If social media is to be believed, Ronda Rousey celebrated Saturday’s win over Sara McMann at UFC 170 by going out for chicken wings.
Following back-to-back training camps, dueling promotional efforts and a pair of championship fights within 56 d…
If social media is to be believed, Ronda Rousey celebrated Saturday’s win over Sara McMann at UFC 170 by going out for chicken wings.
Following back-to-back training camps, dueling promotional efforts and a pair of championship fights within 56 days of each other, it looks like she wanted to get that vacation started as soon as possible.
Current estimates say we won’t see her in the Octagon again for six or seven months, though she hints she could be ready to go back to work before that.
While she’s away, Rousey’s promoters and the division she rules without mirth or mercy will have some work to do.
Let’s face it, for the UFC, Ronda on vacation is essentially a trial run for Life Without Ronda. During her absence, the company not only needs to build toward her return, but also solidify its women’s MMA product for the day its biggest star leaves for good.
Here are five things the UFC should do as Rousey is out making movies…
UFC women’s bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey probably has plenty of roles on the silver screen ahead of her, but that doesn’t automatically mean her days in the Octagon are numbered just yet.
Rousey told a group of reporters at the Glendale Fig…
UFC women’s bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey probably has plenty of roles on the silver screen ahead of her, but that doesn’t automatically mean her days in the Octagon are numbered just yet.
Rousey told a group of reporters at the Glendale Fighting Club, per MMA Fighting, that they didn’t have to worry about her hanging up the gloves any time soon.
I’m a fighter,” Rousey said. “I enjoy fighting. I was doing judo for a decade and a half for pretty much no money. If money was really was important to me, I might be a stockbroker right now … It would be nice to do something a little different, and miss it. By the time I do a lot of movie stuff, it would be, ‘oh my god, it’s cool and all,’ but I’m tired of getting my makeup done every day and they’re destroying my hair and I just want to get into the gym. … Right now what I enjoy is fighting.
As Variety first reported last week, the “Rowdy” one has been signed on to two high-profile Warner Bros. films: Athena Project, based on Brad Thor’s New York Times bestselling book, and Entourage, following up on the popular HBO series.
While Rousey trained for her UFC 168 bout with Miesha Tate, she filmed roles in both The Expendables 3 and Fast and Furious 7.
The 27-year-old fearsome grappler fights for the second time in under two months at UFC 170 when she takes on fellow former Olympic medalist Sara McMann, the No. 4-ranked women’s competitor in the UFC’s official rankings.
The women’s title fight will headline the February 22 card at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas.
Both competitors enter the title tilt with an unblemished record, with Rousey boasting an 8-0 ledger, all finishes via her signature armbar, and McMann coming in with a 7-0 mark (four finishes).
While some pundits are giving McMann a chance due to her high-level wrestling, size and strength, others are writing her off as just another victim given her lack of submission grappling skills.
Are Rousey’s days inside the cage already drawing to a close or will the top pay-per-view draw remain a UFC staple for many years to come?
John Heinis is a featured columnist for Bleacher Report. He is also the MMA editor for eDraft.com.
UFC on Fox 11 will go down April 19 in Orlando, Florida. It will feature two huge bouts between top-10 fighters in Fabricio Werdum vs. Travis Browne and Miesha Tate vs. Liz Carmouche.
Werdum vs. Browne is a critical fight in the heavyweight division.
While Werdum was rumored to fight Cain Velasquez in the UFC’s debut in Mexico, the champ suffered an injury that is likely to keep him out until the fourth quarter of 2014 at the earliest. The title shot was set up by three lopsided wins over Roy Nelson, Mike Russow and Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, but he now faces a very stiff test in Travis Browne.
Browne has been absolutely electric in the UFC thus far, racking up knockouts (not technical knockouts, mind you) over enduring fighters like Stefan Struve, Gabriel Gonzaga, Alistair Overeem and Josh Barnett. He owns a 7-1-1 record in the UFC, with the only loss coming following a leg injury in the cage against Antonio “Bigfoot” Silva.
Miesha Tate vs. Liz Carmouche is a fight between two of the UFC’s better-known female fighters, but is important for very different reasons.
Both Tate and Carmouche are both coming off losses. Carmouche dropped a unanimous decision to Alexis Davis at UFC Fight for the Troops 3, and owns a 1-2 record in the promotion. Tate, meanwhile, has suffered back to back stoppage losses at the hands of Cat Zingano and Ronda Rousey.
Interestingly, the UFC specifically pointed out that the main event is yet to be determined. It will be interesting to see what they put in place that could be bigger than Browne vs. Werdum.
(Dana White’s “I’m not the president of a massive company” pose, typically used by presidents of massive companies. / Photo via Getty.)
A few years ago, Matt Brown’s recent, sexist comments about women’s MMA wouldn’t have rocked the boat much. Some people would’ve complained, citing such infractions of decency as the reason why the UFC wasn’t where the NFL was in terms of mainstream appeal. Dana White would’ve simply responded “Fuck you, dummy” or some other dismissive, useless remark. The UFC is cool, and it’s cool because the fighters aren’t corporate, generic, and anodyne. They’re as real as it gets, as opposed to the walking-press releases that are athletes in other major sports.
Nine out of ten UFC fans will side with Quinton Jackson and Joe Rogan every time, because Rampage and Joe are awesome, and motorboating is hilarious, and who the fuck is Maggie Hendricks anyway? Seriously, here’s another representative comment from the UG thread from member ‘Bat21?:
“shitty cunty?!?!? BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAA!!! Fuck, I’m still laughing after 5 minutes. You’re the man, Joe.”
Jesus. If this is the mindset of the average UFC fan, then good luck being taken seriously, guys.
A high-profile commentator for the NFL or NBA couldn’t get away with throwing around slurs like this in public forums. I know that the fast-and-loose quality of the UFC’s frontmen and fighters has been part of the brand’s great success to this point. But there will come a time (we hope) when MMA is so popular that guys like Rampage and Rogan will have to behave like gentlemen — so they may as well start practicing for it now.
Has this time finally come? Do UFC employees finally have to behave, as Ben Goldstein put it, like gentleman?
(Dana White’s “I’m not the president of a massive company” pose, typically used by presidents of massive companies. / Photo via Getty.)
A few years ago, Matt Brown’s recent, sexist comments about women’s MMA wouldn’t have rocked the boat much. Some people would’ve complained, citing such infractions of decency as the reason why the UFC wasn’t where the NFL was in terms of mainstream appeal. Dana White would’ve responded to any criticism with “Fuck you, dummy” or some other dismissive, useless remark. The UFC is cool, and it’s cool because the fighters aren’t corporate, generic, and anodyne. They’re as real as it gets, as opposed to the walking-press releases that are athletes in other major sports.
Nine out of ten UFC fans will side with Quinton Jackson and Joe Rogan every time, because Rampage and Joe are awesome, and motorboating is hilarious, and who the fuck is Maggie Hendricks anyway? Seriously, here’s another representative comment from the UG thread from member ‘Bat21?:
“shitty cunty?!?!? BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAA!!! Fuck, I’m still laughing after 5 minutes. You’re the man, Joe.”
Jesus. If this is the mindset of the average UFC fan, then good luck being taken seriously, guys.
A high-profile commentator for the NFL or NBA couldn’t get away with throwing around slurs like this in public forums. I know that the fast-and-loose quality of the UFC’s frontmen and fighters has been part of the brand’s great success to this point. But there will come a time (we hope) when MMA is so popular that guys like Rampage and Rogan will have to behave like gentlemen — so they may as well start practicing for it now.
Has this time finally come? Do UFC employees finally have to behave, as Ben Goldstein put it, like gentleman?
However, the UFC’s stance against moral turpitude might only be a veneer.
McGregor and Brown objectified and downplayed the importance of top female fighters—ones that the UFC is banking on, especially now that they’re adding a women’s strawweight division and devoting an entire season of TUF to it.
The UFC also ignores slights against cultural decorum if they’re perpetrated by upper echelon fighters/big draws.
If we’re asking whether the UFC, in terms of conduct, is fast approaching the standards of the NFL and the other sports titans, the answer is no.
The UFC punishes people it can afford to. The major stars like Rousey can say whatever they want, and if they cross the line, a manager or some other underling will issue a feeble non-apology in their name (the only exception to this rule is dissing a sponsor, which not even Brock Lesnar can get away with).
Furthermore, Dana White burieshis ownfighters (a lot) and offers insultingly laconic explanations for important actions like raising PPV prices. The general public doesn’t expect such conduct from the figurehead of a major sports organization. Of course, some might argue that this unabashed predilection towards crass “honesty” is part of the UFC’s success (as I did way back in the day). But what helps it thrive on the fringes might be what keeps it from entering the realms of the mainstream, a feat which even Dana White said the UFC hadn’t accomplished yet.
For the time being, the UFC, save for a few forced apologies, is as real as it gets—even if that means we see some of the warts.
UFC women’s bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey may not be the most popular fighter right now, but apparently, that’s just the way she likes it.
At a media luncheon to promote her next fight against Sara McMann at UFC 170, Rousey told reporters on…
UFC women’s bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey may not be the most popular fighter right now, but apparently, that’s just the way she likes it.
At a media luncheon to promote her next fight against Sara McMann at UFC 170, Rousey told reporters on Thursday that she has always embraced playing the bad guy and wouldn’t have it any other way, per Bloody Elbow.
I’ve never acted like a nice, sweet, young American girl. I always wanted to be the heel, and I’m sure people are still going to boo me. It’s not like they forgot about it and that’s fine. That’s the way it is. It’s like Saint McMann, they’re going to love her. … Ali was the heel, he got a lot of boos, and now he’s the greatest of all time. Tyson, people were calling him an ear-biting rapist, and everybody loves Tyson. … I’m expecting a lot of boos for a while. Whatever, cheers don’t pay for my gas.
The “Rowdy” one received a ton of criticism following a Fight of the Night performance against Miesha Tate at UFC 168 late last month after she snubbed her rival’s attempt to shake hands after the action-packed title tilt.
Rousey later defended her decision by stating “Cupcake” only extended her hand since the cameras were rolling, per MMA Fighting.
The 26-year-old Judoka, who won a bronze medal at the 2008 Summer Olympics, is currently a perfect 8-0 as a professional mixed martial artist.
All of her fights have ended via her signature armbar, her rematch with Tate being the only matchup to go outside the first round.
Nevertheless, McMann would appear to be the toughest opponent of the champion’s relatively young career.
McMann, who won a silver medal in wrestling at the 2004 Summer Olympics, is 7-0 inside the cage and is yet to be involved in a close fight.
Is Rousey‘s approach to the fans the best move for her fight career right now, or, in actuality, does one have no impact on the other?
John Heinis is a featured columnist for Bleacher Report. He is also the MMA editor for eDraft.com.
The UFC officially announced its eleventh UFC on Fox card, and gave fans plenty to be excited about. Via Twitter: 