UFC women’s bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey certainly finds her way into plenty of fantasy matchups. While we may actually get to see her fight women like Holly Holm, Cris Cyborg or Gina Carano, it’s a hypothetical with Floyd Mayweather Jr. we can’t move on from.
Earlier this year Rousey famously claimed she could take the boxing superstar in a fight, an opinion shared by UFC color commentator Joe Rogan.
“It’s all about how much time Floyd has to prepare,” Rogan said during an appearance on ESPN’s Sports Nation. “Floyd would have to really work on his takedown defense, that would be the big thing.
“If Ronda got a clinch on him, it’s not just about worrying about getting taken down to the ground, it’s worrying about knees to the body. It’s worrying about her manipulating his body in a way he doesn’t understand.”
As for how long Mayweather would need to prepare for the 2X Judo Olympian, Rogan believes he could become respectable in a fairly short time.
“He would have to go with the very best trainers in the world and spend a good, solid six months to a year on nothing but grappling.”
All things considered, Rogan says he’s picking Rousey against Mayweather given the context of an actual MMA fight.
“Ronda Rousey. I’m not kidding you. It’s too hard to avoid the clinch. If you watch a Floyd Mayweather fight they very rarely end in a one-punch knockout, seconds into the fight. So if he’s not that kind of fighter, he has brittle hands, his hands break, Especially if you’re talking about small gloves. Hands are going to break even easier. She keeps her chin tucked, hands high and gets a hold of him, one way or another, there’s going to be a lot of things she’s doing that he doesn’t understand. Trips, clinches, flips.”
But that’s only now. If you gave Floyd time? He’s a fantastic athlete. You could teach a guy like that to do anything. He could learn gymnastics if you gave him enough time. He would have to dedicate himself to a really great trainer and really work on his defense. Get out of the clinch! If you’re in a clinch with her you’re going flying. That’s the reality.”
Rousey will defend her title to Alexis Davis in the co-main event at UFC 175 on Jul. 5 from the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas, Nevada.
5 MUST-READ STORIES
Hacked. According to Jon Jones and his manager, the fighter was not responsible for sending homophobic slurs from his Instagram account.
Vitor on the brawl. Vitor Belfort says he was embarrassed watching Wanderlei Silva and Chael Sonnen scrap on TUF: Brazil.
Predictions. Luke Thomas breaks down tonight’s TUF Nations Finale.
The Jardines. Keith Jardine and his fiancee talk life after fighting.
‘Something has to change.’ Tim Kennedy says the UFC’s current sponsorship policy is substantially costing the fighters. “How it is right now, I go to them with 10 sponsors, and they say ‘No’ to 8 of them.”
MEDIA STEW
Love a good staredown.
Alexander Gustafsson on Phil Davis, Jon Jones, drug testing and more.
Martin Kampmann talks sparring with guys like Vitor Belfort, Forrest Griffin and Wanderlei Silva.
TTTHS.
Pretty impressed he was able to remember his sponsors. Get well, Spong.
Nice standing elbow KO from Team Nogueira prospect Sheymon Moraes.
Long watches.
Rampage Jackson and King Mo engage in verbal warfare on OTR
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Joe Rogan Experience #486 – Brendan Schaub & Bryan Callen
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TUF Nations Finale: Official Weigh-In
TWEETS
Good idea.
Just got a new phone. Changing all of my social media passwords. Apparently I was hacked.
— Jon Bones Jones (@JonnyBones) April 16, 2014
Get well soon.
Hmmmmm….. To make this into a yellow submarine…… Tennis ball…… Or…. Ideas anyone? pic.twitter.com/dYZxVXalXp
— Holly Holm (@_HOLLYHOLM) April 15, 2014
Finally made it to the doc, its broke, but sometimes it happens when you punch so hard. LOL @lunarpages… http://t.co/myWfGH8wBr
— Roy Nelson (@roynelsonmma) April 15, 2014
Gonna get surgery number 8 which is cool cus the 10 one is free. I got a punch card bitch
— Forrest Griffin (@ForrestGriffin) April 15, 2014
Gonna be tough.
Can I get that money??? @ufc @danawhite dana_white_ufc @americantopteam conansilveira http://t.co/AzgvBV6Kb1
— Hector Lombard (@HectorLombard) April 15, 2014
Sweating = Winning.
Khabib Nurmagomedov ready for war: http://t.co/VMHRlqpSln ?? @YouTube
— khabib nurmagomedov (@TeamKhabib) April 15, 2014
Pilot just announced a delay in landing bc there’s a storm coming to Orlando, I coulda told him that… #TateVsCarmouche @UFCONFOX @Ufc
— Miesha Tate (@MieshaTate) April 15, 2014
Nice.
I sure do appreciate everything @InvictaFights and @shanknapp have done for me, I hope to represent them to the best of my ability tomorrow
— Leslie Smith (@LeslieSmith_GF) April 16, 2014
Still no takers.
“DUDE I’M GONA COME TRAIN” $500 & STILL NOBODY SHOWED STOP SAYIN SHIT IF U KNOW U AINT SHIT @GLORY_WS… http://t.co/IE9TGk90Vg
— Pat Barry (@HypeOrDie) April 15, 2014
FIGHT ANNOUNCEMENTS
Announced yesterday (Apr. 15 2014)
Matt Hobar vs. Pedro Munhoz at The Ultimate Fighter Brazil 3 Finale: dos Santos vs Miocic
Chris Beal vs. Patrick Williams at UFC 172
FANPOST OF THE DAY
Today’s Fanpost of the Day comes via Da Headbanger.
Everything You NEED to Know About UFC TUF Nations Finale Main Card
The man everyone loves to hate is back and a sniper is waiting to take him out. Even though that statement isn’t quite the way it sounds, every word of it is true.
The main event serves as the only true high profile match on the card, but what would you expect from a TUF Finale? It does carry the weight of helping to shape out the title picture at middleweight within the next year so at least it has more going for it in that sense than Big Nog vs. Big Country did. Throw in the fact that there seems to be hate between the two and it has more going for it than most Finale headliners.
There has been no animosity between the coaches or any of the finalists (the fact they were all teammates on a nationally themed edition helps to spell out why), so there isn’t nearly as much interest in them as there has been in recent seasons (remember how everyone thought Uriah Hall was going to send Kelvin Gastelum’s head orbiting with Adam Cella’s?). None of those fights promise fireworks either with grinding possibilities very high. Still, the prospects seem to have good if not great ceilings and any Patrick Cote fight has potential for a KO.
The opener? How many of you enjoy seeing a rabbit (in honor of the time of year) being fed to a bear? That’s what its equivalent to.
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Check out the rest of the post here.
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