Men’s Fitness front cover of Ronda Rousey angers readers

GRACING the cover of Men’s Fitness, the UFC champ has caused a biff among readers, who want ‘only men’ on the cover.

Ronda Rousey defeats Liz Carmouche in their UFC bantamweight title fight in California. Picture: Jeff Gross/Getty Images.

Think fierce, think fit, think female — and you might arrive at Ronda Rousey.

She’s the UFC Women’s Bantamweight Champion and she’s been featured on the cover of some of the world’s best-selling magazines. But make no mistake — when it comes to mags like Australian Men’s Fitness, not everyone is content with seeing her on the cover.

Ronda Rousey is the first woman to appear on the cover of Australian Men’s Fitness magazine. Picture: Supplied.

As the first woman to appear on the cover of the magazine, the edition has been met with a mixed response.

“Ronda Rousey is the best. I’m glad to see her on the cover of men’s fitness,” said one Facebook fan.

Others, however, weren’t so pleased to see her featured so prominently.

“It’s a f***in ‘mens’ fitness mag! Why is a chick on the front! Stupid!” one disgruntled reader said.

“Perhaps consider changing the name of your magazine to multi-sex fitness magazine, or just fitness magazine?” William Hudson suggested.

“What’s next? Johnny Depp on the cover of a Victoria’s Secret ad? This makes zero sense,” said another.

Ronda Rousey defeats Liz Carmouche in their UFC bantamweight title fight in California. Picture: Jeff Gross/Getty Images.

Although in support of having Ronda on the cover, some readers questioned why an Australian woman wasn’t given the opportunity to be front and centre.

“Ronda on the cover is timely. She is headlining at the UFC 193 event at Etihad Stadium in November. That, combined with reader feedback, influenced our decision [for her to be on the cover],” Todd Cole, editor of Men’s Fitness, told news.com.au.

“We didn’t expect it to go worldwide. It’s started a gender debate, which wasn’t the intention.

“Ronda is a once-in-a-generation athlete who embodies the spirit and character of this magazine. She is, first and foremost, a supreme fighter.”

Staring straight down the camera lens with the title ‘Think you’re tough?” across her chest, some have questioned whether the magazine “pushed up her breasts” to enhance her look

“We didn’t retouch. We put her on the cover, but not personally touched to make her more beautiful,” Mr Cole said.

“She is a female, but isn’t defined by her gender.”

The current edition of Australian Men’s Fitness will be available from Thursday.