Former UFC heavyweight champion Brock Lesnar is impressed with Ronda Rousey, but the same can’t be said of her competitors.
“I think she’s a super athlete in a weak division,” Lesnar said Tuesday on ESPN. “I really do. I think she is a man amongst women in the women’s division, and I take my hat off to her. She’s doing an excellent job at what she’s doing.
“I don’t know how she’s juggling everything — movies and this, that and the other thing, going to Brazil and kicking butt over there and doing all the stuff she’s doing. My hat’s off to you, Ronda.”
Rousey’s dominance over the UFC bantamweight division continued Aug. 1 when she knocked out previously undefeated Bethe Correia in just 34 seconds in Correia’s native Brazil at UFC 190. The win was Rousey’s fourth in a row to end in 66 seconds or less, and it propelled her stardom to a level unseen by a mixed martial artist since Lesnar rampaged to the UFC heavyweight title in his fourth professional fight.
Early numbers indicate that UFC 190 drew the highest pay-per-view buyrate of 2015 despite its relatively lackluster undercard, further cementing Rousey’s status as the UFC’s biggest pay-per-view draw since Lesnar was consistently crossing the one-million buys threshold from 2008-2010. And for Rousey, all that success has translated into big business.
Rousey (12-0) was recently named the eighth-highest paid female athlete in the world by Forbes and has already appeared in a trio of big budget Hollywood films — The Expendables 3, Fast and Furious 7, and Entourage. Following the Correia fight, she inked a deal to produce and star in a film based around her best-selling autography, My Fight/Your Fight, and she is also scheduled to star alongside Mark Wahlberg in the upcoming Mile 22.
That she continues to juggle her many opportunities while still maintaining a stranglehold over the bantamweight division is just a testament to Rousey’s abilities as a world-class athlete.
While there are a few fresh contenders on the horizon like Amanda Nunes and Holly Holm, Rousey’s next test will likely be a third fight against Miesha Tate. Rousey has already submitted Tate twice in the past four years, which in Lesnar’s eyes, speaks to his point about the weakness of the rest of the division.
“I’m not taking any talent away from her at all,” Lesnar said. “But I think she’s a super beast, a super freak in the women’s division.”
