Former UFC Bantamweight Champion Ronda Rousey was recently promoted to 6th-degree black belt in judo.

Rarely have a mother/daughter combination risen so high in the ranks of a martial art at the same time. DeMars was the first American, male or female, to win at the World Judo Championships in 1984.

Rousey is well known for being the first American woman to medal at the Olympics, earning a bronze medal at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, China. It’s good to remember the base arts that make Mixed Martial Arts what it is today.
Who promoted her? Is there one world-wide federation that decides or is judo as fragmented into rival cliques as most of the other martial arts?