Ronda Rousey once again proved to be the class of women’s MMA Saturday night at UFC 175, as she defeated Alexis Davis to retain the UFC Women’s Bantamweight Championship for the fourth time.
And it didn’t even take her 20 seconds. As soon as the bell rang, Rousey wasted no time in judo tossing Davis to the mat and finishing her in 16 seconds. MMA Fighting’s Ariel Helwani tweeted the result:
With the victory, Rousey is a perfect 10-0 with no real signs of slowing down. Davis was riding a five-fight winning streak of her own entering the bout, but Rousey was clinical as usual and strengthened her standing atop the sport.
At this point, perhaps the only thing that can slow her down is herself. According to UFC on Fox, Rousey intends to take a hiatus from UFC in the wake of her latest triumph:
As vicious as Saturday’s fight was, there was certainly mutual respect between the two combatants. Rousey has done a lot to bring women’s MMA to the mainstream due to her dominance in the Octagon and her success in other realms. Per Kevin Iole of Yahoo Sports, Davis is grateful for Rousey’s contributions in that regard:
Ronda is great for this sport and for women’s athletes in general. She’s a very talented person and it’s great that she’s been able to not only do all of these movies, but to bring attention not only to herself but to women’s fighting. She’s helped all of us because she’s helped (the media) understand how good these athletes are.
Rousey reciprocated kind words leading up to the fight. She has already faced many of the biggest names in women’s MMA, but she lauded Davis for her preparation and overall skill set, according to Fighters Only:
Despite the challenges that Davis posed, Rousey was ultimately able to come out on top as she had each and every time prior. With Rousey continuing to dominate all comers, one can’t help but wonder what needs to be done in order to provide a true challenge.
When push comes to shove, no one might be able to push Rousey to the limits in a UFC fight. She’s an Olympic bronze medalist in judo and well-schooled in other forms of fighting as well. In fact, Rousey recently made a controversial statement regarding her ability to potentially adapt to jiu-jitsu, per MMAFighting.com via Damon Martin on Fox Sports’ The Great MMA Debate podcast.
One thing that I couldn’t stand when I was just watching MMA and coming from Judo was all these people talking about how the Jiu Jitsu people would beat any Judo player. It was such a stereotype that I thought, and still think, that I could beat any girl in the world, any weight division, gi or no-gi, black belt and in any rule set they want, in just pure Jiu Jitsu.
Rousey has conquered everything she has put her mind to thus far, so it would be quite interesting to see how she would fare in such a scenario. Rousey has become such a massive draw for the UFC, though, that one can only assume she will be with the company for a long time to come.
Even if she continues to mow down the competition, there is still plenty of appeal. In many ways, her run is reminiscent of what Mike Tyson did in boxing during the mid-to-late 1980s.
Although nobody offered up much resistance against Tyson during that period, boxing fans were riveted and wanted to see him turn aside challenger after challenger in dominant fashion.
That is what Rousey has done to this point, and all signs point toward her continuing to do it in the immediate future. The fact that she has increased the popularity of women’s MMA may ultimately breed bigger and better challenges down the line, but Rousey is still the queen of the sport for now.
Based on her performance at UFC 175, she doesn’t plan on surrendering her throne anytime soon.
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