UFC champ Ronda Rousey talks full-time modeling and not feeling like a sex symbol

Updated Sep 17, 2015 at 11:37p ET

UFC bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey may be a Hollywood leading lady, as well as a jeans-and-swimsuit model, but she still doesn't quite feel like a "sex symbol." The fighter told Sports Illustrated that she just played that role for a day while posing for its swimsuit issue.

"It's more like I was playing that role for a day. I don't feel like that every day," she explained.

"My roommate Marina [Shafir] just made these amazing paleo brownies and I just took some down. So I really don't feel like a swimsuit sex symbol right now. I feel like someone who's full of a brownie that has zucchini in it but is somehow still delicious."

Someone who's full of a brownie is our typical feeling/state so we feel you, Ronda. Though the athlete isn't afraid to put back some sweet treats and still don a swimsuit, being a full-time model may not exactly be a piece of cake for her.

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Although she's used to grinding it out in the gym during brutal workouts, Rousey says that being a full-time model would be harder than people may imagine.

"It's difficult. I did an all-day shoot yesterday and my knee is swollen," she recounted.

"I know it's not as glamorous and easy as it appears from afar, and I love having the opportunity to dabble in it. But I think doing it full-time would be pretty difficult."

Whether or not modeling is more difficult than fighting MMA, we suppose, is a matter of perspective. However, it's a safe bet that Rousey is the only Sports Illustrated swimsuit model who will put on a pair of gloves and compete in the UFC this year.

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