ROUSING WINS FOR ROUSEY

Athletes don’t always make great actors.

Jim Brown was one of the early crossovers, leaving the NFL for Hollywood and The Dirty Dozen. Brian Bosworth’s efforts were, well, less inspiring. Former NFL player Terry Crews has built a great career in movies (The Longest Yard) and TV (Everyone Hates Chris), far surpassing his achievements in football.

Now Ronda Rousey wants a piece of that action. The UFC’s bantamweight champion is set to star in an upcoming film called “Mile 22.” The producer is Peter Berg.
 
Variety reports that Rousey will costar with Iko Uwais and play a CIA operative battling corruption. Translation: She’ll get to kick some butt.
 
She can certainly do that, as her 14-second victory over Cat Zingano at UFC 184 on Saturday showed.
 
“I’m very excited at the possibility of working with Ronda and Iko to create a film in the spirit of this new wave of combat cinema emerging from Indonesia,” Berg told Variety. “Ronda and Iko will be a very unique and powerful team.”

Rousey is 11-0 in UFC, nine wins by submission. She has won her last three fights in a combined amount of time that does not equal two minutes. Only one of her fights has ever gotten past the first round.

Can she act? It may not even matter. Her crossover appeal is immense, action films sell and UFC is extremely popular. Sounds like a winning formula.
 
 
Post By: Larry Weisman, a longtime sportswriter for USA TODAY, blogs for Twistity.com. Follow him on Twitter @MrLarryWeisman .