Now that we all have borne witness to Ronda Rousey’s Olympic dominance in becoming the new Strikeforce 135lb Women’s Champion tonight, we need to take an in-depth look at her next logical opponent in Sarah Kaufman.
Kaufman, a former champ herself, also fought tonight in a bloody victory over Alexis Davis and frankly has the tools to defeat Rousey.
By now most of you are probably shaking your heads at the notion of the Rowdy One being beaten in any way after what we saw her do to Meisha Tate’s arm, but once you get past that and really take a look at things realistically, I think you’ll view things differently.
Frankly, it’s all about the striking. I’m not sure who her striking coach is, but Ronda Rousey should really consider getting a new one. Her technique leaves her pretty vulnerable to getting hit cleanly, and against a more powerful and efficient striker like Sarah Kaufman she might get knocked out.
In her fight against Meisha Tate back in 2009, it was Kaufman’s striking and powerful base that nullified any takedown attempts by Tate.
While Rousey is definitely a much higher level grappler, she needs to close distance in order to work towards her strengths, eating strikes along the way. Against someone as strong as Kaufman, this might prove to be fairly difficult.
Rousey, a 2008 Olympian, needs to consider shoring up that one glaring weakness in her game if she wants to ensure a lengthy title run. Perhaps enlisting the services of someone like a Phil Nurse, Farias Zahabi or AKA’s Javier Mendez could really help her develop a solid standup game to complement her incredible submission prowess.
Hopefully, tonight’s win will serve as a means of teaching her what she will need to work on in order to keep women’s MMA going.
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