After some speculation that she may not show, UFC fighter Ronda Rousey made good on her September promise to attend the Marine Corps Ball, making a very happy man out of the stranger who initially invited her via Facebook.
Rousey, 28, attended the Friday night event in Maryland with Marine Lance Cpl. Jarrod Haschert, according to social media posts from the event.
Haschert, who in his August invite video called Rousey “a phenomenal person,” hadn’t heard from Rousey since she accepted his invitation, his mom told New Jersey 101.5 earlier this week.
“He said, ‘All I know is I’m going in the hopes she’ll be there,’ ” she told the station.
But as she was heading to the ball early Friday, Rousey told TMZ, “I promised I’d go. It’s an honor to be asked.”
In fact, she said, it gave her a reason to leave the house, as she continues to cope after her decisive defeat against Holly Holm in November.
[an error occurred while processing this directive]
(It was the rescheduling of that fight that freed of Rousey’s schedule in order to attend the ball, according to ESPN.)
“Honestly, I probably would stay on my couch crying and eating ice cream for like another month if he didn’t ask me to go,” Rousey told TMZ.
“After the fight, she never hesitated for a second whether or not she was going to attend,” a Rousey source told ESPN. “She made a promise to a Marine and was going to keep that promise. It was as simple as that. That’s Ronda.”
This article originally appeared on People.com
More Must-Reads from TIME
- Breaking Down the 2024 Election Calendar
- How Nayib Bukele’s ‘Iron Fist’ Has Transformed El Salvador
- What if Ultra-Processed Foods Aren’t as Bad as You Think?
- How Ukraine Beat Russia in the Battle of the Black Sea
- Long COVID Looks Different in Kids
- How Project 2025 Would Jeopardize Americans’ Health
- What a $129 Frying Pan Says About America’s Eating Habits
- The 32 Most Anticipated Books of Fall 2024
Contact us at letters@time.com