Author: Nathan McCarter

Yes, it really is that simple.

Ronda Rousey is the greatest female mixed martial artist up to this point. She is head and shoulders above everyone.

There have been a lot of solid female mixed martial artists to grace rings and cages over the years, but what we are watching now with Rousey is something completely new. It is reminiscent of how the men’s action progressed.

Rousey is an elite athlete with impeccable technique. She is the new breed of fighter that women’s MMA needs and is in the process of getting. Her importance cannot be overstated. Because of Rousey’s presence, and dominance atop the MMA world, more and more top level athletes will come to MMA.

If a case is being made by another other than Rousey to be the greatest female fighter of all-time it would be Cyborg Santos. However, Santos’ resume does not hold weight when broken down.

Shayna Baszler is a 135-pounder, Hitomi Akano is an undersized bantamweight, and Jan Finney is another bantamweight who had no business chalenging Cyborg. Marloes Coenen competes well at featherweight, but the size difference was too much when they met in 2010. Cyborg has only fought two legitimate featherweights: Hiroko Yamanaka and Gina Carano.

Yamanaka got destroyed in 16 seconds. Yamanaka is an okay featherweight at best, and had way too many technical holes in her striking defense to ever be a threat to Cyborg.

Carano may be the only fighter that has matched up well physically against Cyborg. Carano even had mount against her, but wanted to stand with the Brazilian phenom. Carano is not the level of fighter that Rousey is.

Some may bring up Megumi Fujii as someone who deserves the title as the greatest female fighter ever, and it is one she held until Rousey’s recent domination.

Fujii is a legend. She is phenomenal on the ground and could be riding a 27 fight undefeated streak if not for two questionable decisions in Bellator. Where the argument for her falls short is her striking ability and athleticism.

She has had numerous fights stay on the feet and Fujii has showed definite striking deficiencies. Thankfully, her ground game more than makes up for it. Rousey has not been in a fight long enough to truly show off her striking prowess, but there have been flashes of her growing technique.

And thanks to Showtime’s All Access program we even got to see Rousey’s boxing work with Richard Perez in Northern California. It is clear that her striking is up to par in the bantamweight division, but she simply does not need to showcase it.

A solid case can be made for Fujii based on her win total and amazing ground game, but when you watch the two perform, it is clear who is the better fighter. “MegaMegu” is beloved, but Rousey is a special talent.

A dominant run as champion has begun and shows no sign of stopping. For the foreseeable future it looks that Rousey is unstoppable. She is the greatest female fighter, pound-for-pound, ever.

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Miesha Tate lost the Strikeforce Bantamweight Championship in March to Ronda Rousey. Entering Saturday, she knew she needed a victory to stay in the title hunt.

It was generally believed that a dominant performance from Tate would lead to a rematch with Rousey due to their bad blood, but that is not the kind of performance Tate delivered against Julie Kedzie.

It was a fantastic fight, one of the best of the year, but it was not a fight that should determine who is next for Rousey. Tate knows this as well.

At the post-fight press conference, Tate told the media that she did not deserve a title shot after her performance against Kedzie. And she is right. So, what is next for the former titleholder?

Alexis Davis jumps off the page immediately.

Davis is a top-level grappler who put on a great fight with Sarah Kaufman back in March. Now, Davis is also coming off a win after defeating Hitomi Akano at Invicta FC 2.

The fight makes sense to determine who is next for Rousey in 2013. The fight can happen later this year in Strikeforce and potentially co-main event. It is a good stylistic matchup, and if their recent performances are an indicator, it should be a great scrap too.

If the Strikeforce schedule does keep Tate off of the cards for the rest of the year, then perhaps she could be added to the third Invicta card in October.

The promotion released its 13-bout card earlier in the week, but there is plenty of time to add Tate to the bill. With the working relationship between Strikeforce and Invicta, it would make sense to keep her active and give her another win prior to challenging for the title.

Liz Carmouche, Alexis Davis or Sara McMann are all potential top-level suitors for a fight against Tate. Those premier bouts are unlikely to be wasted as a non-main event. There are plenty of other mid-level opponents for Tate if the aim is to simply showcase her talents.

If Invicta is the next landing spot for Tate, it will be a win-win situation for all involved. Having Invicta as an outlet to keep its fighters active is excellent for Strikeforce—Tate will get to remain active, and Invicta gets to promote one of the best female fighters going today.

After Saturday night’s event, we know that Tate should not be challenging for the championship in 2012. She needs to tighten up her game before entering the cage against Rousey for a second time. The champion is on another level.

The good news is that there are a lot of options for the former champion.

Now it is up to Strikeforce matchmaker Sean Shelby to decide how to proceed. Will she make it on a Strikeforce card later in the year, be allowed to take a fight in Invicta or be shelved until the new year?

It remains to be seen, but I would put money on seeing Tate compete once more in 2012.

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Strikeforce: Rousey vs. Kaufman had numerous excellent performances from its participants. Six of the nine bouts on the card were finished.

San Diego’s Valley View Casino Center was on fire all night long.

The action got underway on Showtime Extreme with a four-fight undercard. In the final fight of the preliminary action, Julie Kedzie and Miesha Tate went to war in one of the best fights of the year.

The five-fight main card started with two finishes and finished with two more. It was only separated by a 30-27 decision victory by Tarec Saffedine over Roger Bowling.

Of all of the fights on Saturday night, here are the top three performers from Strikeforce: Rousey vs. Kaufman.

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Strikeforce: Rousey vs. Kaufman was another stellar event for the promotion. The fighters on the card stepped up and put on exciting fights.

Both the co-main and main events of the evening were stopped in under a minute, and only three bouts on the entire card went to the judge’s scorecards.

Strikeforce has not typically given out fight-night bonuses, and at the previous Strikeforce event Lorenz Larkin got down on his knees to beg UFC President Dana White to give the fighters the post-fight bonuses that the UFC fighters are accustomed to.

While that may not happen, here are B/R MMA‘s picks for the fight-night bonuses.

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