UFC female bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey is scheduled to face Brazil’s Bethe Correia on August 1st as one of the feature fights on the UFC 190 card. At the books, Rousey has already been set as a -1250 favorite to take out Correia, who comes back at +800. The over/under is set at 1.5 rounds, with the over paying +180 and the under at -240.
Rousey has been every bit the dominant champion, fighting a grand total of 1 minute and 36 seconds in her last three title defenses. She is a media darling and has made a big splash recently as she has talked about beating men, talking about fighting boxer Floyd Mayweather and how she feels she is the best fighter in the world. Rousey is bold and brash and speaks her mind.
Then why is it that every time a fight with Cristiane “Cyborg” Justino comes up, she rolls out the excuses? The weight class, the steroid use, the fact that a champion doesn’t chase anyone?
Here is the deal. The UFC and Dana White broke the women’s divisions by rolling out just one weight class at 135 lbs to start. Dana’s ego caused him to block the 145 lb weight class and therefore keep Justino out, as she was managed at the time by White’s nemesis Tito Ortiz.
Rousey has cleaned aout the 135 lb class. Are we really interested in seeing Tate – Rousey III, or waiting for Cat Zingano or Sara McMann to win a few so they can be rolled in to face Rousey again?
As a champion that has dominated a weight class, Rousey is ready to move up in weight. During her Olympic run in the sport of Judo, Rousey competed at 150 lbs, so 145 lbs is not foreign to her at all. The fact that she acts like fighting at 145 lbs is a bad thing is her just parroting the “dummy” rhetoric of White, who still has not activated the 145 lb class and insists on Justino making 135 lbs. White has also created a bad situation at 125 lbs among the women, as competitors seek to get to 115 lbs or 135 lbs, which are the only two weight classes the UFC has. At one time, 125 lbs may have been the most competitive and deep weight class among the women, but it is now in a shambles because of White.
If this had been handled as it should have, Rousey would be going up in weight to face “Cyborg” at 145 lbs in a superfight that would leave Rousey a two division UFC world champion. And that is what a legacy is made of, not things like WWE appearances, bad acting and calling out boxers.
