Ronda Rousey entering UFC Hall of Fame next month

Ronda Rousey’s role in creating a women’s division in the UFC and her dominating run as the first women’s champion has won her induction into the organization’s Hall of Fame next month, it was announced Saturday during UFC 225 in Chicago.

“This is an immense honor, to not only take part in bringing women to the forefront of this sport, but now the UFC Hall of Fame,” Rousey said in a prepared statement. “May I be the first of many.”

The ceremony is July 5 at the Palms Casino Resort room the Pearl and will be shown live on UFC Fight Pass at 7 p.m. Pacific time.

“There would be no women in UFC without Ronda Rousey,” UFC President Dana White said in a prepared statement. “Ronda is an absolute pioneer who helped me — and a lot of other people — look at women in combat sports differently.

“She accomplished everything she set out to do with UFC and became a global icon and role model in the process. Today, the women’s divisions are packed with incredibly talented fighters and they produce some of the best fights you’ll ever see.”

Rousey, who lived in Venice during her UFC career, debuted with a first-round submission of challenger Liz Carmouche at Honda Center in 2013, and continued her impressive ride with a stunning stretch of first-round submissions by her famed armbar maneuver, honed as a U.S. Olympic bronze medalist in judo.

Rousey owns records for four of the five fastest finishes in UFC women’s bantamweight history. No other fighter in UFC history owns more than two of the five fastest finishes in their respective division.

Her average cumulative UFC fight time of 3 minutes 6 seconds ranks as the second shortest in UFC history (minimum five fights). At a Staples Center fight, Rousey delivered an armbar submission of Cat Zingano in 14 seconds at UFC 184, a title-fight record later broken by Conor McGregor’s 13-second knockout of Jose Aldo in 13 seconds in 2015.

The UFC is sorely missing both of those fighters as it searches for another pay-per-view and live-gate draw.

Rousey’s legend spiraled as she stopped Alexis Davis in 16 seconds, took a fight in two months to knock out Sara McMann in 66 seconds, then later traveled to Brazil to knock out Bethe Correia in just 34 seconds at UFC 190.

She headlined six pay-per-view events, including the UFC 193 second-round knockout loss to Holly Holm in November 2015 that paved her exit from mixed martial arts. In Melbourne, Australia, 56,214 fight fans attended a bout that stands as the largest-attended event in UFC history.

Just over a year later, Rousey (12-2) was knocked out by current women’s bantamweight champion Amanda Nunes and now works as a WWE performer.

She’ll enter the UFC Hall of Fame as a member of the Modern Wing — those who turned pro on or after Nov. 17, 2000 — joining former light-heavyweight champion Forrest Griffin (2013), former two-division champion BJ Penn (2015) and longtime bantamweight contender Urijah Faber (2017).

She resides in Riverside with her husband, UFC heavyweight Travis Browne.