Correia

The August 1, 2015 ufc 190 match between Ronda Rousey and Bethe Correia marked the sixth major title fight for female fighters. The fight was highly anticipated primarily due to the mediated rivalry between Rousey and Correia. During a pre-fight interview Correia stated,

I am much stronger, I come from a developing country, where people are strug- gling to survive, not to starve. It is very diffe ent from her life of reality. Under pressure, she is proving weak. When her mom put pressure on her, she ran away from home. When she lost, it was because of drugs. That’s not a superhero.29

Correia’s remarks about Rousey are significant because they focus on Rousey’s inability to understand what it means to come from a developing country and having to struggle to survive, and hint at how the ufc framed Rousey leading up to the match. Intentional or not, Correia’s comments reveal her role in the neocolonial narrative sur- rounding the fight. Correia is the underdog from a developing country; Rousey is the heroine, poised to defend her title, defeat her opponent, and symbolically protect the integrity of the ufc from Correia. Moreover, through her embodiment and rhetorical discourse, Rousey perpetuates neocolonial ideology because she focuses on her need to conquer others in order maintain her power within the ufc. In this analysis, I con- tend that through the disciplinary apparatus of the ufc, Rousey is able to frame herself as the conquering heroine of the organization, a position granted due to her embodied whiteness. Correia’s remarks are an example of typical sports trash talk. Yet, they reveal a deeper tension between the ufc’s support of Ronda Rousey and other non-white female fighters. It is because of this that I focus my analysis on the Embedded vlog series leading up to ufc 190. The vlog gives ufc fans an inside look into the lives of the fighters leading up to the match. A brief perusal of the comments section indicates the overwhelming support fans had for Rousey. For example, on the first episode of Embedded, one user commented, ‘If Ronda and Bethe fought 1000 times, Bethe would be lucky to win just once’.30 What is more, is that regardless of who is on the fight card, fans indicated that the Brazilian fighters would not be victorious over the other figh - ers. For example, on the fourth episode’s comment section a user wrote, ‘All Brazilian fighters will lose in the ufc 190. Mark my words’.31 Because Rousey and Correia are the title match, the series primarily focuses on their preparation, however, the comment about ‘all Brazilian fighters’ further epitomizes how deeply ingrained the ideology of neocolonialism is within the ufc and presumably the fanbase. The ufc produces and

184 Yearbook of Women’s History 38 publishes Embedded. In this sense, it is but one tool in the disciplinary apparatus of the ufc and professional sports culture as a whole. I argue that while my focus is on one tool, the framing of Rousey and Correia and the rhetorical discourse between the two women represent how whiteness and neocolonialism saturates the larger culture of the ufc. The Embedded series further exemplifies how the narrative can be viewed ‘as the production and reproduction of stories about white men rescuing brown women from brown men […] escape narratives about exploring strange lands and civilizations elsewhere’.32 For the purpose of my analysis, I assert that, in the narrative of the ufc, Rousey is a white woman who rescues the brown people of Brazil from their fellow brown person, Correia. I argue that Rousey not only explores the ‘strange land’ of Brazil, but that she also indicates that she is the champion Brazil deserves, in spite of Correia being Brazil’s defending champion.

ufc: A white, neocolonial enterprise a la Ronda Rousey

The combined invisible power of sports culture and whiteness makes it a formidable disciplinary tool. Whiteness is fluid and collective. There is not one single identifier that constitutes whiteness. Rather, it is an assemblage of strategic and tactical rhetorics. Whiteness rhetoric centers white as the norm in a way that makes it invisible. The invisibility of whiteness allows it to ‘mask and re-secure its space through a move- ment between universality and invisibility’.33 By extension, the invisibility of sports culture is able to discipline bodies that do not adhere to the norms of sports culture and that are non-white. Rousey internalizes this discipline and becomes part of the assemblage of whiteness and sports culture. Through this, she physically and rhetori- cally disciplines bodies that do not fulfill the standards associated with sports culture and whiteness. By proxy, Rousey embodies and distributes the disciplinary whiteness of the ufc. Rousey’s position as the first female ufc fighter allows her to set the norms and expectations for other female fighters. Rousey’s whiteness goes unnamed and remains invisible, thus, framing Rousey’s body and voice as the institutional norm for the ufc. Rousey is able to utilize her voice in a way that ‘engages a submerged or silent rhetoric of whiteness to protect white privilege’, which results in her voice being viewed as ‘authorized by the powerful institutions’.34 Therefore, Rousey’s embodiment of whiteness allows her to speak with the power and authority associated not only with her personal whiteness, but also the white neocolonial power established by the ufc. Through this, Rousey not only protects her personal white privilege, but also the white institutional privilege and power of the ufc. The first episode of ufc Embedded 190 opens with the Brazilian flag flying in the air. The camera focuses on the Sheraton Rio Resort and cuts to a view of the ocean from Ronda Rousey’s hotel room window. Rousey, who is getting her hair and makeup professionally done sits in a chair and states,

Hester | ‘I Promised the Brazilian People’ 185 One day I’ll get over being put through an emotional roller coaster every few months, but the afterward is like…it’s the most amazing thing cause you just have like nothing to worry about in the whole world and it’s so much earned happiness. And it’s because of all of the stress and anxiety and everything and the work that goes into it. It’s like, the journey’s awesome, but the payoff is amazing. That feeling’s for me, not for this bitch.35

Rousey states that her quest for victory is solely for her benefit. It is not for ‘this bitch’, who is her Brazilian opponent, Bethe Correia. Rousey immediately positions herself in a place that is distant from Correia. Rousey has worked hard to get to this far in her career. She has endured stress and anxiety on this journey. One of the ways Rousey has been able to accomplish this is through her practice of bjj and judo. Her signature armbar is a popular judo move. Additionally, because she is an mma fighte , she trains in bjj, kickboxing, and other fighting techniques. Through this, Rousey exemplifies the notion of white femininity that embodies interior improvement. Rousey discusses her physical and mental journey and utilizes non-Western techniques in order to achieve a ‘dehistoricized and hybridized cut-and-paste approach of white cosmopolitism’.36 She reinvents herself and ultimately gains power through martial arts but does not acknowledge the history or origin of any of her practices.37 Rousey reaffirm her brand of white femininity through her practice of judo and bjj. She uses both fighting techniques to ‘reinvent’ herself as the first female ufc fighter without atoning for or pro- ducing any critical awareness of the history associated with her sport. Surely, Rousey is not the first professional fighter to do this, nor will she be the last. However, Rousey’s cleansing and appropriation of martial arts are particularly notable because she is the first female ufc fighte . Rousey was not the only woman participating and competing in women’s mma. Her opponent, Bethe Correia, has been a professional fighter since 2012 and was undefeated before her match against Rousey.38 However, Rousey was the one Dana White chose. She was cut and pasted into the role of ufc champion; therefore, other female fighters must recreate themselves to mirror Rousey’s white self and white femininity. Her journey focuses on the individual and does not account for the history of either of these martial arts. She is able to remove them from their respective cultures, master them, and utilize the techniques to achieve her own sense of de-historicized white cosmopolitism. Rousey is actively aware that she was Dana White’s chosen one and that the fate of women’s ufc rests on her shoulders. She understands she is the face of the division and must consistently perform to the established standard. In the first episode of ufc Embedded 190 Rousey states: ‘It’s not about individual people and matches anymore. It’s about the whole. It’s about the legacy and I’m starting to think about how that is my grand opponent and I just have to beat that opponent in pieces and Bethe is just one of those pieces one the way to that legacy’.39 Rousey’s comment is noteworthy for several reasons. First, it reveals how Rousey sees and positions herself within the larger context of the ufc. Rousey not only perpetuates the expectation of whiteness within the ufc, but her rhetoric further frames the ufc as a neocolonial enterprise. Accord-

186 Yearbook of Women’s History 38 ing to Rousey, she, and by extension the ufc, are able to maintain a superior position compared to other fighters. Moreover, Rousey was able to gain this power through her dedication and hard work. She self identifies as important, therefore the other female fighters, primarily Correia, are not important, which further positions Rousey as the desirable and controlling power. She earned her status as the chosen one and she must remain the chosen one in order to maintain her legacy. Rousey’s station as the firs female ufc fighter exemplifies this notion. She has a relationship with martial arts as well as with the other female fighters. In fact, she needs these other women in order to achieve her legacy. However, as Rousey indicates, these bodies are disposable and are the pieces needed to conquer in order to achieve and maintain her upper hand. Ac- cording to Rousey, other women are disposable and unable to work as hard as she has. She invested her sweat, blood, and tears into the ufc, which allows her to embody the legacy and economic power of the women’s ufc. Second, Rousey’s comment indicates the pressure she feels because she is the first female fighte . As a fighte , Rousey’s white body explores and conquers the terrain of female fighters for the benefit of other white female fighters. Therefore, she must maintain the standard she has established, especially because that standard is what the ufc and White have invested in. Neocolonialism operates as a ‘kinder version of global economics than past colonialism’ due to its ability to ‘make racism, genocide, sexism, nationalism, and inequitable capital distribution appear necessary’.40 Rousey’s success is important to maintain the normalcy of the whiteness of the ufc. The ufc’s economic power resides in Rousey’s ability to conquer and beat her opponents. It is ‘kinder’ because ultimately, this is necessary in order to entertain ufc viewers and maintain the ufc’s influence. In essence, Rousey needs to conquer Correia as a means to benefit the ufc as a whole. Additionally, Correia’s brown body must be broken down in order to maintain this economic distribution. Rousey acknowledges this. On the second episode of ufc Embedded 190 she states: ‘I need a dancing partner and these girls are like plants you know? Sometimes you can grow a crop and harvest it year after year like Misha and sometimes your harvest it once it’ll never grow back. I don’t think Bethe will ever come back after this’.41 Rousey references the comeback of Misha Tate, another white, u.s., female fighte . According to Rousey, Tate has the potential to come back ‘year after year’. She is a plant that is worth investing in and growing, if only to continuously be re-harvested by Rousey. However, Correia, ‘will never grow back’. As Rousey indicates, the other female fighters are necessary. She could not be successful without them. Nevertheless, she harvests particular plants that never return. Rousey implies the white female fighters, like Tate, are the ones to cultivate so they can grow in the garden of the ufc. Non-white female fighters, like Correia, will never grow back. Their bodies are necessary to help the economic enterprise of the ufc expand, yet they are disposable. Correia and her non-white peers are necessary to supplement the ufc, but they will never achieve the level of individual success as Rousey. Within a neocolonial framework, they are as less than human in comparison to Rousey and Tate. Their bodies, hard work, and quest for individual success is not as important as Rousey’s. The accumulation of wealth experienced by Rousey because of her success is reserved for

Hester | ‘I Promised the Brazilian People’ 187 Rousey (and possibly Tate) due to her embodiment of whiteness. Rousey is the one who has put in the effort and made the sacrifices to maintain the normalcy of her white success. What is interesting about Rousey is that while the bodies of her non-white peers are disposable, the non-white bodies of her fans and supporters represent the culture that Rousey respects and admires. On the first episode of ufc 190 Embedded Rousey states,

The Brazilian people always have a special place in my heart because they’re the only people who ever cheer for me when I do judo and to come back here and feel that again […] I promised the Brazilian people I’d come here and I would fight for them and I’m fulfilling that promise and I’m gonna come here and I’m gonna win.42

Rousey acknowledges her complicated relationship with Brazil, the fans, and her practice of judo. However, these complications warrant Rousey’s success because it is for Brazilians. They are the only ones who understand her and support her. Rousey positions herself as the colonist. She vows to defeat Correia in order to fulfill her promise to the Brazilian people, which frames the audience as ‘an accomplice to the crime of colonialism, an enablement of social power’.43 While Brazil has a ufc and mma champion in Correia, Rousey is the true champion because the people chose her. Rousey positions the Brazilian people as complicit in her quest to conquer Correia. They are the only people who cheer for her when she does judo, therefore, they act as a sympathizer with her acts of vengeance against Correia.

Conclusion

My aim was to illustrate how the ufc operates as a white neocolonial enterprise. At the core of its beginnings, the ufc sought to privilege certain bodies that exemplified the values imagined by the creator of bjj. While the Gracie family is no longer an active part of the ufc narrative, the values instilled in the organization endure. The history of the ufc switching ownership from the Gracie family to Dana White and the Fertitta brothers further perpetuates neocolonialism and ideals of whiteness. The new version of the ufc fails to recognize its historical roots and relationship with the Gracie family. While ufc fighters practice bjj, the organization itself does not acknowledge how or why this is part of its foundation. This is a trend that is evident through my analysis of Rousey. Rousey acknowledges that she needs Correia and that she values and loves the Brazilian people. Yet, it is her success and hard work that should be the focus and is privileged. Correia is not worthy of this and as Rousey iterates, she will not recover from defeat. She has no place in the ufc, and Rousey, as an extension of the neocolonial power of the organization, will ensure that this happens. In many ways, the vlog essentializes the experiences of Rousey and Correia. Through an analysis of Embedded, my goal is to examine how the vlog leads viewers

188 Yearbook of Women’s History 38 to believe they have ‘a fixed and “authentic” identity for a particular racial group’.44 By perpetuating a white neocolonial narrative, Embedded, and by extension Rousey, nor- malize the power of whiteness and replicate sentiments of white innocence. White innocence, when left unchecked, can lead audiences to ‘see racism as a largely remedied problem, rather than the continuing pernicious and embedded practice we know it to be’.45 The ufc frames Rousey as a straight, cisgender, white woman, and the heroine of the organization. The rhetoric she utilizes that ‘others’ Correia becomes an embedded practice where the nuances of racism are unquestioned. Further, the silence that surrounds the whiteness and neocolonial perspective of the ufc protects the power of this rhetorical practice. Rousey’s silence perpetuates the privileges she experiences due to whiteness and neocolonialism. Her whiteness permits her silence, which results in her ability to remain ignorant about the ‘personal dimensions of racism’.46 Neocolonialism is able to reap the same benefits. The silent power that resides in white neocolonial rhetorical practice deserves interrogation. This becomes evident through the example of Ronda Rousey because she deploys rhetoric that signifies the meaning of hard work, sacrifice, and the rewards that should be associated with such things. Rousey represents these ideas as well as the need to conquer the racial Other in order to achieve this level of success. Rousey perpetuates the long withstanding idea that individuals are able to pick themselves up by the boot straps. Not only is Rousey seemingly self-made, but she was able to accomplish this by literally destroying the non-white body of Correia for the greater good of the ufc. This narrative is rooted in her personal experience. Even though Rousey discusses these ideas with Brazil as the backdrop, the country, the Brazilian people, and Correia are merely tools that contribute to Rousey’s narrative. This further exemplifies white America’s inability to ‘imagine a story about America that does not center around their experiences’.47 Rousey contributes to u.s. America’s inability to imagine an experience that represents diversity and that does not utilize the racial Other as a tool to achieve success.

Notes

1 ‘Ronda Rousey retains title over Liz Carmouche at ufc 157’, usa Today, 24 February 2013. 2 Jill Martin, ‘Rousey Wins First ufc Women’s Match’, cnn, 24 February 2013, on: http://www.cnn. com/2013/02/24/us/ufc-women-fight/index.htm , accessed 4 December 2017. 3 Josh Gross, ‘Ronda Rousey Signs Landmark Deal’, espn, 16 November 2012, on: http://www.espn.com/ mma/story/_/id/8639858/ronda-rousey-becomes-first-female-sign-ufc-deal, accessed 4 December 2017. 4 L.A. Jennings, She’s a Knockout (Lanaham, md: Rowman & Littlefield, 2015), 124 5 Malissa Smith, A History of Women’s Boxing (Lanaham, md: Rowman & Littlefield, 2014), 1 6 Jennings, She’s a Knockout, 126. 7 Gross, ‘Ronda Rousey Signs Landmark Deal’. 8 Myra S. Washington and Megan Economides, ‘Strong Is the New Sexy: Women, CrossFit, and the Postfeminist Ideal’, Journal of Sport and Social Issues 40 (2016) 2, 143-161. 9 Kent Ono, ‘Wishing Colonialism Away: Avatar’s Postcolonial Fantasy’, in: R.L. Schwartz-DuPré (ed.),

Hester | ‘I Promised the Brazilian People’ 189 Communicating Colonialism (New York: Peter Lang, 2014), 273. 10 Derek Buescher, ‘Exceptional Torture: Torture Imagery as Neocolonial Rhetoric’, in: Schwartz-DuPré (ed.), Communicating Colonialism, 131. 11 Smith, A History of Women’s Boxing, 1. 12 Giovanna Follo, ‘A Literature Review of Women and The Martial Arts: Where are We Right Now?’, Sociology Compass 6 (2012) 9, 708. 13 Diana Looser, ‘Radical Bodies and Dangerous Ladies: Martial Arts and Women’s Performance, 1900- 1918’, Theatre Research International 36 (2011) 1, 7. 14 Looser, ‘Radical Bodies and Dangerous Ladies’, 5. 15 Akihiko Hirose and Kay Kei-ho Pih, ‘Men Who Strike and Men who Submit: Hegemonic and Margin- alized Masculinities in Mixed Martial Arts’, Men and Masculinities 13 (2010) 2, 192. 16 Looser, ‘Radical Bodies and Dangerous Ladies’, 9. 17 Smith, A History of Women’s Boxing, 163, 219, 246. 18 On: http://www.ufc.com/discover/ufc, accessed 26 February 2018. 19 Ibidem. 20 On: https://entertainment.howstuffworks.com/ufc4.ht , accessed 28 February 2018. 21 Raka Shome, ‘Postcolonial Interventions in the Rhetorical Canon’, Communication Theory 6 (1996) 1, 40-59. 22 On: http://www.gracieacademy.com/history.asp, accessed 1 March 2018. 23 On: http://www.gracieacademy.com/generations_rorion.asp, accessed 3 March 2018. 24 Ibidem. 25 On: http://www.gracieacademy.com/generations_royce.asp, accessed 3 March 2018. 26 On; https://www.mmaodds.com/history-of-the-ufc/, accessed 7 March 2018. 27 On: https://entertainment.howstuffworks.com/ufc5.ht , accessed 10 March 2018. 28 On: http://www.ufc.com/discover/ufc, accessed 26 February 2018. 29 Jeff Cain, ‘After Bethe Correia’s Suicide Remarks, ufc 190 Became Personal to Ronda Rousey’, mma Weekly, 1 August 2015, on: http://www.mmaweekly.com/after-bethe-correias-suicide-remarks-ufc- 190-became-personal-to-ronda-rousey, accessed 15 November 2017. 30 ufc 190 Embedded: Vlog Series – Episode 1, 27 July 2015, on: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nB3lg0 f6d54, accessed 30 August 2018. 31 ufc 190 Embedded: Vlog Series – Episode 4, 31 July 2015, on: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=owjGa xQbBfY&t=101s, accessed 30 August 2018. 32 Kent A. Ono, Contemporary Media Culture and the Remnants of a Colonial Past (New York: s.e., 2009), 15. 33 Thomas K. Nakayama and Robert L. Krizek, ‘Whiteness: A Strategic Rhetoric’, Quarterly Journal of Speech 81 (1995), 291-309. 34 Carrie Crenshaw, ‘Resisting Whiteness’ Rhetorical Silence’, Western Journal of Communication 61 (1997) 3, 256. 35 ufc 190 Embedded: Vlog Series – Episode 4. 36 Raka Shome, Diana and beyond: White Femininity, National Identity, and Contemporary Media Culture (Urbana, il: University of Illinois Press, 2014), 198. 37 Shome, Diana and beyond, 198. 38 On: http://www.ufc.com/fighter/bethe-Cor eia?id, accessed 17 November 2017.

190 Yearbook of Women’s History 38 39 ufc 190 Embedded: Vlog Series – Episode 1. 40 Derek T. Buescher and Kent A. Ono, ‘Civilized Colonialism: Pocahontas as Neocolonial Rhetoric’, Women’s Studies in Communication 19 (1996) 2, 127-153. 41 ufc 190 Embedded: Vlog Series – Episode 2, 29 July 2015, on: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5uv9- al2JtQ, accessed 15 November 2017. 42 ufc 190 Embedded: Vlog Series – Episode 1. 43 Buescher and Ono, ‘Civilized Colonialism’, 132. 44 Shome, ‘Postcolonial Interventions in the Rhetorical Canon’, 47. 45 Marouf Hasian, Jr., Carol W. Anderson and Rulon Wood, ‘Cinematic Representation and Cultural Cri- tique: The Deracialization and Denationalization of the African Conflict Diamond Crises in Zwick’s Blood Diamond’, in: M. Lacy and K. Ono (eds.), Critical Rhetorics of Race (New York: nyu Press, 2011), 242. 46 Crenshaw, ‘Resisting Whiteness’ Rhetorical Silence’, 272. 47 Jamie Moshin and Ronald Jackson, ‘Inscribing Racial Bodies and Relieving Responsibility: Examining Racial Politics in Crash’, in: Lacy and Ono (eds.), Critical Rhetorics, 218.

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38 Building Bodies Transnational Historical 38 Approaches to Sport, Gender and Ethnicities

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