One by one, Ronda Rousey has emphatically finished every challenger that’s come her way. Fight by fight, Cat Zingano hasn’t let anyone stop her on her march to the top.
At UFC 184, the two undefeated women will stand across from one another in the Octagon and only one will leave with that precious zero in the loss column.
The odds-on favorite to be that woman is Rousey. The champion’s undefeated streak is a little different to her challenger’s. Zingano has had to escape the clutches of defeat. She’s looked mortal. She’s been taken down in each of her UFC bouts thus far.
Rousey has retained her undefeated status with the kind of dominance that meant she spent exactly one minute and 22 seconds defending her belt in the Octagon last year. Her average fight lasts two minutes and 37 seconds.
Still, this is MMA. Coming off a card that featured 10 upsets in 11 fights, assuming is not a prognosticator’s friend in this sport.
Here’s a look at the tale of the tape, latest odds and build up to the main event, along with a prediction as to who will emerge with the belt around her waist on Saturday night.
Odds via Odds Shark as of Thursday, Feb. 26 at 8 p.m. ET.
What They’re Saying
Ronda Rousey isn’t usually one to mince words. She’s almost as well known for her willingness to say whatever is on her mind as she is for her ferocity inside the cage.
Yet, you’ll be hard pressed to see many disparaging or even aggressive quotes addressed toward Cat Zingano. Holly Holm or Arianny Celeste may be a different story, but the champion hasn’t had much to say about the opponent she’ll meet in Los Angeles because she doesn’t see much point in saying much, given Zingano’s toughness, per Elias Cepeda of Fox Sports:
Cat is different because not only is she undefeated but she has the kind of indomitable spirit that I haven’t seen exhibited by anyone else, at the level that she has. …
She’s been down in fights before, and every single time, she’s come back and finished the other person. And given everything she’s been through lately in her life outside of fighting, I really feel like she’s one of those people that’s impossible to intimidate, so I don’t even try.
While Rousey describes the toughness and perseverance that Zingano has demonstrated in her career, another word to describe the contender could be quiet. The challenger doesn’t have much of a history of pre-fight talk and hype. Unsurprisingly, there hasn’t been much talk about Rousey from the Alpha Cat’s camp.
That doesn’t mean she isn’t confident, though. “I don’t feel like she’s been challenged the way she will with me,” Zingano told Michael Martinez of UFC.com. “I feel like I’m a different, complete pedigree than anyone she’s ever been against, and I think she knows that as well.”
There’s some truth to Zingano’s statement. She represents a challenge Rousey has yet to face in her title reign. We’ve seen Rousey take on good grapplers but none who appear to be as big and strong as the Alpha Cat.
One look at the third round of Zingano’s fight with Miesha Tate reveals the type of power and—cardio—Rousey will be dealing with. Zingano finished that fight with brutal knees to Tate after nearly falling prey to an armbar in the second round.
Prediction
On paper, Zingano has a path to victory. That’s more than could be said for most of Rousey’s opponents.
Given the power that Zingano has proved she has on the feet, and the cardio it took to pick up three of her nine career victories by way of (T)KO in the third round, hypothetically, Zingano’s odds of winning increase with every round she survives.
For all of Rousey’s greatness, her cardio is not something we’ve seen tested. The champion has been out of the first round just once: a third-round submission of Tate.
With Zingano earning the same result, her ability to finish fights as the rounds go by is more proven. If she can just find a way to make it out of those first one or two rounds without submitting, she could set up an interesting three rounds to close out the fight.
However, there’s just one problem with that theory. The challenger has been known to get off to slow starts. Amanda Nunes landed 21 significant strikes to Zingano’s three in the first round of her most recent UFC bout. Tate also outlanded her in the first frame of their bout.
There’s also the fact that she was taken down by both Nunes and Tate.
As Rousey pointed out in her quote, Zingano has made a living out of rallying despite the odds. But that’s a different order entirely when going against a fighter of Rousey’s caliber.
Rousey by first-round submission (armbar).
All bout and card information via UFC.com. All statistics via FightMetric unless otherwise noted.
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