Ronda Rousey is one of the biggest draws in mixed martial arts, winning 10 of her 11 career fights in the first round and needing 96 seconds to win each of her last three UFC women’s bantamweight title fights, but don’t think she’s looking to fight a man anytime soon.
Even though fans have speculated about a crossover fight since Rousey’s win over Cat Zingano at UFC 184, the undefeated champion told Marlow Stern of The Daily Beast that it’s not practical for a man-vs.-woman fight.
I don’t think it’s a great idea to have a man hitting a woman on television. I’ll never say that I’ll lose, but you could have a girl getting totally beat up on TV by a guy—which is a bad image to put across. With all the football [domestic violence] stuff that’s been happening, not a good idea. It’s fun to theorize about and talk about, but it’s something that’s much better in theory than fact.
The possibility of a crossover fight needlessly picked up steam when UFC announcer Joe Rogan said during an appearance on The Dan Le Batard Show (h/t The Sporting News) that Rousey “might be able to beat 50 percent” of the 135-pound fighters in UFC.
Rousey has helped fuel some of the fan speculation when she said during a recent appearance on SportsCenter, via Nick Schwartz of USA Today, that she “could beat 100 percent” of male bantamweight fighters in UFC.
The UFC champion has never said she’s looking to fight anyone on the male side, just that she would have no doubts about being able to beat any of them.
There was also no chance Rousey would ever fight a man, even if she wanted to, because no athletic commission would sanction it. It’s also incredibly demeaning to female fighters everywhere, including Rousey, that their accomplishments are made to seem lesser because they aren’t fighting men.
It’s in Rousey’s best interest, both as a fighter and a woman, that she shot down the notion of a man fighting a woman. She doesn’t need to fight a man to prove her greatness, as it’s been on display all 11 times she has stepped into a cage or the Octagon to do battle with many tremendous athletes.
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