Marion Reneau made a big impression in her first two fights.
Now she wants to capitalize on that momentum with a bout against a top contender in the UFC women’s bantamweight division.
“Let’s go for the top,” Reneau said Thursday in an interview with MMAjunkie Radio (h/t MMAJunkie.com). “Let’s go for Miesha Tate. Let’s go for Alexis Davis. Let’s go for those girls who are right next to No. 1. Let’s go.”
Tate is currently ranked No. 2 and Davis No. 3 in the official UFC women’s bantamweight rankings. Davis is currently set to fight Sarah Kaufman in April, but Reneau‘s essential point—that she has earned a fight with a contender—still holds.
Reneau (6-1) made her UFC debut not even two months ago. She was an underdog to world-class grappler Alexis Dufresne but looked every bit the favorite. She outstruck the overmatched Dufresne for three full rounds and earned a convincing decision victory which included memorably lopsided judges’ scorecards of 30-26, 30-26 and a very rare 30-25.
Just six weeks later, she was at it again. Once again the underdog, this time against Jessica Andrade, Reneau overcame an early knockdown to tap out Andrade with a triangle choke less than two minutes into the first round.
“It was super-important for me to show my jiu-jitsu,” Reneau told reporters after the fight. “There was a comment made where my brown belt was mentioned as equal to her blue belt, and I had to show it that this didn’t make any sense. I am a legitimate brown belt. My brown belt can’t match your blue, ever.”
Reneau‘s sense of urgency is understandable. Not only is she rolling with a huge head of steam, but she is actually closer to the end of a conventional professional athlete’s timeline. The California native is 37 years old and as such may not have a massive number of fights in front of her, despite her relative youth in the sport.
To date, Reneau‘s wins have been so emphatic, her microphone presence so polished, that UFC president Dana White was compelled to do something he rarely does: apologize in public. Reneau had previously tried out for The Ultimate Fighter but was told she was too old for the reality show.
“She looked awesome, and I have to publicly apologize to her,” White said to the media after her victory over Dufresne. “She tried out for The Ultimate Fighter, and I told her she was too old. So I was wrong again.”
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