Ronda Rousey, the UFC Women's Bantamweight Champion is going on a date with Jarrod Haschert, a U.S. marine. Haschert invited her to the Marine Corps Ball in a Facebook video, which went viral and reached over 4.9 million views as of Tuesday, Sept. 1. TMZ tracked down Rousey for Haschert and got an answer for him.
Haschert, a longtime fan of Rousey recorded and uploaded a video of himself asking her to the Ball on Aug. 22, 2015. He added a caption to the post, asking his friends for help in reaching out to Rousey and her fans. Haschert requested that they share the post and video. It was shared 210,181 times.
"You are my celebrity crush, like, I love everything you do and I think that you are a phenomenal person," said 22-year-old Haschert in the video. "Which is why it would be my honor to take you to the Marine Corps Ball on December 11th. I really hope this doesn't get in the way of your training ... but I hope you take this in consideration, because if you do, you will truly be making my dream come true."
TMZ asked Haschert why his video went viral, while videos uploaded by others did not. Haschert attributed it to his "looks," but admitted that he was pretty "shocked" at how many views it got. They also asked if he had anything else to say to Rousey.
"I'm not gonna try to make any moves. It's all about being a marine; a gentleman. Just having her there is amazing enough. I don't need to try to make it out to be something that it's not, plus I don't want to get my hopes up and get turned down," said Haschert. "Please go to the Ball with me. You're basically what I do my job for. You're an American champion."
TMZ caught up to Rousey and asked her if she had a definite answer for Haschert. The MMA fighter said, "Yeah, he's cute." She just did not have a method of contacting the marine. "I can go, but I don't know how to hit him up," said 28-year-old Rousey.
"Do I call him, do I set up a time and place like "Never Been Kissed' and just show up and have him waiting there?" asked Rousey. TMZ volunteered to connect them.
Rousey's scheduled training camp session initially conflicted with Haschert's request, so even though she wanted to go, she did not think she could make it. Fortunately for both of them, Rousey's schedule opened up when her fight against Holly Holm was moved to Nov. 14, 2015.
"He's gotta be a gentleman. I'm not a first-date kind of girl, but we'll see when I meet him," said Rousey. She asked her three friends if they wanted dates as well. When they said yes, she added another exception: "He needs to find dates for my girls and then we'll all go."
