American female mixed martial artist Ronda “Rowdy” Rousey will retain her Strikeforce women’s bantamweight title on Saturday night in San Diego, but it won’t be easy.
In fact, Rousey will just barely squeak by her championship challenger, Canadian Sarah Kaufman.
Kaufman has been dominating inside the cage for much longer than Rousey, and she will give the hometown fighter everything she can handle this weekend.
Rousey is currently the No. 1-ranked female fighter in the women’s pound-for-pound rankings. But Kaufman is No. 2, and 15-1 during her fighting career, falling only once to an armbar in October 2010.
Oddly enough, Rousey, who is 5-0 during her brief career, has ended every single one of her fights in the first round with an armbar.
With that said, I expect Rousey to move to 6-0 via a submission victory over Kaufman on Saturday night, but in a grueling, multiple-round bout rather then a 30-second highlight.
After a series of lightning-quick fights to begin her career, Rousey was finally forced to deal with some adversity against then-bantamweight champ Miesha Tate last March.
Tate and Rousey battled for nearly four-and-a-half minutes before Rousey landed what has become her signature armbar.
Although her bout with Tate didn’t make it past the first round, none of her previous four fights had even lasted a minute, proving that Rousey had yet to really be tested.
That’s exactly why Kaufman will push Rousey harder than she has ever been pushed inside the cage this weekend. Kaufman’s experience in fights that go the distance will force Rousey out of her comfort zone and into an unfamiliar state of fatigue.
Again, Rousey will keep her Strikeforce title. It’s hard to see this fight shaping up any other way. But don’t expect it to be over in the first round like so many of Rousey’s other bouts.
Kaufman has accomplished much more than Rousey in the sport and demands to be respected up until she is defeated.
Rousey is too dominant to lose, and that’s why she will just squeak by in Saturday’s Strikeforce main event.
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