Is Ronda Rousey A True Contender?

By Raphael Garcia

Women’s mixed martial arts may not be at the forefront of the sport, but an interesting conversation has begun since the emergence of one Ronda “Rowdy” Rousey. On November 18, at Strikeforce Challengers 20, she needed just 39 seconds to put Julia Budd on her highlight reel. The armbar submission was gruesome to look at, but may have placed Rousey exactly where she wants to be: in line for a Strikeforce women’s title shot. However, the question currently being asked is: Does she deserve one?

Bantamweight champion Miesha Tate is one person who isn’t afraid to say that she thinks Rousey does not deserve a shot. Almost immediately after Rousey’s victory, pundits began to speculate about Rousey against Tate as the next title contest at 135 pounds. Rousey had previously stated that she would be open to the idea of dropping weight to face Tate at 135, rather than staying at 145 to face Cris “Cyborg” Santos. Since Rousey’s win, however, this debate has intensified, and has continued across multiple MMA media outlets over the last few weeks.

MMA Fighting’s Ariel Helwani conducted an over the air interview with Tate, who stated that she felt Rousey should not be allowed to leapfrog contenders like Alexis Davis or Sarah Kaufman. Her major talking point was that, regardless of whether Rousey is “prettier” than other competitors at 135 pounds, that shouldn’t be a factor in making her the number one contender.

However, if Tate does have to face off against Rousey sooner rather than later, this will be the reason. Because the viewership for MMA, like many other sports, is driven by a male demographic, putting two women who are attractive in any manner in the cage together creates additional incentives for a promotion such as Strikeforce. Pre-fight appearances, promotional images, and even the weigh-ins would all become more interesting to that male demographic if Strikeforce matches two attractive women each other.

But Rousey’s 4-0 record makes it hard to argue that she should be considered the next number-one contender. Yes, she has walked through four opponents in under 50 seconds, but those opponents have a combined won-loss record of 14-8. Kaufman alone is 14-1 in her five-year professional career, and former champion Marloes Coenen has five more wins in her career. Win-loss records and career resumes are important for developing credible title contenders, and Rousey’s just don’t carry the list of names that they should.

Is Rousey an impressive talent? The answer is an easy “yes.” Should she be matched against Tate so quickly? I would have to say “not at this time.” While I’m very interested in seeing her compete again, matchmakers should put her in a position to demonstrate what she will bring to the cage at 135 pounds. She should be matched with fighters like Kaufman, Coenen, or even Liz Carmouche, who was impressive in her own right earlier this year. Women’s MMA needs consistent points of interest to make it more relevant over time to the sport as a whole.

A rivalry could help, but should be built up in proper fashion with properly-developed names, not just those that fit the dreams of the core demographic.