She’s not one to shy away from a challenge.
And Ronda Rousey, 31, was up to her usual daredevil tricks as she took a shark dive in Fiji with the Discovery Channel for a Shark Week special.
The UFC Hall of Famer participated in the special where she embarked on shark diving and fed the deep sea’s most terrifying creatures.
Risk taker: Ronda Rousey, 31, was up to her usual daredevil tricks as she took a shark dive in Fiji with the Discovery Channel for Shark Week
She was guided by former Navy diver Paul de Gelder, who coached ‘the baddest woman on the planet’ through three rounds of survival training against the heavyweights of the sea.
The training led to the main event where Ronda attempted to step outside the protective cage to face one of the ocean’s ultimate predators, the mako shark.
Paul knows plenty about going face-to-face with a fearsome opponent – in 2009, he was attacked by a nine-foot bull shark in Sydney Harbor while working as an Australian Navy diver, and lost his right hand and most of his right leg.
Terrifying: Scenes show the sharks swimming menacingly in the deep blue waters in stunning dive location
Brave: The UFC Hall of Famer participated in the special where she embarked on shark diving and fed the deep sea’s most terrifying creatures
Locking lips: The fighter shared a smooch with her husband Travis Browne during the day out in the water
While Paul was worried his past experience would spook Ronda, she wasn’t fazed by the warning – instead, she was all too eager to meet her match.
‘This woman had never dived in her life up until we came along’, said Paul.
‘So we had to teach her in a very limited amount of time to go from not scuba diving to knowing and being confident as a diver to almost straight away dive into 17-meters deep surrounded by sharks and then hand-feeding one.
Unstoppable: The training led to the main event where Rousey attempted to step outside the protective cage to face one of the ocean’s most ultimate predators, the mako shark
Rousey explained that they had to hold the WWE fighter back a little: ‘We really did try to take baby steps with her’ (Ronda during the day)
‘She could have very easily lost a hand or an arm. That was a very, very real moment for me.
‘Especially because her 6ft 7in husband [Travis Browne] was right behind me and probably would have drowned me!’
Ronda and Paul dived in Fiji, one of the few places in the world where up to eight different species of sharks can be easily spotted.
Expert: She was guided by former Navy diver Paul de Gelder, who coached ‘the baddest woman on the planet’ through three rounds of survival training against the heavyweights of the sea
What’s that: Ronda beamed despite the frightening experience with the sharks
Incredible scenes: Ronda and Paul dived in Fiji, one of the few places in the world where up to eight different species of sharks can be easily spotted
They also traveled to New Zealand in search of the blue shark, as well as the mako shark.
Paul explained that they had to hold the WWE fighter back a little: ‘We really did try to take baby steps with her.
‘But she just wanted to keep pushing all the way to the point where sometimes we had to pull her back because all she saw was the challenge and the excitement.’
Originally premiering in July 1988, Shark Week has been an annual event for The Dicovery channel premiering every summer for over the past 30 years.
Since 2010, it has been the longest-running cable television programming event in history, according to The Washington Post.
Shaq Does Shark Week, a week of shows hosted by the legendary NBA ‘Big Man,’ Shaquille O’Neal kicked off on Sunday with a heart-stopping scene showing O’Neal swimming with a swarm of the marine predators in The Bahamas.
He was left shocked when a shark broke into a fortified custom steel cage during a film shoot for the Discovery Channel.
Giggles: Ronda had never dived before she took the plunge with the sharks, but was seen grinning for the cameras
Sensational scenes: The wrestler threw herself into the activity and even fed the sharks