Ronda Rousey held her own last night as part of a panel discussion on the program, Jim Rome on Showtime.
Up against world class talkers Dhani Jones, former NFL star and sports psychologist Prof. Harry Edwards she demonstrated the same fearlessness as she does when fighting.
Rousey, UFC's first women's champ, never flinched when speaking about performance enhancing drugs in sports, as well as how female athletes should take advantage of their good looks to get paid.
Rome began with a question about Brittney Griner, who he thinks could be called the most dominant women's college basketball player ever.
Why isn't she more famous? Rome noted that she didn't even make the list of the top 50 most searched women athletes on Google.
Do women still need to be great looking to get attention, even if they are the best in their sport?
The short answer was yes and they don't need to achieve much to be stars.
The cases of Anna Kournikova and others like her puzzled Rome. They don't come close to the upper echelon of their respective sports and become rich from posing for pictures.
Rousey admitted that her looks helped pull in 500,000 pay-per-views for her UFC triumph and didn't find it odd.
While she believes that her talent is the underpinning to her popularity her looks enhance it.
"If I looked like this and didn't fight, no one would know who I am," she told Rome. "You have to use everything and looks matter in every single career out there. If I was going to give a Board presentation would I show up in my pajamas? No, I'd put on a pencil skirt and some makeup and try to look nice because in every other industry it helps."
While Jones and Edwards went on to pontificate their views from the male vantage point, Rousey patiently waited her turn.
When she'd had enough of them talking over each other she put an end to it as swiftly as she does her opponents in the octagon.
"Wait, hold on. Let the woman talk," she told them. Even Rome hadn't been able to get a word in edgewise.
Rousey expanded on her earlier point that she uses her looks to enhance her recognition. It is why she happily took part in the latest ESPN The Magazine's Body Issue (see video posted to the left), but if you don't have the looks, use what you have.
"I try to fight as best and exciting as possible. I try to dress nicely and present myself as best as I can. I try to be engaging and give sound bites. I try to do as much charity work as possible. I try to do as many shows as possible. You have to hustle and part of hustle is looks."
At the age of 26, Ronda Rousey understands the business of marketing and the importance of bending to the needs of those who hold the purse strings.
Instead of decrying the need to be good looking and calling it unfair to women, she takes the practical approach. It seems to be working.
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