Ronda Rousey needed less than 30 seconds to put away Cat Zingano and retain the UFC women’s bantamweight crown. The former Olympic judoka defended her belt for the fifth time and pushed her record to 11-0.
As she looks down at the rest of the division chasing her, questions arise as to who will be her next opponent. There are a number of individuals to pick from, but Holly Holm should not be the answer.
When looking at the UFC rankings for the 135-pound women’s division it’s clear that Rousey has nearly cleaned out the entire group. She has soundly defeated all of the top five contenders to her title since moving over to the promotion in 2013.
Moments before Rousey‘s successful title defense, fight fans witnessed the promotional debut of Holm as she earned a split decision victory over Raquel Pennington. The former women’s boxing champion looked crisp in her striking technique but never put her opponent in any clear position of danger. Rousey may have mentioned her in the post-fight interview, but Holm should not be feed to the champion at this point in time.
Other options should include No. 7-ranked Bethe Correia and even current Invicta featherweight champion Cristiane Justino. UFC President Dana White has already nixed the potential rivalry bout with Santos.
Even though Rousey started her MMA career as a featherweight, it seems as if her fighting the Invicta featherweight champion, who had a dominant win of her own on Friday, is off of the books at this time. The conversation has turned to a catch-weight fight between the two, but White has called that off.
“Why would the champ go there? It just doesn’t make sense,” White said during the post-fight press conference, via MMA Fighting. “She’s the 135-pound champion here; she’s dominant. The champ doesn’t chance other people. If you want to fight the champ, you go to the champ.”
Correia has been on a run of her own that has included victims who are Rousey‘s training partners. Her last two wins, over Shayna Baszler and Jessamyn Duke, were dominant victories that pushed her up the rankings ladder. Rousey mentioned her during her interview with Joe Rogan immediately after the fight, but White has not confirmed that she may be next in line.
“She’s been pretty aggressive about getting the fight,” White said. “She’s undefeated so we will see what happens.”
Even though Holm came into the event with a lot of hype, do not expect her to be the next to fight the champion.
“Listen a lot of hype came in around Holly. It’s her first time here,” White said during questioning. “When you come in here it is a completely different ball game. She went in there tonight and she performed. Let’s let her get a couple of fights and let her feel like the UFC is her home. She has some time to get there.”
“I would like to get my feet wet. I finally got this first UFC fight over with,” Holm responded when questioned about the potential to face Rousey next.
Media professionals such as Patrick Wyman took to Twitter to express their idea that Holm is not ready at this point in time.
Ronda Rousey continues to epitomize the idea of dominance in sports as she maintains her position as the women’s 135-pound champion. As the community awaits an announcement for her next challenger, Holly Holm should be given the opportunity to grow before being placed in the main event.
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