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UFC 157: Keys to Victory for Liz Carmouche vs. Ronda Rousey

Liz Carmouche will challenge Ronda Rousey for the UFC women’s bantamweight championship at UFC 157. It will not only be the first female fight under the UFC banner, but the main event of a highly anticipated card.How to defeat Rousey is still a mystery…

How to defeat Rousey is still a mystery. Her striking has not been put to the test in the cage, and she has not been pushed past the first round. Her dominance has begun to give her an aura that we have not seen since Fedor Emelianenko.

The Girl-Rilla is no stranger to coming in as a large underdog, though. In 2011, she accepted a fight on short notice with then-Strikeforce champion Marloes Coenen, and nearly exited Columbus, Ohio as the champion.

With that being said, Rousey will be a whole different ballgame.

Carmouche will try to be the first to shatter the perception of invincibility. Everyone will be watching.

Here are five keys to victory for the Girl-Rilla.

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UFC 157: Are the UFC’s Expectations for Ronda Rousey Too High?

As the hype surrounding Ronda Rousey’s Octagon debut at UFC 157 continues to intensify, it’s hard not to wonder whether Dana White and company are harbouring unrealistic expectations for the former Olympian. The UFC president’s fascin…

The UFC president’s fascination with all things Rousey-related has been well-documented over the past several months.

From calling her “a dude trapped inside this beautiful body” (MMAFighting.com) to claiming that the UFC’s interest in women’s MMA essentially begins and ends with Ronda Rousey, it’s safe to say that White is infatuated with his new star.

In fairness, he has good reason to be enthusiastic about Rousey’s future. The UFC president is not wrong when he says that “nobody in the history of this sport has brought attention to the sport like Ronda Rousey” (FightHubTV.com).

Unfortunately, that attention doesn’t necessarily translate into ticket sales and pay-per-view buys.

As I pointed out in a previous article, viewing figures for Ronda Rousey’s appearances on Showtime peaked at around 676,000—when she faced Sarah Kaufman. While that’s a respectable number, it falls far short of the 856,000 viewers who tuned in to see Gina Carano take on Cristiane “Cyborg” Santos.

Dave Meltzer has suggested that anything above 250,000 pay-per-view buys should be considered a success for Ronda’s UFC debut.

For those who don’t know, that number is significantly below average for a UFC pay-per-view. It’s almost unheard of for a world champion who has pierced the mainstream consciousness.

In truth, there is nothing wrong with Rousey pulling in 250,000-300,000 buys for her debut, particularly given the modest profile of UFC 157 opponent Liz Carmouche. However, the time and money that the UFC has invested in promoting their new star leads me to believe that there is a much loftier goal in mind.

The Zuffa brass may have misjudged Ronda Rousey’s current drawing power. After all, it wouldn’t be the first time their projections have missed the mark.

Does everyone remember UFC 148: Silva vs. Sonnen II? It was marketed as the biggest MMA fight of all time and slated to break all sorts of records—at least according to the UFC, if no one else. Unfortunately, the event fell approximately 700,000 pay-per-view buys short of the previous record set by UFC 100.

Personally, I hope my present skepticism becomes a future punchline and Rousey develops into a huge money-making star. I am deeply invested in the future of WMMA, so this is certainly one of those times when I would be ecstatic to be proved wrong.

Only time will tell if Ronda Rousey has the potential to draw GSP-like numbers. For now, I can’t help but remain skeptical.

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‘UFC 157: Rousey vs. Carmouche’ Extended Video Preview, Featuring Henderson vs. Machida

(“Of course I’m gonna beat Liz Carmouche. And everyone that comes after her. I’m going to retire undefeated, and there’s nothing any of these girls can do about it.” Video via: YouTube.com/UFC)

And here we have the traditional nine-minute preview of the UFC’s next pay-per-view event, which goes down February 23rd at the Honda Center in Anaheim, California. If you’re tired of the Rousey vs. Carmouche hype at this point (Rousey = Mike Tyson, “Lizbos,” etc.), just skip to 5:07 to see the profile of Dan Henderson vs. Lyoto Machida, which begins by recapping the Henderson knee injury that led to the scrapping of UFC 151. At the 5:58 mark, Dana White says that if Henderson beats Machida, Henderson will get the next light-heavyweight title shot, which is direct contradiction of…ah, just forget it.

Also: Henderson hints that he’s bringing a secret weapon to this fight, but if that doesn’t work, he’ll just have to hit Machida with his right hand. (Makes sense.) Of course, Hendo vs. the Dragon is a matchup of power vs. speed/footwork, but as Henderson puts it, “we’ll see how quick this old man is too.”

If Liz Carmouche Defeats Ronda Rousey Don’t Expect a Catchweight Cyborg Bout

Liz Carmouche has 10 professional mixed martial arts fights on her record, having won eight of those bouts while dropping two. On February 23 she will be involved in the first women’s MMA bout to be presented by the UFC, where she looks to dethro…

The fight between Rousey and Carmouche is a huge step for the UFC. Let’s not forget that not too long ago White proclaimed that women would never fight in the UFC. Not only are Rousey and Carmouche fighting inside the famed Octagon, but they are headlining the UFC 157 pay-per-view card.

There had been some rumblings that the UFC was not going to add any more female fighters to its roster until the Rousey and Carmouche fight shook out, but that talk was laid to rest over the last two days as the UFC added four more fighters to their WMMA roster.

Those additions are a positive sign as far as Carmouche is concerned.

I think Dana White and the UFC is invested in the women’s division, but it wasn’t known to other people and now this is evidence of the work he’s putting in to build up the 135-pound division. I don’t think he would make a title fight between myself and Ronda if he didn’t actually want to have a full division to follow up after that. It’s great to see that something is lined up and that more people are starting to trickle in now.

That “something” that Carmouche refers to is a bout between former Strikeforce champion Miesha Tate and Cat Zingano as well as the signing of Sara McMann and Alexis Davis.

Carmouche, knowing that her bout with Rousey has the potential to lead to more fights in the UFC, sees the signings as not only good for the sport, but is using them as motivation as she looks to be the first fighter to defeat Rousey.

It’s motivation for the success of the division. I don’t think the UFC would have been as successful as the have been if they just prepared for one fight at a time. They’re looking out for the future of the whole corporation, so this just shows that the women’s division is going to be a long road rather than just one fight.

Carmouche made it clear that while she is happy to see a future for WMMA in the UFC, she is not looking past Rousey at all.

If she does get past Rousey and White straps the UFC belt around her waist at the Pond in Anaheim, don’t think the door will be open for a catchweight bout with former Strikeforce champion Cris Santos.

Carmouche echoed Rousey’s words when it came to that potential bout: You want to beat the queen, you fight her at her weight.

I absolutely take the same approach that Ronda has (taken). Cyborg was the champion at 145, but it’s currently Ronda at 135, so whoever’s the champion in that weight division I think if it’s a title they really want they have to go to that weight division and not fight at a catchweight.

Carmouche is taking in stride all the attention that has been heaped on her during the lead up to her bout with Rousey. However, don’t think she doesn’t notice or appreciate the difference between this bout and her past fights as far as media attention is concerned.

So far (the media blitz) has been rewarding. It’s been a change from past fights, but getting to meet new people and see new faces has been great through the whole thing.

Carmouche will surely meet more new people in the coming days, but those faces will quickly fade when the Octagon door closes behind her and Rousey in Anaheim on February 23.

All quotes obtained first hand by BR MMA.

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Ronda Rousey Says Cris Cyborg Is Quickly ‘Fading into Being Irrelevant’

Ronda Rousey has a lot on her mind these days–UFC 157, Liz Carmouche, being the first women’s champion in UFC history–but one thing she’s not worried about is a potential fight with former Strikeforce champion, Cris “Cyborg” Santos. The two…

The two fighters have been intertwined together for a big part of the last year as Rousey made her meteoric rise up the women’s ranks and eventually became champion. They also began sparring in a verbal chess match through social media and interviews about a potential fight with each other.

Unfortunately, as of now, it appears that fight won’t be happening any time soon—if ever.

Cris “Cyborg” Santos, who sat out all of 2012 after testing positive for banned substances in her last fight with Strikeforce, has stated adamantly that she cannot make the cut from 145 pounds to 135 pounds, thus eliminating her from joining the UFC’s lone division for women’s MMA.

As of last week, Cyborg’s manager, former UFC champion Tito Ortiz, stated that he’s hopeful his client will exit the UFC and pursue other options away from the Octagon.

For her part, Ronda Rousey isn’t worried about whether Santos ever fights in the UFC or not. She believes all of the talk about weight classes, signing with the UFC or not signing with the UFC and the splashy statements by her manager are all an attempt to keep her in the spotlight, despite the fact that she hasn’t won a fight since June 2010 (her last fight in Strikeforce was ruled a no-contest after Cyborg tested positive for banned substances).

“No, not really at all,” Rousey answered, when asked if she was disappointed that a fight with Cyborg was all but off the table, when speaking to media on a UFC conference cell held Tuesday.

“I think that she’s just kind of making a lot of noise, and trying to get attention because she’s kind of fading into being irrelevant. She hasn’t a recorded win in what about two years? She needs to have people going on TV and making a big fuss so people will even remember her name.”

Rousey believes that she has plenty of fighters to face in the UFC, and none of them have to be named Cris Cyborg. On the flip side, however, Rousey knows that the former 145-pound Strikeforce champion only has one real choice in her career, making the move down to bantamweight and facing her in the Octagon.

“To be honest, I have a lot of options ahead of me. I have a lot of girls I could fight, and she doesn’t really have any other options besides me. So they can run around and make a bunch of noise and be a big ‘Cry-borg’ as much as she wants, but at some point she’s going to have to come around and take the only fight that’s really available for her,” said Rousey.

“In the meantime, I’m going to take the plenty of options that are available to me.”

Those options now include her former opponent Miesha Tate and newcomer Cat Zingano, who square off in April as part of The Ultimate Fighter finale show. The UFC also announced on Tuesday that former Olympic silver medalist Sara McMann and Strikeforce veteran Alexis Davis have been added to the growing women’s roster.

All things considered, Rousey has plenty to focus on, including her UFC 157 opponent Liz Carmouche, and she doesn’t need to fret about Cris Cyborg one ounce at all.

“No, I’m not really putting any of my time worrying about her,” said Rousey. “Because Liz Carmouche is 100-percent of my attention right now, and ‘Cy-Roid’ is not worth my time at the moment.”

Damon Martin is a featured columnist at Bleacher Report and all quotes were obtained first hand unless otherwise noted.

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UFC 157: Keys to Victory for Ronda Rousey over Liz Carmouche

Few pundits, especially the oddsmakers, forsee Liz Carmouche lasting five rounds with venomous UFC bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey at the historic UFC 157. In an attempt to pit Rousey against a worthy contender in the promotion’s first-ever wom…

Few pundits, especially the oddsmakers, forsee Liz Carmouche lasting five rounds with venomous UFC bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey at the historic UFC 157.

In an attempt to pit Rousey against a worthy contender in the promotion’s first-ever women’s bout, UFC president Dana White pegged the scrappy Carmouche as “Rowdy’s” most fitting suitor.

Granted, Carmouche has a solid résumé and a well-rounded skill set, but her accomplishments and her athletic abilities simply pale in comparison to that of Rousey’s.

With that said, Rousey, whom Bodog.net has deemed an 11-to-1 favorite (-1100), must adhere to a few simple principles in order to secure the type of surefire victory that she’s grown accustomed to scoring.

Here’s a list of keys to victory for the heavily favored Rousey over Carmouche.

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