According to an age-old sports myth, having sex before a competition can diminish one's performance, but that's certainly not the case with undefeated UFC champion Ronda Rousey.
Rousey, labeled the pound-for-pound best fighter on the planet - man or woman - was once asked by Jim Rome how long she thinks a fighter should abstain before a bout.
"For girls it raises your testosterone, so I try to have as much sex as possible before I fight actually," Rousey replied in the interview that has resurfaced from 2012.
"Not with like everybody, I don't put out like a Craigslist ad or anything, but if I got a steady I'm going to be like, 'Yo, fight time's coming up,'" said Rousey, who has a perfect 12-0 record.
The rumor that having sex can negatively affect performance goes back to at least the 1950s, and even Muhammad Ali, a renowned womanizer, famously said he refrained from doing the deed for at least six weeks before a big fight, notes the Sun Times.
But the myth baffles many sports scientists, who insist sex doesn't inhibit performance as long as an athlete gets the right amount of sleep, according to BBC.
Others say that there can be an exception in combat sports like MMA, at least for men.
"For combat athletes like fighters or boxers, having sex before an important fight can reduce the aggressiveness and make them passive," Maria Cristina Rodriguez Gutierrez, the director of sports medicine at the National Autonomous University of Mexico, told CNN.
Sex is apparently already taking over Rousey's mind as she prepares to fight Holly Holm in the upcoming UFC 193 on Nov. 15 in Melbourne, Australia.
During a recent UFC press conference in Australia, Rousey said she would not be as aggressive so early on in her fight against Holm.
"I knew that if I came in her face right away - oh, that sounded terrible," Rousey said, bursting into laughter, reported The Wrap.
After collecting herself, she dished out one more joke: "Not right away. I take my time, OK?"
