Ronda Rousey’s 54-second beatdown of Sarah Kaufman was a glorified sparring session, exposing the lack of parity in women’s MMA.
If a formidable challenger isn’t able to give Rousey a good fight, these events may quickly become run of the mill.
Rousey is a great athlete, she isn’t bad to look at and she has the whole female action hero persona down. Her star quality is undeniable. But ultimately, someone has to learn how to fight off a rather simple armbar.
In case you missed it, this video highlight is all you need to see:
This reminds me of the beginnings of the UFC when Royce Gracie was so far ahead of his opponents in regards to grappling. He simply outlasted his foes using his advanced grappling skills. And he made the more primitive fighters submit when they couldn’t conduct themselves on the ground.
The way Rousey is running roughshod over her opponents is very similar.
I’m not eager to see Rousey lose, but I’m eager to see her challenged.
Kaufman was supposed to be a good fighter. I saw her defeat Miesha Tate, and she had only one previous loss before Rousey embarrassed her on Saturday night. She was also supposed to be ready for the armbar. If she wasn’t prepared to defend anything else, Kaufman should have been ready for that.
To Rousey’s credit, she did use a nice sweep to take Kaufman to the mat, as well as some decent punching. But Kaufman seemed overwhelmed from the beginning. She was touted as a solid striker, yet the judo artist was the one who landed the significant strikes.
Honestly, I didn’t even see Kaufman make a solid attempt.
Rousey deserves credit for another spectacular victory, but if she doesn’t get a challenge sometime soon, the spectacular will turn to the ordinary quickly.
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