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A Case For Ronda Rousey

http://fightland.vice.com/blog/a-case-as-if-it-was-necessary-for-ronda-rousey

#mma #wmma #rondarousey #ufc184 #rouseyvszingano #ufc #ourtimeisnow

My Thoughts on UFC 184's Co-Main Events

I have had a lot of thoughts swirling around in my head since last night's UFC female driven event and I feel like its time to get it all out.

Lets start with Rousey Vs Zingano.

Ronda Rousey is an incredible athlete - there is no denying that she focuses on that belt and does everything and anything necessary to prepare for each and every one of her fights. Its become very clear that she studies and picks apart each opponent, finding their weakness, and capitalizing on it within moments in the cage. Her blood is that of a champion, and her status and ranking is very much so deserving.

Cat Zingano is also an incredible athlete. Besides the fact thats she has overcome a massive knee injury and terrible personal tragedy, she trains at an elite level and has blown through all of her past opponents. Prior to last night she was also undefeated with a well deserved record of 9-0.

What went wrong? Why did Zingano charge at Rousey, walking into her Judo trap, and then give her the arm - almost like a complete freebie for Rousey? Of course Rousey was going to take it and finish asap. She knows how good of a fighter Zingano is and wasn't going to take any chances. Especially when that arm was practically given to her. I'd like to also add that although I train and compete, I am not a competitive athlete on an elite level, have a full time job in advertising, and I can only speculate what could have happened at that moment from what I saw with my own two eyes. I rarely express such strong opinions because I never want to be labelled a 'blogger troll' etc - but since I simply cannot stop thinking about what happened last night I felt the need to write it all out for all of my followers.

Last night and even today I find myself sad. In all respect to Rousey, I was cheering for Cat to win. I felt like she earned this, she should have won this, and we need an upset in the division to start shaking things up. Although Rousey continues to impress us, at some point fans will get sick of paying $60 for PPVs and tickets to fights that cost hundreds of dollars (or thousands even) that last 15 seconds. I have been (as I am sure many other fans have as well) waiting for this fight since it got delayed almost 1 year and a half ago at this point. I really honestly thought that we were going to see an upset or at the very least, an exciting trade of skills for at least 2 rounds.

What is to come of the 135lb women's division? Where do we go from here? At the post fight press conference, Ronda called out Holly Holm and Bethe Correria as potential opponents but in all honesty, they are in no way shape or form even close to the elite level that Ronda and the top 5 fighters possess. I am hoping for a Rousey vs Zingano rematch and I am hoping for an upset. Not because I don't respect Rousey, not because I want to see her fail, but because I honestly believe we NEED it before the fans begin to lose interest and WMMA begins losing traction. We are at a very pivotal moment with WMMA finally being taken seriously and want to capitalize on this stamina while we still can. While young women are fighting and trying to get into the UFC, while Dana White hopefully considers adding more female weight classes, we NEED to keep this train going.

I would talk about my thoughts on why we as fans get so wrapped up in the fights, why it hurts so bad when your 'champion' loses, why its possible to carry the pain and disappointment with you for several days after the fact. But I'd rather focus on the facts and not the emotions behind this sport for this specific post. However, this will be a future topic :)

Now lets talk about Holly Holm VS Raquel Pennington. This match up was a strange co-main event. I was fully in support of it of course, because it meant a lot for women in mixed martial arts and in the UFC, however, were these women even qualified for that opportunity? I can think of several 115lb matches that could have co-mained that would have been much more exciting and honestly more deserving. This was Holm's debut against Pennington who unfortunately does not have the greatest record (with this loss now 5-6). Also, just because you are a world class boxer, doesn't mean that you will be a world class pro MMA fighter. The women Holm competed against prior to being 'pro' in MMA were not of the caliber of UFC fighters. I think its safe to say that although I was looking forward to Holm's debut, I was surprised at the match up and I think that both women disappointed us last night. To be quite frank, I think it was a bit of an embarrassment for WMMA in the UFC. Holm clearly was nervous, Pennington clearly was not on the level required to co-main a huge event like UFC 184, and the fans expected much more. They both seem terrified of each other and I expected Holm's strikes to connect and for her to come into the cage blazing - but thats not what we got.

Where do we go from here? Do we focus on the impressive 115lb division while we wait for Ronda to finish her 'movie' and then have a rematch with Zingano? One thing I think we can all agree was a take away from watching Cyborg at Invicta the night before and hearing Dana talk about the possibility of a Rousey VS Cyborg match up last night - is that it will never ever happen. Cyborg can't go to 135 as much as she wants to - I don't think its possible- and Rousey won't agree to do a catch weight fight. Or Dana won't allow it. Either way, its time to give up on this dream of the two fighting and giving us, the fans, what we want to see. I'm letting go of this hope and coming to accept the fact it will never ever happen. Ever. And if it does, well then, I will gladly and proudly admit that I was wrong.

I would love to see more female weight divisions in the UFC. After watching Dana at Invicta FC scope out Alexa Grasso and hearing what he had to say about her at the UFC 184 post fight conference, I'm sure she will be on their roster soon enough as well.

Last night sits in my stomach, at the very bottom, and burns just a bit. It was a shining moment for WMMA and I think we all walked away a bit disappointed. I want to see what Ronda is REALLY made of - I want to see her pick apart someone and fight more that 1 round. I want Cat Zinango to succeed. I want an upset in that division. And ultimately, I want us, as women, to continue to grow in this wonderful and amazing sport that we all love, both with the fans, with our skills, and our visibility and opportunity.