Women’s mixed martial arts is getting its moment to shine in what is easily the most important fight in the category since Gina Carano and Cristiane “Cyborg” Santos faced off in 2009. Strikeforce bantamweight champion Miesha Tate will defend her title against Ronda Rousey on March 3rd in Columbus, Ohio. While Carano–Santos was a fight that helped WMMA, the Tate–Rousey fight has the potential to grow the sport to even larger proportions.
When you look at these two fighters on paper, you might be prone to automatically think that Tate is going into this fight with a huge advantage. With fourteen fights and a 12-2 record, she clearly has the experience edge in mixed martial arts, but Rousey (4-0) has been competing at a high level since childhood; she is a multiple-time medalist in Judo competitions, including the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, where she won a Bronze medal. However, this fight has much more going for it than just the records and credentials that both of these fighters will bring into the cage on March 3rd.
The buildup behind this fight has been something to watch. With just four wins to her record against lower-tier female fighters, Rousey has gone the Chael Sonnen route to attain this main event matchup. If you put a microphone or video camera in front of her face, Rousey will give her passionate opinion on any topic that comes to mind. She’s made stern comments about Cyborg’s recent test failure, Nick Diaz’s marijuana results, and nearly everything else that has transpired in the sport over the last few months. All along the way she’s been gathering a larger and larger fan following, which has helped her leapfrog more experienced fighters, such as Sarah Kaufman and Alexis Davis, on her way into the title picture. Tate contends that Rousey has used her looks and mouth to gain this position, rather than earning it through experience in the cage. The back and forth has continued to build between these two fighters to the point where you have to consider the animosity to be truly genuine, instead of the manufactured “hate” that we see so often to hype fights.
Another very important aspect to this bout is that with Zuffa having taken charge of Strikeforce operations, this is a key fight for their determination of where women’s MMA fits within the organization in the longer term. The low regard Zuffa’s leaders have for the women’s divisions in mixed martial arts has been well-documented, and a bad performance from Tate and Rousey in a major card’s main event could snuff out the faint hopes that Zuffa will invest in growing women’s MMA. However, if these two women are able to provide an exciting fight that matches the buzz that has grown behind the bout, they may be able to convince UFC President Dana White and others that money can be made from female fights. The possibility of that kind of breakthrough is in and of itself enough reason for Tate and Rousey to leave it all in the cage on March 3rd.
The bout itself will also be very interesting to watch. In four professional fights, Rousey has fought a combined two minutes and 18 seconds. In each fight, she has been able to quickly impose her will and execute a flawless hip toss to arm bar combination to finish her opponent off. Against Tate, however, will she be able to score the quick takedown that she wants, or will Tate be able to control the positioning with defensive wrestling and takedown attempts of her own? Another factor will be the standup moments at the start of the round, where Tate should be able to move and hit Rousey effectively enough to frustrate her takedown attempts.
But the situation that many fans are watching out for is what happens if this fight makes it past the first few minutes and out of the first round. Rousey has not experienced a prolonged fight, and the exertion that comes along with it. In her most recent fight against Marloes Coenen, Tate went into the championship rounds before submitting Coenen with an arm-triangle choke. While Rousey is no doubt training for a 25-minute affair, it is difficult to simulate the situation when you have never been there.
I’m expecting this fight to begin at a very fast pace, with Rousey trying to get the fight to the ground looking for a finish. Tate will be able to use her striking to move away, and her defensive wrestling to keep the fight on the feet long enough to wear Rousey down and survive the opening wave. From that point on she will be able to push the fight where she wants it, and move towards a third round submission victory.
No matter the outcome of this fight, Tate–Rousey will be a major contest with big implications for the future of women’s MMA. Many more eyes will be on this bout than normal, and hopefully both fighters are able to bring everything into the cage that they need to give everyone the show they’re expecting.
