Marti Malloy won the biggest title of her career at the 2015 Pan American Games in Toronto, but won’t be following one of the biggest names in Judo history to mixed martial arts.
Malloy defeated Catherine Beauchemin-Pinard to capture the -57kg (125 pound) gold medal on July 12 in Canada, and told MMAFighting.com that UFC superstar Ronda Rousey, the first U.S. woman to earn an Olympic medal in Judo, has always been one of her inspirations.
"We grew up fighting each other for years, actually," Malloy said. "I always told her she’s one of the main reasons that I went to dojo and worked so hard because she always beat me.