Rousey, Shafir, Duke and Baszler hold 'Four Horsewomen' clinic to benefit non-profit

By: Joey Krebs

GLENDALE, Calif. — The Four Horsewomen Clinic was a big hit this weekend at the Glendale Fighting Club where UFC women’s Bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey, along with Marina Shafir, Shayna Baszler and Jessamyn Duke, hosted a power punch clinic which benefitted the non-profit Didi Hirsch Foundation.

Didi Hirsch Mental Health Services is a renowned clinic in the southland which has over 70 years of counseling services for individuals suffering from psychological and addictive issues in need of care regardless of their ability to pay.

Community activist and MMA fighter Ronda Rousey was named and recognized by Didi Hirsch Foundation as the recipient of the Erasing the Stigma Leadership Award for her visionary advocacy and philanthropic work in assisting the charitable organization. The Erasing the Stigma Leadership Awards are held annually and honor champions and advocates of mental health.

The 2014 Awards were held on April 24th in Beverly Hills to celebrate the social media revolution, honoring men and women like the UFC benevolent champion who harness the power of social media to effect change in knocking out the stigma of mental illness as a disease.

The busy afternoon clinic was filled with great fan fare with personal one to one coaching, drilling, autographs, photos and free gifts with memorabilia. The clinic was scheduled to run from noon until 3 p.m., however Rousey and the other three Horsewomen kept the clinic open to continue signing autographs and posing for pictures until the last fans exited around 6 p.m.

The Four Horsewomen is a staged satirical homage act by Ronda and her cohorts which was inspired by the professional staged wrestling team of the “Four Horsemen”, which was at its height during the 1980s and directed by wrestling principles Ric Flair, Arn Anderson, Tully Blanchard and Barry Windham.

Gerry Brisco, the Talent Scout of the WWE, replied enthusiastically to Ronda and Co. appropriating the motif of the Four Horseman as he expressed, “Ronda couldn’t have a picked a greater group of theatrical thespians and wrestling technicians than the Four Horseman. … I am excited that Ronda and her group would be the individuals who would recreate its source and its mythos for a new fight generation.”