The hypothetical bout between Laila Ali, daughter of boxing legend Muhammad Ali, and UFC women’s bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey won’t go away.
When Ali first teased the bout with TMZ before hopping into the back seat of a Lincoln Town Car, discussions began to circulate.
Could Ali vs. Rousey actually happen? Does Ali have a chance? Does Rousey?
The showdown is silly, but it’s persistent. I’m 99.9 percent sure it’s never happening, but, as Lloyd Christmas reminded me, any chance is a chance worth getting excited about.
UFC President Dana White recently caught up with TMZ, and he fueled the Ali vs. Rousey fire, saying that he’s down to arrange the fight. He just needs Ali to pick up the phone and give him a buzz.
“I’m serious if she’s serious,” White told TMZ. “Call me, Laila.”
When asked how the fight would go if it did ever happen, White was equally blunt. He doesn’t like Ali’s chances, and he thinks she’d go the way of Rousey‘s past two opponents, Alexis Davis and Cat Zingano—gone in under 20 seconds.
“Laila Ali would be in big trouble against Rousey,” White said. “No disrespect to Laila, (but) she’d be in the 14-second range. I know so.”
White is (probably) not wrong. There’s always a puncher’s chance in MMA, and Ali’s 24-0 professional boxing record is nothing to sneeze at.
Against Rousey inside the UFC Octagon, though, Ali would be lost.
The UFC superstar has already proved her immense worth against other trained, top-level female mixed martial artists, and no one has come remotely close to ending her reign atop the 135-pound mountain.
She’s in a class of her own, and Ali wouldn’t be able to change that.
Still, if White pulled the right strings and this fight actually did happen, the inevitability of a quick finish certainly wouldn’t stop me and millions of fans from plopping down on the couch and tuning the TV to the UFC’s broadcast.
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