The world of women’s MMA has been on fire this week after the controversial comments made by a new face to Strikeforce, Ronda Rousey.
After a dominant, early first round submission victory in her second fight for the promotion, Rousey has been speaking out to anyone who will listen about why she believes that she should be the next one who fights current Strikeforce bantamweight women’s champion Miesha Tate…And the world is listening.
Rousey claims that while she is new to the sport, she is the one who should receive the next title shot because it’s what the fans want to see and women’s MMA needs the boost in media attention.
The truth is that Rousey has hit the nail on the head when it comes to the problems within the current landscape of women’s MMA. While her fellow Strikeforce combatants like Sarah Kaufman, Alexis Davis and Miesha Tate have been quietly staking their claims as some of the top female fighters in the world, Rousey has realized that the division is missing the controversy and often times volatile scenarios that help make the men’s divisions so much fun to follow even outside of the cage.
Rousey may be right. There may be too much of the same thing right now. Maybe being a respectful martial artist isn’t what every fan wants to see right now. After all, everyone loves to have someone to cheer against.
Chael Sonnen has proven that in recent years over on the men’s side as he has transformed himself into an almost unbearably obnoxious jerk who picks on everyone in sight any time he has a camera in front of him.
Chael understood that sometimes you have to make a few enemies in order to make some serious money in this business. At only 24 years old and with only four fights under her belt, Ronda Rousey has already begun making use of what most of the rest of the sport of women’s MMA has failed to realize—controversy creates cash.
With that said, Rousey needs to understand that even though she might be the most talked about fighter in women’s MMA today, she needs to wait her turn for a title shot.
Women’s mixed martial arts already struggles to receive credibility from mainstream media and even many MMA fans; compounding that by giving Ronda Rousey a title shot so soon in her MMA career is just a bad idea all-around.
If Rousey truly believes she is as good as she claims she is, then she should have no problem proving it against some of the true top 135-pound women fighters in the world. The Sarah Kaufman’s, Liz Carmouche’s and Alexis Davis’ of the world are waiting—it’s time for her to step up and take one of them out.
If she can do that, then there is every reason in the world to immediately begin booking a Rousey-Tate title fight. These two fighters bring legitimate skills to the cage as well as the kind of personalities that audiences just gravitate toward. It’s the kind of title fight that could realistically rival the Gina Carano vs. Cristiane “Cyborg” Santos fight which actually headlined a Strikeforce event back in 2009.
It might be too early to say this, but it could even be the kind of fight that could help save women’s mixed martial arts under the Zuffa banner.
Women’s MMA needs some sort of “story” to sell to the fans and a Ronda Rousey vs. Miesha Tate story is already building up to be very entertaining. But like any good book, you can’t just skip from the beginning to the end. This story still has plenty of chapters to be written.
It might sound like a great time to book this fight already, but the truth is that letting Rousey earn the title shot along with her mouth, like Chael Sonnen did, is the best way to create true intrigue in this potential fight with Miesha Tate.
Rousey seems to comprehend how to sell a fight, but let’s see if she understands that sometimes she is going to have to pass on the quick-money sale in order to make a big profit down the road.
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