The extreme lengths Ronda Rousey went to hide from public

The UFC secretly moved Ronda Rousey to a different hotel to dodge the paparazzi. Photo / Getty

UFC superstar Ronda Rousey went to extreme lengths to hide herself from the public after her shock beating from Holly Holm.

And she was aided and abetted by controversial UFC boss Dana White.

An extensive feature in ESPN The Magazine published this week in the United States reveals the elaborate lengths Rousey and White went to in keeping the deposed queen of the Octagon shielded from photographers and other prying eyes.

From the moment a dazed and badly beaten Rousey was helped out of the Octagon by her team on November 15 before disappearing backstage at Etihad Stadium in Melbourne, she's been largely hidden from the public gaze.

But the feature outlines where Rousey hid from the world during the lowest moment of her career.

White had a restaurant booked for the champ to celebrate with her traditional post-fight meal of chicken wings and apple cider. But after Holm upset the script she spent the night in a Melbourne hospital where she was treated for concussion and a plastic surgeon stitched up her badly cut lip.

Rousey's sister, Maria Burns Ortiz, picked her up the following morning and took her to a hotel. Rousey had been staying at the Crown Metropol with all the other UFC fighters in the lead-up to her headline bout against Holm. But the UFC secretly moved her to a different hotel to dodge the paparazzi which assembled outside the Metropol.

Rousey slept the entire flight home from Sydney to Los Angeles, where she was photographed at LAX hiding her face with a pillow.

According to the ESPN article, she then climbed in the truck of her boyfriend, fellow fighter Travis Browne, and drove 15 hours to a Texas ranch.

The pair had spent a week in the remote location after she defeated Bethe Correia in August, escaping the noise from the outside world.

"It was one of the best weeks of her life," the ESPN report read. "No phones. No obligations."

But Rousey and Browne didn't enjoy the same experience this time. The weather was freezing. Browne's hunting was fruitless. And Rousey was still depressed about her loss.
"I kind of just slept a lot and ate fast food," she told ESPN. "First I was so sick I couldn't eat anything. Then I just slept and pooped in the woods. I used a whole roll of toilet paper in one day.

"Physically, my body was refusing its own failures. It was, like, sick of itself. Expelling itself. Like all the skin came off my face. My whole body flushed it out."

Rousey returned to Los Angeles where she was confronted the following morning by her sister and mother, AnnMaria De Mars.

They talked and played computer games but it wasn't long before her notoriously driven mother - who was also a judo champion - brought the tough love.

"It wasn't long before she was stopping by and telling me that I can't hide my whole life," Rousey told the magazine. "I have to do something with myself. Turn on my cellphone and stop ignoring everyone."

Rousey's interview with ESPN was her first step back towards re-engaging with the world and beginning the long process back to fighting again.

There's still repairing to be done to her mind and body, but she's already accepted the fact she'll fight Holm again. "I need to come back. I need to beat this chick," Rousey said. "Who knows if I'm going to pop my teeth out or break my jaw or rip my lip open. I have to f***ing do it."