'A knockout with a sweet side': Ronda Rousey's Carl's Jr. commercial debuts

In what the fast food chain is calling her “most satisfying takedown,” Ronda Rousey’s crossover to mainstream global superstardom took another step today with the release of her first commercial for Carl’s Jr.

Rousey has no lines in the commercial. After a few mean-mugging shots, interspersed with images of the restaurant’s new Cinnamon Swirl French Toast breakfast sandwich, Rousey is shown – in slow motion, of course – taking a big bite of the sandwich, which, Carl’s Jr. says, has “egg, cheese and sausage between sweet Cinnamon French Toast.”

The titles that appear on the screen call it “a knockout breakfast sandwich with a sweet side,” after which Rousey smiles into the camera, sandwich in hand, again in slo-mo.

The Carl’s Jr. fast-food chain has featured a number of scantily clad celebrities like Paris Hilton, Kate Upton, Kim Kardashian and Charlotte McKinney in its TV commercials in the past. Earlier this month, right after Rousey (12-0 MMA, 6-0 UFC) easily defended her bantamweight title with a 34-second knockout of Bethe Correia at UFC 190 in Brazil, the chain announced Rousey had signed on for an endorsement deal.

Terms of the deal weren’t announced. And though the spot isn’t as blatant in the sex sells sort of way that some of its past TV ads have been, it can at the least be considered mildly suggestive, even if it’s not over the top.

It’s been a massive year for Rousey in terms of her global popularity outside the UFC’s octagon, where in her past three fights, she has two knockouts and a submission in a combined 64 seconds.

Earlier this year, she appeared in the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue. She’s a regular on the late-night talk show circuit with the likes of Jimmy Kimmel and Jimmy Fallon. She released her autobiography, “My Fight/Your Fight,” which then appeared on the New York Times Best Sellers list about a month after it was released. (It cracked the Top 20 again the week after she beat Correia.)

She appeared at WrestleMania 31 alongside The Rock. She won two ESPY awards – one for Best Female Athlete and one for Best Fighter, after which she mocked Floyd Mayweather, who is quickly becoming her biggest rival, at least from a verbal sparring standpoint. She was named the most dominant athlete in the world by Sports Illustrated and Business Insider. And oh, by the way, she had a major role in the movie version of “Entourage” and appeared in “Furious 7.”

And in perhaps the biggest indicator yet that she’s the most popular fighter in the sport – and perhaps on the way to becoming the most popular, globally, in the sport’s history, if she’s not there already – she announced her next fight last week live on “Good Morning America.”

Next up, she’ll face Holly Holm in the main event of UFC 195 on Jan. 2 at MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, looking to stay unbeaten as the world’s most dominant fighter.

Check out her Carl’s Jr. debut in the video above. Then vote in our poll and let us know if Rousey will make you want to eat that sandwich.

For complete coverage of UFC 190, check out the UFC Events section of the site.