Ronda Rousey knows she'll win: 'This is the most personal fight I've been in'

With flash and depth, Ronda Rousey has expertly navigated caged combat since entering mixed martial arts in 2010.

Though they often seem to be, eye-glinting objects and things of substance aren’t, by rule, mutually exclusive. And Rousey, the 135lb female mixed martial arts superstar making her sixth consecutive UFC title defense this Saturday, is proof of that.

The 28-year-old blonde emperor of the armbar has forged her own path, tearing down walls only to erect a citadel founded on competitive brilliance and unrelenting attitude. This combination has allowed her to imagine a legacy far greater the one created after just 11 professional fights: as a pioneer for women fighters.

The big picture looks like this: leave a brutal sport undefeated, undisputed and unparalleled, all the while fostering and maintaining a mainstream notoriety no UFC fighter has known.

“It’s easy to expect anything when you have a world champion walking through the living room,” Rousey said, alluding to her mother, judo world champion AnnMaria De Mars.

Rousey is likely to step into the octagon in Rio de Janeiro on Saturday against Brazil’s Bethe Correia as the biggest favorite in the history of the UFC. Correia, you see, simply doesn’t have a chance. The unbeaten Brazilian, a powerful brawler, may as well not even show up, for the price of doing so will be steep and furious. That’s how Rousey sees things, at least, and media and fans have not found a reason to argue otherwise.

It’s no surprise then that Sports Illustrated recently named the Californian as the most dominant athlete on the planet, and ESPN saw fit to bestow Rousey the honor of female athlete of the year in 2014 and 2015, ahead of others like Serena Williams.

Rousey is not one for odds, and any pressure she feels has nothing to do with oddsmakers installing her as a 17-to-1 favorite. Her rise to prominence has been so impressive, so filled with incredible moments that expectations surrounding her cage time, fleeting as it may be, are rightly through the roof. This has led some people to question if she’s really as good as she’s made out to be, or if the women she has tormented and torqued aren’t worth much. That’s myopic. Rousey can at the same time be two steps ahead of the competition, and, even if the champion’s dominance instilled a reputation that the bantamweight women are the weakest crop of fighters in the UFC, the competition can still be strong.

“I need these other girls,” Rousey said. “It’s not like I can do this by myself. I need a dancing partner.”

Last time out, in her hometown of Los Angeles, Rousey finished a stunningly fluid armbar over undefeated Cat Zingano. That required 14 seconds. In the fight prior to that, a year ago in Las Vegas, Rousey used the judo that had been drilled into her by her world champion mother, the feisty AnnMaria De Mars, to slam veteran Alexis Davis to the ground, where the challenger’s face was pounded until the referee intervened at the 16-second mark.

Rousey has proven herself to be an unadulterated winner, which is the most important characteristic of any apex competitor. She possesses qualities of the very best fighters. Her penchant for straight talk and the ability to offer quote after printable quote. An ability to dream big, embrace celebrity, exude confidence. And, despite those things, a need within herself to perpetuate an “underdog” feel when every shred of evidence indicates otherwise.

A few weeks after Rousey accosted Davis, the New Yorker, not exactly a hotbed of MMA coverage, released an excellent piece on the UFC champion entitled “Mean Girl.” Rousey has been a media darling to varying degrees from the moment she stepped inside a cage. She released a bestselling book, My Fight/Your Fight, with one of her sisters this year. During a media scrum following an open workout in Brazil on Wednesday, Rousey referenced another book, Ender’s Game, a 1980s science fiction novel that was adapted to movie screens in 2013.

In the story, Rousey found a lesson that she has since applied to the 32-year-old Correia.

During the run-up to Saturday’s showdown, Correia (9-0) offered feigned concern that Rousey might kill herself if things didn’t go her way in the main event of UFC 190 (10pm ET on pay-per-view). As has been recited many times by now, enough that the UFC bantamweight proclaimed she won’t discuss it with the media any more, Rousey’s father, Ron, killed himself when Ronda was eight. Correia apologized, suggesting she was unaware of the family tragedy. Rousey, whose hand wraps on Wednesday were adorned with the words “My lovely father”, dismissed any notion that Correia could not have known, and promised to teach her a lesson.

So like Ender Wiggin, the adolescent protagonist in Ender’s Game, Rousey is resolved to defeating Correia so thoroughly that not only would she have won this battle, she’d resolve all future ones as well. She can’t have other opponents taking the same approach as Correia, feeling as though it’s safe to pick on the champion’s family.

“This definitely is the most personal fight I’ve been in,” Rousey said. “It’s the most pressure I’ve been under. That’s another reason that Bethe is never meant to be a champion. She said: ‘I have no pressure on me. No one expects anything out of me, and that’s an advantage.’

“So you’re saying you do the best with less pressure? That’s what’s best for you? You’re not meant for this life. You’re not. The more pressure there is, I fight above myself. I’ve never been under more pressure in my life, and I’m going to show the world what I’m really made of.”

Drug bans should be for life – or we might as well give everyone keys to the dispensary

What is a win worth when taken with a cup of cold urine? Even in victory there is defeat. Chris Froome’s triumphant ride to Paris to claim a second Tour de France, unfairly contaminated as it was by years of doubt and suspicion, turns the yellow jersey radioactive.

All those hours pounding French asphalt, grinding out the kilometres with legs screaming hellfire, the harrowing climbs, the mad descents, and for what? To have some moron douse you in bladder wash while crying foul?

There is not a trace of evidence that might smear Froome, yet here he is in the aftermath of victory carrying the chamber pot for cycling’s past misdemeanours. So deep was – or is, according to an independent report earlier this year – the doping culture in this sport it might never be erased, trust never restored.

The issue is not one of a bitter French media processing years of national failure or of cynical ex-pros in the press peloton casting knowing glances, but of the bloke in the bar who stands, pint in hand, wondering if Froome is today’s Lance Armstrong, spewing innocence from atop the iceberg with the force of an Alabama preacherman hailing the second coming of Jesus Christ.

And who can blame him, when the Cycling Independent Reform Commission publishes a damning report in March, claiming the peloton is still busy with drug subterfuge, exploring with astonishing ingenuity every possibility to gain an illegal edge? The survey, commissioned at a cost of £3m by the new UCI president, Brian Cookson, took 13 months to compile and canvassed the opinion of 174 connected individuals, including Froome.

It concluded that the micro-management of “biological passports”, or unique blood records, was widespread. In other words the use of tiny doping infractions to avoid huge spikes was a well-developed practice, enabling riders to indulge the EPO habit in the evening without testing positive the following morning.

Froome has never been implicated in the practice, has spoken out against it, and his team is predicated on clean racing. And in that spirit Dave Brailsford walked out of the Sky Froomemobile brandishing the racing telemetry of his champion rider. And it did not make an iota of difference.

The numbers always add up. It is belief in them that counts. The urine-chucker is not concerned with rational arguments about power output or truth. History tells us with bloody certitude how often truth comes a poor second to prejudice.

And so we witnessed the justice system of the Middle Ages playing out, a rider guilty until proven innocent by his racing notes. Froome was lucky. In another epoch he would have been strapped to a stool and dunked in the river.

Across the Channel in the English capital on Friday night, Usain Bolt Froomed the 100 metres field on his return to the Olympic Stadium. Beforehand, he talked of the need to wipe the stain from a discipline mired in doping controversy. The fastest time this year is owned by one Justin Gatlin, whose association with narcotic violations is such that you might imagine his given names are Drugs Cheat Justin.

Gatlin and his ilk have brought not only themselves down with their infernal lies but the whole athletics community. The great Usain, cleaner than a whistle by any known measure, is tainted like Froome by association. Poor Mo Farah has had a summer of it, convulsing under the weight of innuendo following allegations surrounding the working practices of his coach Alberto Salazar at the Oregon athletics lab. “They are all at it,” goes the bar-stool refrain.

There are two solutions to this appalling drug dilemma. If it is seen as desirable to hang on to the Corinthian ideal, to view sport as a contest between unadulterated foes, then zero tolerance has to mean exactly that. Off with their heads. Any caught using drugs to gain a competitive advantage must be banned for life. The sanction must be weighty enough to kick temptation in the groin.

Alternatively we open the doors of the dispensary to all, recalibrate our ideas of what sport means and get on with it. There would be an equalisation of use and product, and presumably a winner identified. And we would do away with one of the lesser acknowledged negatives of drug conviction, the wholesale lack of recognition for the toil and effort still expended by the user.

Drugs alone did not propel Gatlin below 10 seconds or Armstrong up the 21 hairpins of Alpe d’Huez. They made the fractional difference, of course, but if Joe Bloggs were to reach for the keys to the medicine cupboard, he would not be winning Olympic gold or the Tour de France.

And that is the terrible legacy wrought by drugs. They not only discredit achievement, they obliterate the men the cheaters were before they chose to trade with the devil, a trade they cannot undo.

WWE Hall of Famer Roddy Piper dies at 61

"Rowdy" Roddy Piper, the kilt wearing trash talker who headlined the first WrestleMania and later found movie stardom, has died, the WWE said Friday. He was 61.

WWE had no additional details.

Piper, born Roderick Toombs, was the second WWE Hall of Famer to die this summer following the June death of Dusty Rhodes. Piper's death also comes days after Hulk Hogan, his biggest rival for decades, was fired by the WWE. Hogan had used racial slurs in a conversation captured on a sex tape.

Piper and Hogan battled for years and headlined some of the biggest matches during the 1980s. Hogan and Mr. T defeated Piper and Paul Orndorff on March 31, 1985, at the first WrestleMania at Madison Square Garden.

Piper was a villain for the early portion of his career, once cracking a coconut over the skull of Jimmy "Superfly" Snuka. He later starred in the movie "They Live."

WWE chairman Vince McMahon called Piper "one of the most entertaining, controversial and bombastic performers ever in WWE, beloved by millions of fans around the world."

Piper also went by the nickname "Hot Rod" during his career. Although he was Canadian, he often appeared in a kilt and came to the ring blowing bagpipes in a nod to his Scottish heritage.

Piper was best known for his lengthy career with the World Wrestling Federation, now the WWE. He had more than 30 titles to his name and was inducted into the company's Hall of Fame in 1985.

"Saddened about the passing of "Rowdy" Roddy Piper," tweeted Paul "Triple H" Levesque, a wrestler and top WWE executive. "He was truly a legend and icon, and will never be forgotten... #ThankYouRoddy #RIP."

Piper became a household name because of his rivalry with Hogan, and the involvement of pop star Cyndi Lauper and her friend Captain Lou Albano, also a wrestler. The feud led to an MTV special "The War to Settle the Score" in 1985. Piper was cast as the villain, and his disqualification led to Hogan claiming the WWF championship.

A brawl at the end of that fight led to the first WrestleMania.

Piper also had well-known rivalries with Rick Rude and Adrian Adonis, among others.

In addition to his celebrity in the ring, Piper appeared in John Carpenter's 1988 cult classic "They Live." In that film, he delivered the memorable line: "I have come here to chew bubblegum and kick ass — and I'm all out of bubblegum."

"He was a great wrestler. He was an underrated actor and just a marvelous entertainer and I feel like I've just lost one of my close friends," Carpenter told The Associated Press.

Carpenter said when he last saw Piper, his friend had just had shoulder surgery but was doing well.

"His outlook was very good," he said. "Roddy will always be loved because of his wrestling career," Carpenter said. "He really became a legend in pro wrestling. He will not be forgotten."

Former "Survivor" star Jonny Fairplay started work in 2001 as Piper's personal assistant.

"I would wake him up in the morning and yell at him from the door of his bedroom," he said. "I'd say, hailing from Glasgow, Scotland, 'the guy who never beat Hulk Hogan.'"

Fairplay named his daughter Piper in honor of the wrestler.

"Rowdy Piper should be remembered as the greatest bad guy of all time," he said.

More recently, Piper appeared in the show "Celebrity Wife Swap," trading wives with fellow former wrestler Ric Flair.

Piper battled Hodgkin's lymphoma in 2006, but later said he had beaten the cancer.

A native of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Piper is survived by his wife Kitty and their four children.

___

Associated Press writers Anne Peterson and Anthony McCartney contributed to this report.

Naomi Campbell: Supermodel handed six-month suspended sentence for photographer assault in Sicily, will appeal

Supermodel Naomi Campbell has received a six-month suspended sentence from a Sicilian court following an incident in 2009 when she scratched the eye of paparazzo photographer.

Russian billionaire Vladimir Doronin, moored their yacht off the Sicilian island of Lipari after sailing from millionaire's playground St Tropez.

Photographer Gaetano Di Giovanni attempted to take pictures of the couple as they walked through the island's streets, but was hit by Campbell with her handbag scratching one of his eyes.

It is understood that the model's legal representatives had previously reached an agreement with the photographer that led to him withdrawing the charges.

According to Italian news agency Ansa, however, despite this prosecutor Francesco Massara ordered that the trial take place in the interest of the public and given the seriousness of the charges.

Campbell intends to appeal the court ruling.

"We are appealing the ruling surrounding the 2009 incident," her legal representative Guido Carlo Alleva confirmed in a statement. "Due to the ongoing legal process, we cannot discuss the matter further at this time."

Campbell's fiery outbursts during her 30-year modelling career

In 1998 she was ordered by a judge to attend anger-management classes following an incident where she struck her personal Georgina Galanis assistant with a mobile phone.

A decade later in 2008 she was accused of attacking police at Heathrow in an argument over lost luggage.

In August 2010, Campbell appeared at a war crimes trial against former Liberian president Charles Taylor at the Special Court for Sierra Leone in Leidschendam. She was called to give evidence on a "blood diamond" she allegedly received from Taylor during a Nelson Mandela Children's Fund function in 1997. She initially refused to co-operate with the enquiry after being subpoenaed by the court.

Osama bin Laden sister and stepmother feared dead in UK plane crash

The sister and stepmother of notorious al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden were reportedly among the dead after a business jet crashed at a private airport in Hampshire and ploughed into a car auction centre.

Without confirming the identities of the victims, the Saudi ambassador to Britain, Prince Mohammed bin Nawaf Al Saud, offered condolences on the embassy’s official Twitter account to the Bin Laden family, a prominent Saudi Arabia clan with vast business interests.

“His royal highness Prince Mohammed bin Nawaf bin Abdul Aziz, the ambassador of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques to the United Kingdom, offered his condolences to the sons of the late Mohammed bin Laden and their relations for the grave incident of the crash of the plane carrying members of the family at Balckbushe airport,” he said in the tweet.

The Saudi embassy said it was working with British authorities to investigate the incident and to ensure the speedy handover of the bodies for funerals and burials in the kingdom.

The Saudi-owned al-Hayat newspaper, citing a statement by the Saudi general authority of civil aviation , said on its website that the Embraer Phenom 300 with three passengers and the pilot crashed during takeoff from Blackbushe airport.

The statement did not identify the victims, but some Saudi media suggested on social media or on their websites that they were relatives of Osama bin Laden, who was shot dead by US forces in Pakistan in 2011.

It was not immediately possible to confirm the reports but it emerged that the aircraft was registered to a firm owned by the Bin Laden family.

Police would neither confirm nor deny on Friday night whether they were investigating reports that any members of the family were on board.

The light aircraft, which had with space for up to nine passengers and was thought to be worth £6m, crashed as it attempted to land at Blackbushe airport, seven miles north-west of Farnborough, a spokesman for the airport said.

The website Flight Radar, which tracks air traffic, shows a flight matching that description circling the airport, before appearing to come in to land. The flight took off from Milan–Malpensa airport.

Acting chief inspector Olga Venner, of Hampshire police, speaking from the scene, said: “We can confirm that there were four people on board, including the pilot.

“Sadly, there were no survivors. No one on the ground has been injured and we would urge anyone with any information, including pictures or videos, to contact 101.”

Venner said police have launched a joint investigation with the Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB).

The airport’s spokesman said: “A Phenom 300 jet with four persons on board crashed near the end of the runway around 3.09pm while attempting to make a landing,” he said.

“The scene was attended by Blackbushe fire and rescue within minutes, followed by Hampshire fire, police and ambulance units. Emergency services are currently controlling the scene.”

Hampshire fire brigade sent four pumps and a Land Rover to the scene, while South East Coast ambulance service confirmed a “multi-vehicle” response.

A spokeswoman for the ambulance service said it had received reports that the aircraft missed the runway and crashed into the British Car Auctions site at the airport. Other reports suggested the plane had crashed on or just after takeoff.

Andrew Thomas, who was paying for a car at the time of impact, said the plane exploded.

“I saw it when it had just happened, and could see the plane and cars in flames,” he told BBC Surrey. “The plane nosedived into the cars and exploded on impact. I have heard from staff here that four people were on the plane.”

Joe Ramos told local station Eagle Radio that the aircraft had clipped the fence of the auction centre.

“There was a loud bang and my son quickly came into the auction hall saying a plane had gone down. We quickly went back out only to see a private jet had gone over the fence of the airport as it was trying to take off, but in fact it had clipped the fence, spun around and crashed into the cars.”

Daphne Knowles, 70, who lives nearby, told the GetSurrey news site: “I was in a field with the cattle and I heard an aircraft coming very, very fast from behind me. The engines were screaming far too much and the aircraft was trying to land – I’m a glider pilot and I thought it’s far too low to the ground.

“Two people said they thought it had to swerve to miss another aircraft as it went in, but I didn’t see that myself and can’t confirm, then a huge black cloud of smoke went up.”

A group of people, believed to be the family of the victims, were escorted to the site by police officers.

Blackbushe airport provides facilities for private jets and hosts a flying school. It was a originally an RAF base and was once a busy passenger airport before the growth of Gatwick and Heathrow eclipsed it.

Stuart Baggs post-mortem fails to find Apprentice star's cause of death

Questions surround the sudden death of former Apprentice contestant Stuart Baggs after a post-mortem proved inconclusive, police said.

Despite no apparent cause of death, Isle of Man Police said there is "no reason to view the circumstances as suspicious".

The 27-year-old, who ran a communications firm on the Isle of Man, was found dead at an address in the island's capital, Douglas, at around 9am on Thursday.

The post-mortem examination following his "sudden and unexpected" death was carried out on Friday.

 A police spokesman said: "Whilst at this time the cause of his death is not fully determined, there remains no reason to view the circumstances as suspicious, and routine inquiries will continue in order to inform the Coroner of Inquests of the full circumstances. The date of the initial inquest is to follow."

Speaking of the family, he said: "They would like to extend their gratitude for the support and kind wishes they have received from their family and friends, and the support of the constabulary."

At 21, Baggs was the youngest candidate when he appeared on the BBC One show in 2010.

He was knocked out at the interviews stage and the series was eventually won by Stella English, but he became a cult favourite with his steady stream of catchphrases and his description of himself as "Baggs the brand".

His sister, Charlotte Baggs, said the family's world had been "shattered apart" by his sudden death.

She wrote on Facebook: "Today my dearest brother Stuart Baggs gained his wings. To say we are all shocked and devastated is an understatement.

"Love him or hate him, he touched many people's lives from his TV antics to his amazing work with Bluewave Communications."

She added: "He was the biggest character and will leave the biggest hole behind. Not knowing what or why makes it all the harder.

"Can't explain how proud I am of him. He was the king of following his dreams and making them happen."

Past and present stars of the popular show took to social media to express their shock at the entrepreneur's death.

The Apprentice boss Lord Sugar said: "Terrible news Stuart Baggs has died. My sincere condolences to his family and friends RIP one of the stand-out characters of the Apprentice."

Nick Hewer, who left his role as Lord Sugar's adviser this year after a decade on the show, tweeted: "So sad to hear of Stuart Baggs' death. Condolences to his family. He will be remembered with affection by all who knew him on Apprentice 6."

Dara O Briain, former presenter of The Apprentice's spin-off programme, wrote: "Sad news about the death of Stuart Baggs. Interviewed him on You're Fired and he was funny and self-effacing. Condolences to his family."

Baggs, who recently turned 27, gave an interview to Isle of Man newspapers last week about his latest scheme to bring 4G broadband to the island.

Talking to the paper about his career, he said: "I work, as my hair will tell you, at least 18 hours a day. I sleep for four hours religiously, I would not have it any other way, like Margaret Thatcher."

He said that work gave him "a buzz", adding: "As to the future, we are already working on that."

17 mind-blowing psychology findings that explain the baffling choices you make every day

If you assume that you understand why you think and act the way you do, you're probably wrong.

Decades of psychological research suggest that people behave in ways that are mysterious and perplexing — even to themselves.

We sifted through the Quora thread, "What are some mind-blowing facts about social psychology?" and pulled out the most fascinating findings. (Some fall outside the realms of social psychology, but we thought they were worth including.)

Read on to find out why we label other people jerks and ourselves victims of circumstance; why powerful people are messier eaters; and why we'd rather give ourselves electric shocks than sit alone for 15 minutes (seriously).

1. We often subscribe to the majority opinion, even when it's obvious the majority is wrong.

"People often go to surprising lengths to conform to the majority opinion," writes Quora user Leo Polovets, referring to an experiment conducted by psychologist Solomon Asch.

Back in the 1950s, Asch designed an experiment in which participants saw three lines and were asked to say which one was longest. One line was clearly longer than the others.

In each iteration of the experiment, just one participant was surrounded by a group of confederates, who all reported that one of the shorter lines was longest. Sure enough, three-quarters of participants agreed with the rest of the group at least once.

In 2005, psychiatrist and neuroscientist Gregory Berns replicated the experiment and found similar results. Berns also scanned participants' brains while the experiment was going on and determined that group pressure actually caused people to change their perception of reality, while disagreeing with the group caused people to experience emotional discomfort.