5 things you need to know about Travis Browne

Travis Browne is a UFC Heavyweight fighter most famous for being the husband of Ronda Rousey. Browne and Rousey kept their relationship under wraps for around six months before finally going public in October 2015.

Rousey was spotted wearing a diamond ring on SNL in January 2016 which sparked rumours of an engagement, but these have been debunked since, with the ring having merely been part of her outfit.

Browne started his MMA career in smaller promotions like Bellator and King of the Cage before signing with the UFC in March 2010. His current record as a professional MMA fighter stands at 18-6-1.

In 2013, Browne won the Breakout fighter of the year award at the World MMA Awards. However, Browne’s UFC career has been experiencing somewhat of a downturn recently, with him losing his last three fights – the last of which was a second-round KO to Derrick Lewis on February 19th, 2017.

Browne is definitely an interesting character both in and out of the cage. Let’s take a look at some lesser known facts about him that fans may not know.

---

#5 He had no martial arts experience before the age of 26

Browne started Brazilian jiu-jitsu aged 26

Browne was born in Hawaii and grew up playing basketball. He even won the 2000 Coastal North League Player of the Year while he was attending high-school in San Diego. He later continued his basketball career at the Palomar Community College.

Browne’s former basketball coach at Palomar was dumbfounded when he found out that he had transitioned to MMA, which is understandable since Browne had no martial arts training or experience until he started training in Brazilian jiu-jitsu at the age of 26.

Browne also started training in boxing soon after and had his first fight within a year. The rest, as they say, is history.

#4 He had an unorthodox childhood

Browne (R) grew up in Hawaii

As we noted earlier, Browne grew up in Hawaii. His father was a gang member who often drove around with a gun on his lap with young Travis in the car next to him. There were often drugs lying around the house when his father’s friends would come over.

However, the lifestyle led to his father’s death when Browne was just 10 which led to Browne moving in with his mother in San Diego, California.

Despite his father not being the most conventional parent, Browne has said that he treasures the time he spent with his father and that he loved him very much, adding that his father did the best job he could in raising him, considering the circumstances.

#3 He trained at the same gym as Ronda Rousey until recently

Rousey and Browne trained at the same gym for a period of time

Travis Browne left his long-term gym, Jackson-Wink MMA Academy to join the Glendale Fight Club under Edmond Tarverdyan, who also trained his girlfriend Ronda Rousey. At the time, Travis spoke about how much his respect for Rousey had increased since he started training with her.

Travis was quoted as saying:

“I’ve gotten to know her through the gym, through all that kind of stuff. I see her for who she is.

The fact that she’s out there winning ESPYs and… [is] on the movie screens and all that kind of stuff, that’s all great, but that’s not who I know her as.

I know her as one of the hardest working athletes that I’ve ever seen in this gym, busting her butt on a daily basis.”

His decision to switch to Tarverdyan’s coaching was criticised by fellow UFC fighter Ben Rothwell, who accused Browne of switching gyms to be closer to his “sugar mama” Ronda Rousey. However, since joining Tarverdyan, Browne has lost 3 fights and only won 2.

For his last fight against Derrick Lewis, Browne chose to train at Black House instead of Glendale. The fight ended with Browne getting KO-ed by Lewis in Round 2.

#2 Travis Browne was still married when he started dating Ronda Rousey

Browne and Webb in happier times

This isn’t the first time we’ll mention Travis Browne’s ex-wife on this list.

Browne and Rousey started dating in 2015. At the time, Browne was still married to fitness model Jenna Renee Webb. However, Browne and Webb were separated at the time and have since completed the divorce.

When Jenna caught wind of Rousey and Browne’s relationship, she warned Rousey that getting together with Browne was a bad idea, with a post on Social Media. The caption to the post read:

“Kudos to the people with a strong enough backbone to take ownership of the decisions they make, whether good or bad, mistakes or not–who don’t try to cover their tracks by changing their story to please society...

Pet Peeve: When people think they can do stupid shit and not get called out on it… I’m pretty sure we’re still married.

When he hits you across your pretty face don’t worry, I’ll be right here to say #IToldYouSo I wish you both the best

#yourewelcome #hyprocrite #thankyou #DNB”

#1 His ex-wife accused him of domestic violence

Probably one of the hardest decisions I've ever made was walking away from this life and starting over. I'm still ashamed for staying as long as I did. #domesticviolenceawareness

A post shared by Jenna Reneé Webb (@jennareneefit) on Jul 8, 2015 at 10:11pm PDT

Travis Browne's ex-wife Jenna claimed that the reason that their relationship ended was because she was physically assaulted by Travis as well as the emotional and mental trauma that she endured because of him.

She also posted photos of her bruises on Instagram which led to the UFC suspending Browne while a domestic violence investigation was started. The independent investigation couldn’t find sufficient evidence of physical assault and the and Browne was eventually reinstated.

Both Rousey and Browne’s first wife Erin were unsurprised by the findings of the investigation.

---

Send us news tips at [email protected]