Ok, so if you ever watched anything MMA related in the past 5 years, you know all there is to know about Ronda Rousey. Former Olympic Judo bronze medalist turned mma fighter, turned Strikeforce champion, turned UFC champion, 12-0, 12 finishes, 11 in the first round...bla bla bla. You know the story.
Now here's the deal. Ronda has pretty much cleaned out her division and said that she wants to retire knowing she is the "greatest fighter to ever lived" and judging by the pace she has been fighting and how dominant she looks doing so, she can already make a case for such claim. However, her job isn't finished just yet. She still has a couple of more fights left to do in order to be claimed the best ever. What are these fights? Who are those women? Well, you're about to find out.
First up, we got Ronda's old nemesis. Miesha Tate. The two ladies have been at each others throats since 2012, when Ronda made her Bantamweight debut in a Strikeforce title fight against the then champion Miesha. Ronda's judo/armbar/black magic skills proved to be more than Miesha could handle and the fight ended mid way through first round via Ronda's signature move, armbar. Their paths crossed once more in the UFC when Miesha stepped up as a replacement for the injured Cat Zingano. Though this time "cupcake" Tate lasted 3 rounds, Ronda took home yet another arm early in the third round, submitting Tate with an armbar. Now, since the loss Miesha has built up a little wins streak of her own(4 wins in 4 fights) and is now officially next in line for Ronda. Will the third time be the charm for Miesha or will Ronda prove her dominance once again? We will find out soon enough.
The upcoming challenger
After the Rousey/Tate trilogy is complete the next likely candidate is the former boxing and kick-boxing champion, Holly Holm. Even before Holm stepped foot into the UFC octagon, rumblings about her facing Rousey at some point were a common topic among MMA fans. With most pointing out her rich striking background as an argument as to why she is the one to beat the champion. Now that Holm is 2-0 in the octagon, many (her coach including) believe that indeed, she is next in line for who ever comes out victorious out of the Miesha/Ronda fight.
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| Holm with a brutal head kick ko against Allanna Jones, source |
The superfight
SIDE NOTE: Few days a go, Justino's former manager Tito Ortiz mentioned that UFC offered(and Justino accepted) this fight happening around April in Texas. However, Dana White took little time in saying that this all a complete lie and fabrication. But the story doesn't end there. Since Dana's disclaimer, Justino herself spoke about it and claim that neither she or Ortiz made this up and that the UFC called her manager and offered them the fight. The saga continues....
SIDE NOTE: Few days a go, Justino's former manager Tito Ortiz mentioned that UFC offered(and Justino accepted) this fight happening around April in Texas. However, Dana White took little time in saying that this all a complete lie and fabrication. But the story doesn't end there. Since Dana's disclaimer, Justino herself spoke about it and claim that neither she or Ortiz made this up and that the UFC called her manager and offered them the fight. The saga continues....
Assuming everything goes as expected and Ronda beats both ladies in her standard fast and impressive fashion one fight is still left that has MMA fans all giggling like little school girls. The long awaited super fight against the 145lbs Strikeforce and Invicta champion Christine "Cyborg" Justino. Making this fight has been proven to be a daunting task. A couple of major complications occurred over the years that made many fans lose faith at this fight ever happening. In early 2012. Justino failed a post fight banned substance test and got her fighters license revoked for a year. In the meantime Ronda, changed weight classes and went after Strikeforce gold against Miesha Tate and eventually became the inarguable UFC Women's Bantamweight champion. Since then, the ladies have been calling each other out over twitter, facebook, post fight interviews, pre fight interviews and everywhere in between. Each time one of them won, the interest for the fight grew. So where is the problem? They wanna fight each other, Dana White has predicted that if the fight happens it will get up to 2,5 million PPV buys. Let's do it! Well its not that simple....for starters. Cyborg is a very large framed woman, who in the past had trouble making 145lbs weight limit. So her argument is that Ronda should move up in weight and fight her either at catch weight of 140 lbs or either at 145lbs.
See for your selves just how much does Justino struggle with cutting weight, starting at 3:26 .
Ronda being the champion of the biggest MMA organization in the world dismisses the notion every time it gets brought up. Claiming that if Cyborg wants to fight in the UFC, she has to come to her weight class and make the 135lbs limit. In 2014, thing seemed to moving forward with this super fight. As it was announced that Justino will be fighting at 135lbs. Few shorts weeks later, an injury forced the Brazilian out of a 135lbs bout and that was the last we heard of a potential 135lbs fight for some time. The constant back and forth bickering between Ronda and Christine gave the impression that this fight won't ever happen. But there are glimpses of hope for this fight happening. First of all Justino already has a signed contract with the UFC. Yes, she still needs to fight at 135lbs for Invicta in order to prove that she can physically get the desired weight, but it's progress. Baby steps. Secondly, after Ronda's impressive first round ko of Bethe Correia, Justino took to twitter to announce that her next fight will 100% be at 140lbs with the goal of the fight after that being at 135lbs.
And finally, even before Ronda's victory it was announced that Justino hired the famous MMA nutritionist, George Lockhart with the seemingly impossible task of slimming Cyborg down to 135lbs and making the super fight a reality.
Ronda being the champion of the biggest MMA organization in the world dismisses the notion every time it gets brought up. Claiming that if Cyborg wants to fight in the UFC, she has to come to her weight class and make the 135lbs limit. In 2014, thing seemed to moving forward with this super fight. As it was announced that Justino will be fighting at 135lbs. Few shorts weeks later, an injury forced the Brazilian out of a 135lbs bout and that was the last we heard of a potential 135lbs fight for some time. The constant back and forth bickering between Ronda and Christine gave the impression that this fight won't ever happen. But there are glimpses of hope for this fight happening. First of all Justino already has a signed contract with the UFC. Yes, she still needs to fight at 135lbs for Invicta in order to prove that she can physically get the desired weight, but it's progress. Baby steps. Secondly, after Ronda's impressive first round ko of Bethe Correia, Justino took to twitter to announce that her next fight will 100% be at 140lbs with the goal of the fight after that being at 135lbs.
Good fight for Honda.My next fight is140lbs,then I hope we get a chance to give fans the WMMA fight the most violent fight in the history!
— Cris Cyborg (@criscyborg) August 2, 2015
And finally, even before Ronda's victory it was announced that Justino hired the famous MMA nutritionist, George Lockhart with the seemingly impossible task of slimming Cyborg down to 135lbs and making the super fight a reality.
The rematch tour
Alright, now let's say the super fight doesn't happen, or happens but Ronda decides to stick around a bit longer. What then? Well...there's always the rematch tour. Her last 3 fights lasted a combined of a 1 minute and 4 seconds. So by the time Ronda faces Tate and Holm and maybe even Justino some of her past opponents will most certainty earn a second chance of fighting against the champion.
.....aaaand I'm done. This was a quick write up, not much of an opinion piece, more of an analysis /prediction writing. Personally I think we'll never see Ronda/Cyborg. Cyborg is huge for her weight class and Ronda won't wait forever on her to make weight nor does she have any intention of moving from her current weight class. Oh well, it is what is. Anywho...click here to like me on facebook, comment below if you agree or disagree with me....or whatever. So, until next time.... Ladies and Gentleman, Elvis has left the building.
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