Lola Vice Says This WWE Champion Inspired Her

Mixed martial artists crossing over into the world of professional wrestling is nothing new, and Valerie Loureda (WWE's Lola Vice) is one of the latest examples to follow suit. While she's yet to make her televised in-ring debut, Vice has worked at least one live event recently. And outside of WWE, she has five MMA fights to her name — with four wins to just one loss — all for the Bellator promotion. Another woman that made the switch from MMA fighter to WWE superstar, of course, is three-time women's champion Ronda Rousey, who made a name for herself prior to her WWE career as not only a Judo champion, but also the first female champion to ever grace UFC.

Friday afternoon, Vice took to Twitter and posted a photo of her with Rousey while also crediting her as an inspiration, saying, "Without her I would have never been able to step foot in a cage. Thank you for being a pioneer for woman's martial arts and giving young female fighters like myself the opportunity to live our dream. You will never know how much you inspired me..."

Since making her WWE in-ring debut at WrestleMania 34, Rousey has won the "Raw" Women's Championship once and the "SmackDown" Women's Championship twice. In January, she returned at the Royal Rumble as entrant #28 and won, ultimately winning the title from Charlotte Flair in an "I Quit" match at WrestleMania Backlash in May — she lost it back to Flair when the latter made her surprise return on the December 30 episode of "WWE SmackDown." Vice immediately became a history-maker in WWE by being the first-ever Cuban-American woman to sign with the promotion, but only time will tell whether or not the 24-year-old can live up to her inspiration in the ring.