The UFC women’s bantamweight division has seen a massive change over the past year. Up until UFC 193 there had only been one champion. Ronda Rousey dominated the weight class with her ruthless Judo and record-breaking submissions. ‘Rowdy’ added a few knockouts to her credit towards the end of her unbeaten streak, but that new-found love for striking would eventually be her undoing. When paired with the massive underdog Holly Holm on November 15, Rousey was seeing unprecedented levels of promotion.
Finally fight night rolled around, but it would not go as most had predicted. Holm was rampant, taking advantage of Rousey’s confidence in her stand up game. ‘The Preacher’s Daughter’ also proved to have gold standard takedown defense. This led to a monstrous second round knockout for Holm in Australia, the ramifications of which are still felt to this day. Three champions on since Ronda Rousey’s reign, an we’re yet to receive a solid date for her comeback.
Bantam-Wait
Rousey’s big return has been hindered by minor surgeries and Hollywood movie roles. She also fell in to quite a dark period after Holm defeated her, understandably so in many respects. As 2016 begins to usher in the final quarter, an octagon comeback before year’s end is looking unlikely at best. For fans of the former champion there are some positive signs though. Rewind back to February/March time, and ‘Rowdy’ refused to even talk about fighting.
Speaking during the soon-to-be released documentary ‘The Hurt Business,’ Ronda Rousey made an interesting statement about MMA. Via The Washington Post, ‘Rowdy’ says the world would be a better place if people could take their anger out in the gym more often.
Can’t We All Just Get Along Fight?
“Ignorance is the only real barrier the sport has to overcome. I think a lot of people who are ignorant toward it say it promotes violence when it really is the most responsible outlet for it. It’s human instinct to fight. If you try to suppress it entirely, and put everyone in a bubble-wrapped society, that’s when people end up going nuts and shooting movie theaters. If any of those people that had all of that aggression built up in them had some sort of outlet, I think that we’d have a lot more societal health because of it.”
“It’s not violence for the sake of violence. I mean the word ‘art’ is in it for a reason. When I get in there, yeah, I’m fighting, but really what I’m trying to do is outsmart the other person. It’s a puzzle to be solved. I’m not just going in there and spazzing out and swinging my hands and lifting weights so that I can lift my hands even harder. It’s more mental and tactical than anything else and I think it’s the purest, most beautiful sport in the world.”
Hurt Business
The documentary film also features Jon Jones, Holly Holm, Georges St-Pierre and many other big names from the UFC and mixed martial arts. It should be a great view when released fully. Here’s another clip showing ‘Bones’ and ‘GSP’ talking about steroid use in MMA.
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