Author: Tyler Conway

Rousey vs. Kaufman: Bantamweight Champion Must Dominate to Rise to Superstardom

It’s an indisputable fact that Strikeforce women’s bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey is MMA’s newest star of the moment.In the five months since defeating Miesha Tate for the championship, she’s modeled in ESPN The Magazine’s “Body Issue,” appeared on…

It’s an indisputable fact that Strikeforce women’s bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey is MMA’s newest star of the moment.

In the five months since defeating Miesha Tate for the championship, she’s modeled in ESPN The Magazine’s “Body Issue,” appeared on Conan O’Brien’s TBS talk show and had her own Showtime All Access special.

She’s also become well-known in the blogosphere for her controversial comments about reality star Kim Kardashian and swimmer Michael Phelps.

Rousey’s brashness and champion status has made her easily the most famous woman in MMA since Gina Carano, who was widely recognized as the “First Lady” of the sport.

And considering the UFC is on a bit of a down stretch in the national spectrum, Rousey may be the most recognizable face in the sport.

Don’t get it twisted, though. Her fame level isn’t simply because she’s aesthetically pleasing.

A bronze medalist in judo from 2008’s Beijing Summer Olympics, Rousey is not only undefeated in each of her five professional bouts, but she’s been absolutely dominant. The 25-year-old has not allowed an opponent out of the first round, submitting each with relative ease.

But as she prepares for her first title defense against Sarah Kaufman on Saturday, Aug. 18 (10 p.m. EDT on Showtime), Rousey needs to have one thing on her mind: pure dominance.

Though Kaufman is no slouch, entering Saturday’s match with a record of 15-1 and a place in history as Strikeforce’s first bantamweight champion, the 26-year-old is undoubtedly a massive underdog. The folks over at Bovada.lv have Kaufman at +400 while marking up Rousey to a -700 favorite—and those odds are probably a little kind.

Rousey grapples with the power of someone twice her 135-pound frame, likely making Kaufman overpowered from the start.

With that in mind, if Rousey wants to continue her meteoric rise to fame and not become another flash in the pan of MMA’s trash heap, she needs to repeat her past performances and submit Kaufman in the first round.

The stardom levels of MMAers is constantly fleeting. Ask Kimbo Slice or Ms. Carano herself about how quickly it all can go away.

If Rousey struggles or Kaufman pulls the unthinkable upset, the Venice, Calif. native will instantly descend out of the national spotlight and into relative obscurity.

But if she beats down Kaufman like she has her past opponents, Rousey could set up a main event against Cristiane “Cyborg” Santos and continue her rise to superstardom.

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Ronda Rousey’s Impersonation Video Fuels Hype for Fight vs. Sarah Kaufman

Though nearly every match on this Saturday’s Strikeforce fight card (broadcast starting at 10 p.m. ET on Showtime) provides some level of intrigue, all eyes will be on media darling Ronda Rousey’s (5-0) bantamweight (135-pound) championship defense aga…

Though nearly every match on this Saturday’s Strikeforce fight card (broadcast starting at 10 p.m. ET on Showtime) provides some level of intrigue, all eyes will be on media darling Ronda Rousey’s (5-0) bantamweight (135-pound) championship defense against Sarah Kaufman (15-1).

Rousey, a bronze medalist in judo at the Beijing Summer Olympic Games in 2008, has taken the MMA world by storm in her short career.

In just five professional bouts, Rousey has had a meteoric rise up the ranks. After joining Strikeforce in August 2011, the 25-year-old continued her undefeated ways, submitting opponents in the first round of each match en route to capturing the bantamweight title from Miesha Tate on March 3.

In addition to her in-ring prowess, Rousey has become the biggest female MMA celebrity since Gina Carano’s heyday.

Just five months have passed since Rousey defeated Tate, but the young star has already appeared in ESPN The Magazine’s “Body Issue,” been a guest on Conan O’Brien’s talk show and been the subject of a recent Showtime All Access special.

Widely credited with becoming the first female MMA-er to dabble in smack talk, Rousey’s targets have been wide-ranging, from fellow opponents to celebrities like Kim Kardashian (video credit: ESNews).

Perhaps looking to give Rousey a taste of her own medicine, Kaufman made her trash-talking presence known in the buildup to this fight by offering two tickets to the best fan impersonation of Rousey.

Perhaps Kaufman, Strikeforce’s first bantamweight champion, simply was sick of Rousey taking all the media spotlight. After all, Kaufman comes into the fight with a winning streak equal to Rousey’s entire Strikeforce career record.

Or perhaps Kaufman was simply taking the lead from Rousey and feeding into the WWE-like hoopla of the situation.

It doesn’t matter because the best submission came not from one of Kaufman’s fans, but from Rousey herself.

Granted, Rousey’s video is one of the five most obnoxious things you’ll see this week. But seeing the 135-pound champ grapple with a vacuum cleaner is enough to usurp whatever point Kaufman was trying to make.

Regardless, all of this pre-fight hype does nothing but pad the wallets of Showtime and Strikeforce, both of whom will gladly allow these two women to talk trash right up until the opening bell.

Let’s just hope the real fight lives up to the pre-fight billing.

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