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Rousey vs. McMann: Rousey’s Submissions Will Lead Her to Victory at UFC 170

Ronda Rousey has been one of the most dominant fighters in the UFC ever since joining the brand. Her vicious armbar has quickly become one of the most feared submissions in MMA and is a big reason she’s undefeated—she has won all e…

When she meets Sara McMann in the Octagon at UFC 170, Rousey will be faced with an Olympic wrestler, but that’s not something she can’t handle, as she is not only a submission expert, but an Olympic judoka herself.

The women’s champion is extremely well-versed in judo, a discipline that typically matches up well with wrestling. Rousey uses the discipline‘s different throws and hip tosses to set up her submissions, which we’ve seen her utilize in the UFC on many occasions.

Rousey‘s keen sense of timing that was developed by her judo training will be of much help in this fight. Being able to feel when McMann is about to shoot in for a single or double will only bolster her chances of getting the advantage and locking in her dreaded armbar.

Rousey, also known to dole out some stinging punches in the past, showed much improvement in her striking in her fight against Miesha Tate.

It’s unlikely the champion will never be known for being a striking specialist, but rounding out her game has helped her to become a better overall fighter and certainly opens up some doors for her grappling.

Rousey has been training with a former Olympic wrestler who is the head wrestling coach at her training center. Shayna Baszler (Rousey‘s training partner) believes that training with the former Olympian will give her the edge in this fight should McMann go in for a takedown, according to sherdog.com.

Baszler argues that men’s Olympic wrestling is “much more competitive,” and the fact that Rousey is training with a former competitor makes her prepared for whatever McMann will throw at her:

She’s going to be seeing a lot of the same looks, and I’m going to go so far as to say men’s wrestling at the Olympic level is far more competitive than the women’s wrestling. She might be getting even better looks, by some accounts. She’s got answers.

That all being said, McMann may not even get a chance to shoot on Rousey.

The women’s bantamweight champion has yet to much of her skill set, simply because she hasn’t had to. Rousey‘s armbar is often set up by her throws, and McMann will need to be wary if she is to shoot in on her as she could get flipped and thrown into Rousey‘s signature submission rather easily.

She’s been an unstoppable force that has ended all her fights in the first round (excluding her three-round fight versus Tate) via armbar, and is expected to dominate McMann. That’s not to discount McMann‘s 7-0 record, but she hasn’t been nearly as dominant as Rousey has been.

Rowdy Rousey will once again go to work against a lesser opponent and will undoubtedly prove victorious.

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8 Reasons Anderson Silva Would Smoke GSP in a UFC Superfight

At the top of the mountain in the UFC, there stand two men far above the rest. Anderson Silva and Georges St-Pierre have changed the sport of mixed martial arts forever. They helped to usher in an era of dominance in the middleweight and welterweight d…

For years, MMA fans have been begging to see these two legends square up in the Octagon. Even UFC owner Dana White has said that he will make the potential “super fight”.

The question then arises, who would win?

The two fighters are very different stylistically, but are very similar in how convincingly they often win. When you look at the highlights and the lowlights, as well as the matchup on paper, there is not much of a competition.

Silva would clearly defeat GSP if the match were to take place, and here’s why.

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UFC on Fox 6 Leaves Fighters Bloody, but Not Battered

In what would turn out to be an especially bloody night for some fighters, it marked another great night of fights in the UFC. Ironically, it was actually one of the prelims that had many fans cringing.In the lightweight showdown between Matt Wiman and…

In the lightweight showdown between Matt Wiman and T.J. Grant, we saw Grant finish Wiman in an impressive, albeit bloody fashion. There was one combo, especially, that had Wiman hurt, and that had Grant looking to finish up the fight early.

While Wiman had escaped the grips of defeat, he was cut open in the process. This prompted Grant to follow up with several elbows to the face of Wiman. After a flurry of devastating elbows, Wiman was knocked down, and Grant pounced on his bloody adversary.

After Wiman couldn’t defend against Grant’s ground-and-pound anymore, the referee stopped the match. While Wiman was a bloody mess, he wasn’t showing many, if any signs of being concussed.

One of the main concerns in sports today is the safety of the athletes. One week ago, we saw Ravens safety Bernard Pollard lay a bone-crushing, helmet-to-helmet hit on Patriots running back Stevan Ridley.

Now, the NFL is largely considered to be one of the safer contact sports in the world, especially when compared to MMA, but is it really? Sure, we have seen many calamitous injuries in MMA, but we have also seen many of the same type of injuries in the NFL.

So why is it that MMA catches a bad rep for being dangerous, and even barbaric? It is no secret that the NFL is trying to make the game safer for players, but is it really a safer sport? While MMA may seem more gruesome because of the gore and blood that goes along with being a fighter, it seems as though the NFL has many more career-ending injuries—and more often.

Yes, it is certainly not rare to see some guys walk away from a fight concussed, but recently, it seems as if it’s the NFL’s players who have been having more concussions. I believe that the chance to get seriously hurt in either of these sports is a lot more equal than people may think.

Take the fight between Erik Koch and Ricardo Lamas for example. Lamas brutalized Koch in what would turn out to be the bloodiest fight UFC fans have seen in awhile. After a subtle exchange between the fighters in the opening minutes, Lamas picked up the pace and landed some huge shots on Koch before eventually taking the fight to the ground.

Once on the ground, Lamas took top position and started raining down shot after shot, elbow after elbow. After a thunderous barrage of strikes, the referee stopped the fight, but it wasn’t before Koch had been busted wide open. While Koch was bloodied and hurt at the time, there has since been no reports that he had suffered a concussion or any serious head damage.

Perhaps, the reason why fighters don’t sustain as many head injuries as people would think is because of the team of doctors helping out each fighter before and after their fights. In the NFL, each club has a team doctor, but players have sometimes hid the fact that they are concussed in order to stay on the field or may not even realize they have suffered a concussion.

Troy Polamalu is one NFL player who has personally come out and said that he has lied to team doctors in order to stay in the game (via an interview with the Dan Patrick Show, h/t Vinnie Iyer of Sporting News). While it may not be the smartest idea in the world, it is a great display of heart, but at what cost? Polamalu said he had sustained “eight or nine” concussions in his career with the Steelers.

These guys know that it is their jobs to go out on the field and play, but surely, it is not worth risking their health in the long run. The NFLPA has come out and said that they want concussion experts. Sometimes, a player may not even realize he has suffered a concussion, and if he goes out again and takes another shot to the head, he could be in some serious danger.

By bringing in concussion specialists, this would eliminate any doubt and would also bolster a more health-conscious sport. No one wants to see a guy’s career end early due to injury. It’s interesting that the sport many people consider to be the most dangerous is actually one of the most health-conscious franchises in the world.

Maybe the NFL could learn something from MMA.

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UFC on Fox 6: 5 Biggest Reasons to Watch

The sixth installment of UFC on FOX will feature two of the world’s best in John Dodson and Demetrious Johnson.These two fighters may be short in stature (both are 5’3″), but they are not short on talent. Dodson has surprising power for his size, and J…

The sixth installment of UFC on FOX will feature two of the world’s best in John Dodson and Demetrious Johnson.

These two fighters may be short in stature (both are 5’3″), but they are not short on talent. Dodson has surprising power for his size, and Johnson has serious grappling skills. Both of these men have incredible speed as well. All of these attributes and more add up to what should be an awesome main event.

The exciting match-ups don’t end with the main event, as we will also see Rampage Jackson take on Glover Teixeira, as well as Donald Cerrone facing off against fellow lightweight stud Anthony Pettis.

Whether it’s the title defense or any other match up on the fight card, there’s plenty of reasons to catch this free UFC event.

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UFC on FX: Belfort vs. Bisping Proves Michael Bisping Isn’t Elite

Going into UFC on FX 7, the odds weren’t exactly favorable for Michael Bisping. Bisping had the daunting task of being the underdog against not only a raucous crowd, but also an intimidating opponent in Vitor Belfort—in Belfort’s home country nonetheless. Furthermore, all of this was with the current middleweight champion, Anderson Silva, sitting ringside.

What was expected by many to be an exciting slugfest between two of the UFC’s toughest, most high-profile middleweights turned out to be a stunning knockout victory for the Rio de Janeiro native. After a first round filled with solid strike exchanges, the fight was ended with 1:27 left in the second round by a thunderous head kick from Belfort.

Classily, Bisping had this to say after the fight:

Congratulations to Vitor. I had an amazing training camp. I felt fantastic. It was a beautiful kick. He caught me and he was a better man than me tonight. You win some; you lose some. I am not going away.

While Bisping may not be going away anytime soon, his chances of being considered “elite” are certainly starting to dissipate. Sure, his overall record (24-5) is impressive, but Bisping will be 34 years old in February and it is starting to look like his recent up-and-down MMA career is on the verge of decline.

Consider this: Seven of Bisping’s 13 wins in the UFC have come against fighters who are no longer associated with the franchise, meaning that he is 6-5 against fighters of his degree—a much less impressive statistic.

After a hard-fought victory over “The All-American,” Brian Stann, on UFC 152, many thought that Bisping was well on the road to a title shot, and UFC President Dana White later promised that the Englishman would get his chance with a win over Belfort. Well, obviously, Belfort and his left leg had a much different plan.

“The Count” is 1-2 in his last three fights after a four-fight win streak dating back to May 2010 with his victory over Dan Miller. After a 14-0 start to his professional MMA career, it is evident that Bisping is not the fighter he used to be, and it looks like his glory days may be over and done with.

It leaves one wondering how and if a win over Belfort would have changed the general public’s opinion of Bisping’s career. While it is unlikely that he would’ve beaten the dominant champion, Anderson Silva, a win against a fighter the level of Belfort would have made a strong case for the argument that Bisping is an elite MMA fighter.

While Bisping may not get another title opportunity, he will likely have a couple of more big fights in his career, largely due to his infamous trash-talking. His always opinionated mouth has recently cooked up a bit of beef with two other middleweight standouts in the UFC, Chris Weidman and Tim Boetsch.

With Weidman out with an elbow injury and Boetsch recently losing to Costa Philippou, the race to be considered the top contender in the UFC’s middleweight division was wide open for Bisping, but it is clear that he just was not quite good enough. This opens the door for a potential matchup between Bisping and one of his fellow middleweight counterparts, Boetsch and Weidman, which would certainly make for an exciting middleweight showdown.

As I said earlier, Bisping will probably have a couple of more big fights in his career, but I believe it is more because of his persona and ability to get under people’s skin, rather than his skill level as a fighter.

Don’t get me wrong, Bisping is still an above-average fighter and is one of the better fighters in the UFC today, but I am not sold on him as an elite fighter. He will likely go down as a very good fighter, but not an elite one.

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