By , Damon Martin
Published November 06, 2015
ANAHEIM, CA - FEBRUARY 23: Ronda Rousey hits Liz Carmouche during their UFC Bantamweight Title fight at Honda Center on February 23, 2013 in Anaheim, California. (Photo by Jeff Gross/Getty Images) Jeff Gross Getty Images North America
It's nearly impossible to comb through Ronda Rousey's 12-fight career to find any moments where she's actually been pushed in a fight much less put into any real trouble, but the closest she's come was in her UFC debut against Liz Carmouche in 2013.
Rousey joined the UFC following an undefeated run in Strikeforce where she won the women's bantamweight title before defending it on one occasion prior to the UFC enveloping the division all together.
While Rousey has faced challenges with every opponent she's dissected, even those she's finished in sub-one minute performances -- and let's be honest there are a lot of them -- it was Carmouche who actually locked on a rear naked choke early in the fight that looked like it might bring the champion to the ground before her rise to fame even started.
Rousey says Carmouche's forearm going across her jaw did more damage in those few moments than she's suffered in any other fight during her MMA career.
"I dislocated my jaw, broke my sinuses, was coughing," Rousey said when speaking to the LA Times recently. "When her hand went across my jaw, my mouth was ripped open. That's the only fight I got a bruise in."
Rousey revealed that thanks to an illustrious career in judo before she ever threw her first punch in MMA, her neck was already quite damaged and considered fragile by most standards.
As Carmouche wrenched her head to the side in a neck crank position after the choke didn't get slipped in under Rousey's chin, the champion knew something really bad could happen if she didn't react soon.
"The worse-case scenario is you break your neck, and my neck was past the place where it shouldn't have gone," Rousey said.
In that moment, Rousey says she had to figure out if she wanted to be a champion or just another fighter because the line in the sand had been drawn rather emphatically by her opponent locking on the choke.
It was do or die but in Rousey's mind there was no option.
"It was in that moment I realized I was willing to die to win this fight," Rousey revealed. "I was willing to be a quadriplegic to win that fight. It was that important to me. I didn't care.
"The thought of giving up never happened. You have to want it more than the other person."
Rousey hasn't been put in any kind of situation like that since facing Carmouche in her UFC debut but chances are if she's up against those same odds in her upcoming fight at UFC 193, Holly Holm is going to need a lot to put her away before the final bell.
https://www.foxnews.com/sports/rousey-i-was-willing-to-die-to-win-in-ufc-debut