Ronda Rousey: “I Want to See the Standards That Women Hold Themselves to Change”

UFC champion Ronda Rousey is Self’s November cover star. The inspirational athlete told the magazine, “I want to see the standards that women hold themselves to change. In terms of looks, I feel like we’re given an impossible standard to live up to. It should be more diverse and show that every single woman can attain an attractive body just by being as healthy as possible. I don’t think that’s an impossible goal.”

Aside from equality and positivity, Ronda Rousey is fighting for something else: a legacy. “I want my name to be mentioned along with Mike Tyson and Muhammad Ali, and I don’t want the word woman to be in front of champion,” she said. “I am afraid of failure. That’s why I work harder than anyone else: I’m the most afraid to lose. But fear is also what motivates me.”

In the interview, Rousey shares that she was once so broke that she slept in her car. Now, she’s an undefeated athlete, the first woman to star on the cover of Australian Men’s Fitness, and appears in big-budget films like Furious 7, Entourage, and the remake of Road House. Oh, and her book is a national best seller. Adding to that long list of achievements, “I would love to be considered a figure of social change,” she told Self.

Read the full interview in the November issue, on newsstands October 27.More from Glamour: