Photo: Ronda Rousey, Fully Clothed and Loving It on the Cover of ESPN’s 15th Anniversary Edition

There you have it, Nation. Like Dexy’s Midnight Runners before her, it appears that Ronda Rousey’s sophomore effort has failed to live up to her mainstream debut. It deeply saddens us to come to the revelation that her eye-popping debut on last year’s ESPN “Body Issue” will now serve as the “Come On Eileen” of her career as an ESPN magazine cover girl, but what else could we have expected? The bar was set TOO HIGH, dammit; I personally anticipated nothing less than a giant Cobra, fireworks, paraplegics doing jazz hands, and a Suicide Girl with the words “Soy Bomb” painted on her chest swallowing a sword. But alas, we get elated Pikachu.

My obliterated (and completely unrealistic) expectations aside, it’s good to see “Rowdy” gracing the covers of ESPN: The Magazine again, especially on an issue as big as the mag’s 15th anniversary. Rousey will be featured alongside the likes of Kobe Bryant and Tom Brady when the magazine hits stands this Friday.

But for now, let’s pour (another) one out for Nude Ronda. She came into our lives as quickly as she went, but thanks to the power of print, her memory will forever remain in the annals of history. So it is with this song, Nude Ronda, that we bid you farewell…

There you have it, Nation. Like Dexy’s Midnight Runners before her, it appears that Ronda Rousey’s sophomore effort has failed to live up to her mainstream debut. It deeply saddens us to come to the revelation that her eye-popping debut on last year’s ESPN “Body Issue” will now serve as the ”Come On Eileen” of her career as an ESPN magazine cover girl, but what else could we have expected? The bar was set TOO HIGH, dammit; I personally anticipated nothing less than a giant Cobra, fireworks, paraplegics doing jazz hands, and a Suicide Girl with the words “Soy Bomb” painted on her chest swallowing a sword. But alas, we get elated Pikachu.

My obliterated (and completely unrealistic) expectations aside, it’s good to see “Rowdy” gracing the covers of ESPN: The Magazine again, especially on an issue as big as the mag’s 15th anniversary. Rousey will be featured alongside the likes of Kobe Bryant and Tom Brady when the magazine hits stands this Friday.

But for now, let’s pour (another) one out for Nude Ronda. She came into our lives as quickly as she went, but thanks to the power of print, her memory will forever remain in the annals of history. So it is with this song, Nude Ronda, that we bid you farewell…

–J. Jones