Ronda Rousey doesn’t like it when you ask her about this sensitive issue

Journalists have quickly learnt not to ask this question to UFC star Ronda Rousey since she arrived in Australia.

UFC Media Day at Etihad Stadium. Ronda Rousey and Holly Holm face off after todays media day . Pic: Michael Klein

RONDA Rousey sat on a stage inside Etihad Stadium on Friday and answered questions from journalists for the best part of an hour.

She was happy to engage on almost every topic, from hard-hitting questions about her love of chicken wings and whether she’s tried Tim Tams to a personal request to travel to the Philippines to teach judo.

She hardly even flinched when a photographer asked to take pictures of her feet (he wanted a close up of the tattoos around her ankles but it still must have been a weird experience) and was polite and entertaining throughout the session.

But there’s one area Rousey has made clear is off limits in the past week during a number of engagements with the press – her private life.

Rousey’s romantic interests have become fodder for the media since fellow mixed martial artist Travis Browne confirmed they were dating last month. But the UFC women’s bantamweight champion has refused to discuss the relationship, hanging up on journalists during a conference call last week and giving a firm “Next question” to a reporter who asked about it at her open workout on Thursday.

Ronda Rousey and Holly Holm will create UFC history in Melbourne.

Rousey is conscious of not becoming another athlete who spits out cliches but she also believes who she dates is her business.

“My private life is private,” Rousey explained. “I think I share a lot and I give a lot … I’m trying to share and be open but I also want to keep a few things to myself and secret ... I would feel uncomfortable asking them about that. That’s a stranger. I don’t know you. I would feel really uncomfortable asking you about that. Why do you feel comfortable asking me about that?”

As her stardom reaches unprecedented levels for a female athlete, the audience Rousey caters to is becoming increasingly wide-ranging. Her forthright, rough-and-tumble personality was perfectly suited to the UFC’s main target audience, but now there are the young girls who idolise her – and their mothers – to consider.

Rousey never expected to be this kind of role model and while it doesn’t always mesh perfectly with who she is, she’s determined not to become “fake” or “contrived”.

“I’m trying to find a happy medium where I can be a good example but still be myself,” she said. “If I can provide that role and be a positive in someone’s life then I’m happy to do that. If people don’t think that I’m a good example, they’re welcome to that opinion as well. I’m doing the best that I can … that’s all I can do.”

Rousey created headlines last week when in an interview with a men’s magazine she advised men to “ditch the lube” and take their time in the bedroom. She was accused of “lube-shaming” (seriously) in a perfect example of how her words can be used against her.

Ronda Rousey is the champ for a reason.

For Rousey, the best way to deal with it, is to laugh it off. “I don’t have to make every single one of my actions idiot-proof,” she said. “If an idiot can’t understand it, it’s not my problem …

“Sometimes you just have to accept the fact you’re going to be misunderstood and there’s nothing you can do about it.

“I said one thing … (and) Oh my God, it’s world news! Lube-gate! It just becomes a joke after a while. Like, really? Is someone going to write an article that I tend to sneeze to the left instead of the right.

“But I can’t really complain too much. Sometimes you just have to roll with it and laugh at it … I’d rather get a little more attention then I’d prefer than none at all.”

Rousey finds solace in the gym when the outside world gets too noisy. It’s an advantage she believes she has over other celebrities.

“Everything is always nuts – and it’s all right. It’s the environment that I thrive in,” she said. “My attention is being pulled a thousand different ways every day and there’s a million different commitments. Having one single thing to focus on – beating (Sunday’s opponent) Holly Holm – is the one thing I need the most. I can see how people can get famous and go crazy. I’m so lucky I always have that one focus to keep me in line. My focus is to beat up that girl over there and everything else is peripheral.”