Some very big doors may be about to open for Bethe Correia.
If they do, it will happen because—and only because—she had the foresight and fortitude to kick them down on her own. Within the relative quiet of the UFC’s women’s bantamweight division, that’s an achievement in and of itself.
Champion Ronda Rousey was still talking about Correia this past weekend while Rousey was in Brazil for UFC Fight Night 51. Rousey mentioned the undefeated Brazilian among the short list of contenders who might find their way into a shot at her title during 2015.
Naturally, that’s been Correia’s whole point since the beginning.
“I don’t know why you would say (Correia) hasn’t earned it …,” Rousey told MMAJunkie’s John Morgan. “I see somebody that has not only fought and beat my friends, but she was a little bit disrespectful about it. And while I felt that was extremely intelligent of her, that doesn’t mean I’m going to let her get away with it. So I’m like, ‘Yes, you got my attention. I do want to fight you, but that’s not going to work out very well for you.’”
Rousey said she likes the idea of defending the 135-pound women’s championship in Brazil sometime next year and thinks Correia could fit the bill as a perfect opponent. That’s a pretty big deal, considering Correia began 2014 as a fairly off-the-radar prospect.
Credit Correia and her coaches for the rapid rise. They hatched a simple yet effective plot to become public enemy No. 1 in a weight class that has otherwise been a one-woman show. So far, it’s working like a charm.
The 31-year-old taunted Rousey on screen after defeating Jessamyn Duke back in April. Last month at UFC 177, she stopped Shayna Baszler with strikes in the second round and then made things even more personal.
“I want to leave a message for Ronda,” Correia said to color commentator Joe Rogan during her post-fight interview. “I want to say I’m going to be the one to take the belt. I’m going to be the one to beat Ronda.”
Neither Duke nor Baszler qualified as full-fledged contenders, but they are Rousey’s close friends and training partners, for months trafficking in the unfortunate self-appointed nickname the “Four Horsewomen.” Using them as a bridge to get to Rousey was as obvious as it was smart for Correia.
In the fight game, promotional strategies don’t have to be revolutionary or particularly clever, they just have to work. To hear Rousey tell it, this one certainly has.
Perhaps at some point Correia merely recognized a few simple truths: That a year-and-a-half into Rousey’s tenure as champion the weight class remained shallow enough to allow a meteoric climb. Also, that the division had been suffering from a decided lack of personal intrique.
Even more than talented challengers, the women’s bantamweight class needs sizzle. It needs fighters who aren’t afraid to stoke the promotional fires. It needs athletes who look unafraid of Rousey and won’t shrink from the moment when it comes time to look her in the eye.
Correia has taken pains to establish herself as that contender. It hasn’t been difficult, but it has been sort of revelatory.
If UFC President Dana White is to be believed, Rousey hasn’t taken kindly to Correia’s ascension. The message she’s been trying to send was duly received. If there’s one thing we know about Her Rowdiness, it’s that it’s not hard to get under her skin. By the time White made it to the UFC 177 media scrum after Correia’s win over Baszler, he said Rousey had already been badgering him for a shot at her.
“As soon as she started talking, (Rousey) texted me and said, ‘I want that fight,’” White said via MMA Fighting’s Dave Doyle. “‘I want it now. I want it before someone else beats her.’”
White apparently didn’t share Rousey’s enthusiasm—he reports texting her back in his usual understated style: “Calm down, lady. You’ve got other people to fight.”
At the time, the UFC boss may have been holding onto the idea that he could still set his biggest female star up with a superfight against Gina Carano in Jan. With each passing day, however, that fight starts to appear less and less likely. Even if it does happen, Rousey would win it, and it wouldn’t disqualify Correia from consideration as No. 1 contender by mid-2015.
At this point, the only potential flaw in Correia’s plan to bait Rousey into a fight is that she isn’t the only one on the champ’s dance card. There are a few other contenders who could potentially keep her locked out of the title picture a while longer.
On Sept. 27 at UFC 178, Cat Zingano makes her return to the cage after a 17-month absence. If she manages to get by Amanda Nunes and advance her record to 9-0, she stands a good chance of regaining the No. 1 contender status she lost due to injury back in May of 2013.
Other potential contenders include Jessica Andrade—who made short work of Larissa Pacheco last Saturday to advance her promotional record to 3-1 (12-3 overall)—and boxing champion Holly Holm, who inked a UFC deal in July.
Rousey had complimentary things to say about Andrade‘s victory, but Andrade told MMA Fighting.com’s Guilherme Cruz that she would need two more years before she could “last more than 16 seconds” with the champ. Call that sort of the opposite of the tact Correia has opted to pursue, I guess.
Holm, meanwhile, has yet to even schedule her Octagon debut, and her first opponent remains very much TBD.
Add to this ball of wax the notion that Rousey could bolt the UFC at any time in favor of a movie career, and it seems the company would be wise to try to capitalize on Correia’s heat before it’s too late. If Carano ultimately pulls out of negotiations and Zingano isn’t quite ready, I see no reason why the Brazilian shouldn’t wind up fighting for the title around New Year’s.
Even if she has to wait longer than that, Correia’s strategy has already proved a winner. With or without Rousey, she’s managed to position herself as an interesting and viable commodity in a division that sorely needs them.
She did it almost entirely by herself, which makes her not only smart and talented, but perhaps her division’s best story of the year so far.
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