Ronda Rousey’s Latest Fight Still Only An Appetizer In UFC Career
Ronda Rousey will be in enemy territory when she enters the Octagon on Saturday when she faces Bethe Correia in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil for the main event of UFC 190.
As much as this fight has been promoted as a grudge match, the event is more about Rousey’s competition against herself in an attempt to write more MMA history.
Since defending her title in Los Angeles this past February, Rousey has appeared in the box office hit Fast 7 and the Entourage movie.
She has completed another run of the late night talk show circuit and just this month collected two ESPY’s for both Best Fighter and Best Female Athlete.
The former of which caused attention when she made the statement that it was the first time that boxer Floyd Mayweather Jr. was ever beaten by a woman.
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There’s also that little thing about both Business Insider and Sports Illustrated declaring her “The World’s Most Dominant Athlete” and Rolling Stone calling her the “World’s Most Dangerous Woman.”
She’s done so much that it’s almost easy to forget exactly how her last performance in the Octagon went.
Almost.
She defeated Cat Zingano in a record setting 14 seconds, the fastest result ever in a UFC title match.
Along with her 16 second demolition of Alexis Davis, her combined total of cage time in the past year has been just 30 seconds.
While the Brazilian challenger is undefeated, many are pointing to the fight as a mismatch. Correia lacks the experience and credentials of previous title challengers such as Zingano, Sara McMann, Miesha Tate and others.
While she has not faltered in the Octagon, her level of competition is no where near that of Rousey.
To put it into perspective, the combined UFC record of Correia’s last three opponents is 1-6.
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Keep in mind, this is including two of Rousey’s self-titled “Four Horsewomen.”
Despite not having the credit in the bank, she has used her comments to cash her way into a title match with Rousey.
Lacking any of the style and bluster of Conor McGregor, she has talked her way ahead of opponents like Holly Holm by making remarks that have led Rousey to state that she intends to leave Correia looking worse coming out of the Octagon than she does going in.
What began as taunting Rousey after defeating her teammates turned into statements that led to controversy. Following the release of Rousey’s autobiography, Correia made comments about the champion’s lack of mental strength in the face of adversity.
Things went out of hand when she threw out the comment that she hoped Rousey would not kill herself after the disappointment of losing her title.
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The statement put Correia under fire as one of the most critical moments of Rousey’s life was when her father committed suicide.
Rousey claims that Correia was aware of the fact as she had referenced moments of her life that were far less known before her autobiography was published which indicated that the challenger had read the book and was aware of the events of Rousey’s life.
While Correia’s comments have caused the bad blood behind the two to boil, the real interest in Rousey’s future lies beyond the fight on August 1st.
Rousey will simply have to continue competing against herself until she can face Cris “Cyborg”
Invicta FC featherweight champion Cris “Cyborg” Justino was victorious earlier this month in defending her title and has continued to state that she intends try to make the 135 weight limit so she may set up the long awaited match with Rousey.
Since Rousey began to take her turn in the spotlight, talk has centered on making a super-fight between the two. “Cyborg” has been the most dominant female fighter of the past decade, competing before Rousey stepped into MMA.
Justino was victorious in the inaugural MMA main event between two women when she defeated then face of women’s MMA: Gina Carano.
There have been two major factors that have kept “Cyborg” from becoming as big of a star as Rousey despite being an arguably more imposing opponent in the cage.
The first is that Justino’s career has been marred by testing positive for PEDs. While she proclaims innocence in the matter, her aggressive style of fighting coupled with her chiseled physique makes it difficult to believe she is clean when viewing her next to the rest of her peers.
The second is her marketability, in the same way that Maria Sharapova’s tall, blonde appearance has made her more in sponsorship dollars than rival Serena Williams so too have Rousey’s calendar ready looks given her the attention that has not been provided to Justino.
The inherent novelty of the first fight between Rousey and Miesha Tate was what originally helped propel the popularity of female MMA enough to finally earn their place in the UFC, in a way that the fight between Cyborg and Carano simply did not at the time.
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A fight between the two would eclipse any fight that could be made in 2015, male or female. The numbers alone would dwarf those that would be set by fights like Jose Aldo vs Conor McGregor or the rubber match between Robbie Lawler and Johnny Hendricks.
As has been the story though, all of this is reliant on “Cyborg” being able to step onto the scale at 135 pounds. Until she does, Rousey continues her run that has led her to the brink of lapping the field of competition.
Assuming she is successful against Correia, the most obvious opponents that would be next for her would be former boxing champion Holly Holm or a rematch with Miesha Tate.
Neither match-up quite has the same appeal.
Bottom Line: Rousey is ready for anything.
Until a super-fight can be made, the world will watch Ronda Rousey take the stage once again on Saturday night and attempt to compete against the only other fighter who can challenge her incredible standards: herself.
Ronda Rousey will face Bethe Correia live from Rio de Janeiro Brazil on Saturday, August 1st.