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Tuesday 29 November 2011

Strikeforce WMMA Riled up by Rousey

I sometimes read the stats to see who has been checking out my blog, and its always interesting to see the range of countries that it has been viewed in.
I got an email out of the blue from an old friend that I had lost contact with who said that one of his friends was telling him about my blog from all the way in Australia.
I can sometimes be a bit crappy about keeping in contact but its nice to know I'm not rambelling to cyber space unheard, and it was good to catch up with someone from the past.

Has anyone else been following the twitter wars in the woman's MMA scene over the last few weeks?
Ronda Rousey, an Olympic judo medalist who has recently crossed over into MMA has been causing controversy and in her own words "getting the woman riled up"
Interest in her was sparked after she won all 4 of her pro fights in under a minute into the first round via armbar submission.
Her success didn't come without controversy as Sarah D'Alelio claimed to not have tapped from the armbar. These allegations made sure Ronda would not be letting go of a submission unless as the old saying goes her opponent tapped or snapped.
Unfortunately for Julia Budd, Rouseys latest opponent, this is exactly what went down, in an attempt to roll out of the armbar Buds arm was painfuly broken at the elbow.
After another impressive victory Rousey announced her intentions to drop to the 135lb weight class, calling out the current champ Miesha Tate for a shot at the title. Some would say this was a bold request to make after only 4 fights, especially as giving her a shot at Tate would mean Rousey skipping past fighters who had already worked their way through the 135lb division, claims were made over twitter that she should "wait her turn".
The call out had female fighters up in arms as to weather it was fair that Rousey be able to get a title shot in a category she had yet to prove herself in. The publicity and interest in the conflict lead to a double interview between Tate and Rousey on MMA hour with Ariel Helwani. Rousey took a direct approach stating that a fight between her and Tate would make the most sense from a marketing point of view.

Rousey's comments were probably more thought out that they seemed, I think it was her intention to act the cocky new comer and tempt Tate into a fight that her common sense probably wouldn't agree to. Interestingly the conflict has sparked even more of a dispute between not only Tate and Rousey but also the fighters such as Sarah Kaufman who would miss out a chance at a rematch against Tate if Rousey got her way.
I know my coaches wouldn't let me take a fight like that, Tate worked hard to get the title, it would make more sense for her to see how Rousey copes against some good fighters in the 135lbs category first.
I can see why Rousey is pushing it as she has nothing to lose 4 fights in, and remaining in the 145lb category where the cream of the crop includes the likes of Chris Cyborg, mean it makes sense for Rousey to go for gold in the 135lb category while she has a buzz surrounding her.

It may not be fair what Ronda is trying to do and as a Brit I'm inclined to get ticked off when someone tries to queue jump, however whatever fights happen next in WMMA are going to be a lot more interesting now that there is more of a story behind the match ups.

2 comments:

  1. Interesting. I'm looking forward to more of Ronda's fights; she's certainly extremely technical and poses quite a problem for the majority of women fighters who, as she points out, rarely if ever get to train against a solid judoka whereas of course Ronda trains against strikers all day and twice on Sunday. And I really wouldn't look forward to her fighting Cyborg-- at least not now without more miles on her.

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  2. Yeah I think as Miesha said it will be interesting to see her face someone who has really good take down defence or more experience in grappling and see how she performs in a match that isn't over in under a minute! Still a great start to her mma career!

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