Ronda Rousey’s mom is best known these days as ... Ronda Rousey’s mom, an inevitable result of being associated with the woman who was mixed martial arts’ most high-profile fighter, a budding actress and a media sensation.

But there is much more to Dr. AnnMaria De Mars than being a figure of support behind her fist-flashing, choke-holding, elbow-popping daughter, past champion of the Ultimate Fighting Championship’s women’s bantamweight division.

The 57-year-old is a whirlwind of bluntness and intelligence. She is the first American to win a gold medal at the World Judo Championships 1984, the holder of an MBA and a PhD in Educational Psychology, and the founder of Seven Generation Games, a company seeking to improve the math skills of under-served schoolchildren, especially those in Native American communities.