When fans booed the first women’s MMA match promoted by Zuffa, most of us assumed we were witnessing the beginning of the end for women’s MMA under the Zuffa banner. Strikeforce allowing their women’s middleweight champion Chris “Cyborg” Santos to become a free agent seemed to confirm that. However, it seems that Strikeforce still intends to keep women’s MMA around for the time being. On Friday, Strikeforce announced that Olympic judoka Ronda Rousey will be making her promotional debut on the prelims of the July 30 Fedor vs. Henderson card against 4-1 Sarah D’Alelio.
At 24 years old, Rousey is a very interesting prospect. She became the first American woman to earn an Olympic medal in judo, winning a Bronze medal at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing. She celebrated this by becoming a vegan. Seriously. She is currently 2-0 as a professional MMA fighter, with both fights ending in under a minute by armbar. For that matter, all of her amateur fights ended that way as well. To say the least, the odds are pretty good that her fight against Sarah D’Alelio won’t last too long.
Video of her June 17 fight against Charmaine Tweet after the jump.