If recent reports from Brazilian outlet Tatame (h/t MMAJunkie) are true, we’ll see UFC women’s bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey head to Brazil to defend her title on August 1 against Bethe Correia in the main event of UFC 190.
Rousey is almost certainly the UFC’s biggest star. Thus far, the quick nature of her fights has not discouraged fans from buying what she’s selling. The UFC never publicly discusses its pay-per-view numbers, but rough external estimates seem to indicate her solo drawing power has surpassed Jon Jones and other male stars.
Even when pitted against unheralded fighters with very little name value, Rousey seems to pull in a large number of casual fans.
That means that Rousey might have achieved a level of stardom that will allow her to draw a very good number of pay-per-view buys, no matter who she’s pitted against. And if Tatame‘s report is correct, we’ll soon have our chance to see if that theory is correct.
Correia (9-0) is solely responsible for creating this opportunity. She has beaten zero top opponents and yet is reportedly on the brink of a title shot. How’d she do it? She did it by talking and by running what is essentially a pro wrestling storyline on her own.
After Correia beat Rousey‘s teammate Jessamyn Duke at UFC 172, she held up four fingers, and then pulled one down. This was a brilliant signal that Correia had just beaten one of the Four Horsewomen—a name Rousey and her friends had unfortunately bestowed upon themselves—and she planned on continuing to do so until she got to Rousey.
Correia did the same thing after knocking out another Rousey teammate, Shayna Baszler, at UFC 177. At this point, Correia had Rousey‘s attention. The champion told Bleacher Report during the UFC’s November “The Time is Now” press conference that she respected Correia for taking her career into her own hands. She also said Correia would regret doing so.
It’s likely Rousey feels that respect for Correia because she did the same thing for her own career. Rousey made her first two big-stage appearances on Strikeforce Challengers fight cards, which was something of a developmental program for Strikeforce. Tired of being consigned to events nobody watched, Rousey began to verbally abuse then-champion Miesha Tate, even though Tate was in a lower weight class.
And it worked. Rousey grabbed headlines and attention. She got the fight with Tate, and then she beat Tate. The rest is history. So it’s easy to imagine Rousey looking at Correia and saying, yeah, that’s a good idea.
Is Correia deserving of a fight with Rousey? From an athletic perspective, absolutely not. She’s currently ranked No. 7 in the division and, again, has not beaten any top opponents. And there’s a very good chance that Rousey will beat her almost instantly, perhaps even faster than she defeated Cat Zingano. It is hard to imagine any single area where Correia is strong enough to contend with Rousey.
But contention really isn’t the point. Not with Rousey. She is an attraction. Until the UFC books her against Cris Cyborg, people won’t pay to see her in a competitive fight. They’ll pay to see her, to see how she wins and to see how fast she does it. That is the case here. It’s almost a certainty that Correia will get smoked. Rousey will leave fans breathless once again, wondering what the hell they just saw.
And despite that likely outcome, Correia is still the right choice for Rousey‘s next opponent. Why? Because she plays the game, and she will continue to do so. She’ll continue to talk trash right up until the fight starts. It has been some time since Rousey has had an opponent who brings out her nasty, feuding side. Correia will do that. She’ll talk a good game, and she’ll build up the fight, and the HSBC Arena in Rio will be rocking when they walk to the Octagon.
And then Rousey will quickly finish Correia and her legend will grow. And I suspect the fight will do even bigger business than the Rousey vs. Zingano fight.
Yes, there are fighters in the women’s bantamweight division who deserve a shot more than Correia. But none of them are willing to play the game the way the Brazilian does. And, with the exception of Jessica Eye, Rousey has already beaten them and done so easily. And only Miesha Tate was willing to go the extra mile to help Rousey promote; the rest of them seemed less than interested in promoting themselves and promoting their fight.
Correia is the right choice for Rousey‘s next fight. She doesn’t have much of a chance to win, but neither do any of the other women in the division. Better to give the opportunity to someone who will actually attempt to build the fight and to make it a special event than to throw in somebody “deserving” who will be nothing more than a mute passenger on the ride.
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