Tag: UFC 190

Rousey vs. Correia: Career Stats, Highlights for Both Fighters Ahead of UFC 190

Someone’s “0” has to go in the main event of UFC 190 in Brazil. Undefeated women’s bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey (11-0) will defend her title against Brazilian striker and undefeated challenger Bethe Correia (9-0). Here’s a look at the tale of the…

Someone’s “0” has to go in the main event of UFC 190 in Brazil. Undefeated women’s bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey (11-0) will defend her title against Brazilian striker and undefeated challenger Bethe Correia (9-0). Here’s a look at the tale of the tape.

By most accounts, Rousey is going to have her way with Correia. Beyond the fact that Rousey is the bigger, more athletic and more skilled fighter, Correia has also made Rousey angry with controversial comments about suicide.

Rousey, whose father took his own life, took offense to the comments, and she has promised to try to humiliate Correia. Correia claims she didn’t know about Rousey‘s family history and apologized when she was made aware in the video below from USA Today:

In this video interview with Ariel Helwani of MMA Fighting, Rousey rejected the apology:

In the Octagon, we’ve got a compelling but potentially one-sided main event on the way. Here’s how the two women compare stylistically and statistically.

 

Striking

The stand-up game was once viewed as a weakness for Rousey, but she has worked diligently to make herself a weapon on her feet. She stopped Sara McMann with a knee to the midsection and also displayed some solid striking against Alexis Davis.

Rousey lands 3.66 strikes per minute in her fights. That’s decent, but two factors likely drag down those numbers: Her average fight time is only 2:39, and her judo and submission skills still anchor her game. To put it plainly, she’s an even better striker than the numbers indicate.

Defensively, Rousey could be a little better. Her striking defense is just 53 percent. The thing that makes her so difficult to beat—even with flawed striking defense—is that there are few, if any, 135-pound fighters with enough power to make her pay for taking their shots.

Correia is on par with Rousey as a striker, but her lack of length and power will make it tough to gain an advantage in stand-up exchanges. In her career, she’s landed 6.07 strikes per minute and defended 66 percent of the attacks.

She’s clearly a volume striker, but Rousey‘s dominance may not give Correia an opportunity to do damage with cumulative punishment.

Advantage: Slightly in Rousey‘s favor.

 

Grappling

This category is a total wipeout, as it would be with Rousey pitted against any opponent in the world. Nine of her 11 wins have come by submission, and quite honestly, all of them could have been via armbar had she wanted to end the Davis and McMann fights in that manner.

She has a 72 percent takedown accuracy, and her 60 percent takedown defense is irrelevant. No one wants to take Rousey to the mat. If she’s down, it’s probably because she wanted to be there.

Correia does have an excellent takedown defense percentage at 80 percent, but she’s never faced Rousey. That’s like a pitcher having an ERA under 2.00 in the minor leagues. It looks nice, but it doesn’t matter much until the hurler faces major league hitters.

Correia is about to be called up to The Show, and Rousey is Mike Trout.

Advantage: Rousey in a landslide.

 

Finishing

Here’s another area in which Rousey can’t be compared to any other fighter—let alone someone in her division. She has finished every opponent she’s ever faced, and only one has made it out of the first round.

Correia‘s fights almost always go the distance. She’s a grinder. The Brazilian has no wins by submission and only two TKO victories.

Advantage: Rousey.

 

Intangibles

No one in professional sports has an aura quite like the one Rousey carries right now. She appears to have supreme confidence, and we all know her competency level is through the roof. That said, she’s never really been in a war.

She’s only had to face adversity one time in her professional MMA career. That came in her first UFC fight against Liz Carmouche, who took Rousey‘s back and looked to be working on a rear-naked choke. Carmouche lacked experience, though, and thus she couldn’t lock it in. She would later succumb to the dreaded armbar.

That brings up this question: How would Rousey respond if she truly got rocked from a punch? Could Correia be the one to put her to the test?

She seems to have the right mentality heading into this fight. Then again, every one of Rousey‘s victims has talked a good game before having her arms wrenched, torso kneed and face punched in. Until we see differently, Rousey owns all of the intangibles.

Advantage: Rousey.

 

Who Wins?

Correia is the next victim in line. She’s tough, but if you’re considering betting on her, you’d be better off giving that money to your favorite charity—since you’re in the giving mood.

It would be a great story if Correia won, but she won’t. Rousey will dominate, and the quest for a legitimate challenger will continue.

 

Fight stats courtesy of FightMetric.com.

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UFC 190: Latest Rousey vs. Correia Odds, Predictions and Pre-Weigh-In Hype

The dominant Ronda Rousey will put her unbeaten record on the line once again in a women’s bantamweight title fight unlike any other, facing fellow unbeaten Bethe Correia in Saturday night’s UFC 190 main event from Rio de Janeiro. 
The 28-year-old…

The dominant Ronda Rousey will put her unbeaten record on the line once again in a women’s bantamweight title fight unlike any other, facing fellow unbeaten Bethe Correia in Saturday night’s UFC 190 main event from Rio de Janeiro. 

The 28-year-old American has climbed the ranks from her 2008 Olympic judo gold medal into the most daunting fighter in mixed martial arts, male or female, submitting opponents in mere seconds with a fight average of just two minutes and 16 seconds. Rousey has been painted as an untouchable force, and perhaps rightfully so as she embarks on a de facto away game to Correia‘s homeland Brazil.

Unlike most of her other tests, however, the 32-year-old Correia has convincingly proved herself with an unbeaten record of 9-0, and she’s talking big game as she gets ready for her date in the Octagon with one of the world’s most recognizable fighters.

Let’s look closer into Saturday’s main event.

 

UFC 190: Rousey vs. Correia

Date: Saturday, August 1

Time (ET): 10 p.m.

Watch: Pay-per-view

Odds (per Odds Shark): Rousey 1-16, Correia 8-1

 

Pre-Fight Hype

The Rousey hype machine has gained considerable steam during moments of the last few years, but it’s never been rolling along faster than it is entering Saturday’s spectacle.

Fellow bantamweight fighters aren’t the only ones conceding their inferiority to the mean brawler with a game face that imposes fear and submission moves that make bones quiver. There’s been no shortage of notables weighing in on her presence, including NBA superstar LeBron James saying he felt intimidated to meet her at the ESPYs and that he’d last in the Octagon with her “as long as she wanted.”

Even the UFC’s most feared men’s fighter, Conor McGregor, isn’t entertaining the idea of grappling with Rousey, telling SI Now, “I thought if this lady was to get a hold of me, she would throw me on my head in literally one second flat.”

However, don’t count Correia among those buying into the hype.

Carrying her own unbeaten record into this contest, Correia is 9-0 for her career and has three wins in as many tries since joining the UFC. She’s a heavy boxer with enough skill to stuff Rousey‘s early attempts at submission.

There’s been a big war of words between the two fighters, as one would suspect, but it’s even been turned up a few notches as Rousey sounds more amped than ever, as Sean Ross Sapp of WrestlingInc.com noted:

That’s a big change from Rousey‘s previous fights, which saw her dispatch her opponent so quickly that a quick bathroom break would have forced one to miss the entire fight. She’s been in the Octagon all of 30 seconds in her last two fights combined, and just over two minutes for her last four.

The short fights, Rousey says, are when she “likes” you, but she told TMZ there’s no such plans for this one—in fact, the exact opposite:

If I beat you quickly, that’s me at my nicest and most merciful. That means you get to go home unscathed with a paycheck. If I make the fight last longer, that means I don’t like you and I want you to go home looking different than the way you walked in. And I don’t like this chick.

Correia‘s ultraconfident demeanor and way with piercing words through the public may be central to Rousey‘s disdain, but it’s a lot more personal than just that. Comments made by Correia in the media about suicide to Combate got Rousey even more invested in beating her opponent, she told Fox Sports:

It’s very likely to be a different sort of fight than we’re used to seeing from Rousey. Never one to have a lack of intensity, she figures to be as energized and ticked off as we’ve ever seen her in the Octagon.

On top of that, only one of her career fights went longer than one round—the three-round slugfest with Miesha Tate in 2013 that was stopped by Rousey‘s arm bar. That result, along with many others, just goes to show that more than five minutes in the Octagon with Rousey is simply too much to handle.

She may not be an expert boxer—that’s one area where Correia can close the gap—but Rousey is so superior a fighter from top to bottom that her strength will overpower Correia. This is a true mismatch that, in many instances, wouldn’t take longer than a minute or two to end.

But with different circumstances and a different mindset from Rousey, she looks intent on getting into the second round for just the second time in her career. That won’t change the fact that she’ll end the fight on her accord.

Prediction: Rousey wins via Round 2 submission

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Who (or What) Is to Blame for UFC 190?s Nonexistent Marketing Campaign?


(Photo via André Durão/Globo.)

By Santino DeFranco

Did Ronda Rousey anger the UFC gods, or is somebody in the marketing department getting fired?

What the hell is Rousey, the UFC’s cash cow up until a quaint little Irishman stole her limelight, doing headlining a barely advertised card in Brazil after about a thousand UFC events in a few weeks time? It makes me wonder if this is intentional, or if this is a marketing blunder.

Let’s put our tinfoil hats on for a bit and pretend like we can get to the bottom of something using pure speculation, and very little else.

The post Who (or What) Is to Blame for UFC 190′s Nonexistent Marketing Campaign? appeared first on Cagepotato.


(Photo via André Durão/Globo.)

By Santino DeFranco

Did Ronda Rousey anger the UFC gods, or is somebody in the marketing department getting fired?

What the hell is Rousey, the UFC’s cash cow up until a quaint little Irishman stole her limelight, doing headlining a barely advertised card in Brazil after about a thousand UFC events in a few weeks time? It makes me wonder if this is intentional, or if this is a marketing blunder.

Let’s put our tinfoil hats on for a bit and pretend like we can get to the bottom of something using pure speculation, and very little else. If the UFC strategically placed Rousey:

1. On the tail end of a string of UFC cards that is,

2. In a foreign country and,

3. Because of the other recent fight cards that preceded her main-event title fight, were unable to run a full marketing campaign since every preceding card needed to be marketed, thus, taking time, money, and media away from Rousey.

If the UFC did the above intentionally, it would lead me to believe that:

A. Rousey isn’t the amazing draw the UFC said she was, or,

B. She did something to anger the UFC gods.

Now, if this is just a marketing blunder, and someone thought it would be a good idea to have Ronda (we’ll assume that she really is a superstar) headline a card that would be lost in the shuffle of fight cards that were kicked off by the Conor McGregor/Chad Mendes fight, who’s head is going to be on Dana’s silver platter when the Pay-Per-View numbers come in?

But, what if Ronda isn’t the marketing savior the UFC has convinced us she was? Well, then, it means that the UFC is having more issues with it’s marketing than we all thought. I made a short editorial video about how important McGregor winning was for not only the UFC, but MMA as a whole. If Ronda isn’t pulling in the numbers, and we know that nobody besides McGregor has the power to pull in Brock/GSP/Liddell/Jones numbers, then what?

There’s a void that needs to be filled in the UFC and in all of MMA, and that’s star-power. As I say in the video, boxing had this dilemma a few years ago—they didn’t have stars to promote. They got over it when Floyd Mayweather beat Oscar De La Hoya, but it took years and some building up of superstars. The UFC has a lot of “potential” stars on its roster (Yair Rodríguez, Henry Cejudo, *cough* CM Punk *cough*), but it’s how they develop and groom those fighters that will determine if people are going to buy big ticket fights in the next few years. They need to start thinking long term marketing now, or there will be some abysmal PPV numbers while they try to find that captain to helm their warship.

The post Who (or What) Is to Blame for UFC 190′s Nonexistent Marketing Campaign? appeared first on Cagepotato.

UFC 190 Fact or Fiction: Can Rousey vs. Correia Be Worth the Price of Admission?

Nobody thinks Bethe Correia is going to beat Ronda Rousey on Saturday at UFC 190.
That includes oddsmakers, who’ve made her an underdog of historic proportions; the UFC, which has already gone as far as to book Rousey’s next fight; and even…

Nobody thinks Bethe Correia is going to beat Ronda Rousey on Saturday at UFC 190.

That includes oddsmakers, who’ve made her an underdog of historic proportions; the UFC, which has already gone as far as to book Rousey’s next fight; and even Brazilian MMA fans, who are shown here vocally supporting Rousey on Wednesday during open workouts in what ought to be Corriea’s home turf.

In short, nobody is buying this matchup. It’s expected to be a complete wash. A cakewalk. A gimme.

Weirdly, therein lies much of the intrigue for this event. Without much else to write home about on its super-sized main card, the job of convincing UFC fans to part with the $60 pay-per-view cost largely falls to Rousey and Correia.

Luckly, the UFC women’s bantamweight champion has some ideas on how to sway them. Rousey says this won’t be another quick and easy victory for her because she plans to take her time torturing Correia for slighting her during the lead-up to this fight, relayed by the MailOnline.

Should we believe her?

Glad you asked. Here Bleacher Report lead writers Chad Dundas (that’s me) and Jonathan Snowden try to separate the fact from fiction headed into UFC 190.

 

Fact or Fiction: Ronda Rousey Is Good to Her Word, Takes Her Time Painfully Dispatching Bethe Corriea.

Chad: Fiction. I’ve gone back and forth on this one. On one hand, Rousey is exactly the kind of human being who would delight in creating some special punishment for an opponent she felt particularly disrespected her. So it’s possible she harbors a grudge with Correia for beating up her pals and making that off-color remark that may or may not have been about Rousey’s dad.

Heck, the women’s bantamweight champion doesn’t usually even need an excuse to do what she does:

On the other hand, Rousey is a smart promoter, and this is all probably a sales pitch. She knows her recent fights were criticized for being too short to be worth the price of pay-per-view admission, so this time she’s promised fans their money’s worth. Those promises ultimately prove empty. Correia is a huge underdog here and Double R treats her as such. This fight ends in under a round.

 

Jonathan: Fiction. This is nothing more than an attempt to sell an athletically bankrupt fight as something worth watching. Correia, after all, engaged in competitive bouts with Rousey’s teammates Shayna Baszler and Jessamyn Duke—two women with a combined UFC record of 1-5.

This fight is a farce. Rousey is the better athlete, the better striker, the more imposing physical specimen and the better grappler. The more Rousey can deflect these truths with talk of putting the hurt on her opponent, the better her chance of making beaucoup bucks at the box office.

 

Chad: I’m glad we’re on the same page here, even though it probably bodes poorly for our enjoyment of UFC 190—a PPV scheduled for four hours and seven fights. It’s as if matchmakers knew the entree wasn’t going to be that special, so they loaded up on appetizers.

I don’t know, though. I still can’t shake the feeling Rousey might be just vindictive enough to try to pull this off. Even though I officially dubbed it “fiction,” I also wouldn’t be surprised if she makes this fight really ugly, prolonging Correia’s agony until the referee is forced to make a straight-up mercy stoppage.

 

Fact or Fiction: The Nogueira Brothers Find opponents Who Belong in the Cage Even Less Than They Do and Turn Back the Clock with Big Wins.

Jonathan: Fact. Ten years ago, Antonio Rogerio Nogueira and his UFC 190 opponent Mauricio “Shogun” Rua put on a dazzling display at the Saitama Super Arena in Japan, wowing the fight world and redefining what high-level mixed martial arts looks like.

Thirteen years ago in the Tokyo Dome, Rogerio’s brother Rodrigo conquered a giant, grabbing kickboxing champion Semmy Schilt in a triangle choke that forced the big man to quickly tap out.

In the spirit of frank discourse, the Nogueira brothers we’ll see at the HSBC Arena in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, are not those Nogueira brothers. The 39-year-old Rogerio has fought just three times in the last four years. We only wish that were true of his twin brother, a heavyweight legend who had his arm snapped by Frank Mir, among other indignities, in that time span.

Still, if there were ever a night for a glorious sendoff, this is it. Rua is just as washed up as Rogerio, making that one anyone’s fight. Rodrigo’s opponent, Stefan Struve, another European giant, is barely a year removed from what might have been a nervous breakdown at UFC 175 and exactly the kind of rising star Big Nog typically sends right back down the ladder—say “hi” to Brendan Schaub and Dave Herman on your way, Stefan.

I don’t know, Chad. Call me crazy, but I kind of have a good feeling about this one.

 

Chad: I can tell you’re excited, Jon, and on its face, the thing you’re proposing isn’t insane. Rua is 1-4 since December 2012 and Struve is a complete unknown—we simply have no idea what to expect from him in the wake of the career-threatening heart condition that kept him out through the middle of 2013-14. That’s not to mention he’s coming off back-to-back losses.

Odds Shark makes both Nogueiras underdogs on Saturday, but these bouts strike me as toss-ups. It’s possible one Nog stumbles to a win. But both? That’s too fantastical for me.

It kills me to say it, because I want you to be happy, but this is fiction.

 

Jonathan: This is what people might call a “win-win scenario.” If both come out of the UFC shark tank bathed in glory, I’ll be online celebrating obnoxiously in classic Snowden style. If they lose? Well, then we’re one-step closer to these valiant warriors hanging up their gloves and moving on with their lives.

You know what? I can live with either outcome.

 

Fact or Fiction: The Neil Magny Victory Tour Runs off the Road and the Bus Catches Fire as Demian Maia Points the Detour Sign Right Back to Fight Pass.

Chad: Factual statement. It feels like forever that we’ve been alternately reminding people to calm down about Neil Magny’s seven-fight win streak and begging matchmakers to find him a Top 10 opponent. As the UFC’s No. 6-ranked welterweight, Demian Maia fits the bill nicely.

He’s a little long in the tooth, sure, but the 37-year-old Brazilian comes in fresh from reminding us that Ryan LaFlare’s 11-0 record may have been mostly smoke and mirrors. And shoot, compared to Magny’s resume, LaFlare’s previous level of competition was pretty stiff.

On this night, we’ll learn Maia is no Hyun Gyu Lim, Kiichi Kunimoto or William Macario—those are the actual people Magny beat in his last three fights. I’ve got this one penciled in as a good old-fashioned submission victory for the former ADCC world champ.

 

Jonathan: World Book Encyclopedia-level fact. Truthfully, that’s the best kind of fact.

Until late last year, I was like everyone else—a dude without any strong Neil Magny opinions. Then a reader sent me a tweet supporting Magny’s case for fighter of the year. Unironically.

Chad, I found that so irksome that I cannot cheer for Mr. Magny. He could fight that dentist who shot poor Cecil the Lion and I’d be forced to sit neutrally with my hands in my lap. Neil Magny is, through no fault of his own, the most annoying fighter on the planet.

 

Chad: Whoa, strong take. I hope nobody ever unironically tweets you about my work status. I mean, you yourself note that none of this is Magny’s fault. All he’s done is beat eight of the 10 men UFC matchmakers have put in front of him—including the last seven in a row.

I also can’t get on board with him as a top-level fighter until I see him take on someone I’ve heard of before. But that’s just business, man—it’s not personal.

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UFC 190: Main Card Betting Odds and Predictions

Ronda Rousey will look to continue her reign over the women’s bantamweight division at UFC 190, where she will meet rival Bethe Correia.
Correia has done well to promote this bout against Rousey and owns an undefeated record. Still, not many are giving…

Ronda Rousey will look to continue her reign over the women’s bantamweight division at UFC 190, where she will meet rival Bethe Correia.

Correia has done well to promote this bout against Rousey and owns an undefeated record. Still, not many are giving the Brazilian a good chance of dethroning Rousey this weekend.

An Olympic medalist in judo, Rousey has always been considered a step above the rest in her division athletically. As a result, the 135-pound champion has never stepped into a cage as an underdog at any point in her MMA career.

There’s little reason that would change heading into a matchup with Correia, but here is a look at the current betting odds, via Odds Shark, for every bout on the UFC 190 main card.

Begin Slideshow

UFC 190 Betting Preview: Ronda Rousey vs. Bethe Correia Odds, Matchup Stats

Undefeated women’s bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey will put her title belt on the line Saturday in Brazil as the biggest betting favorite of her career against unbeaten No. 5 contender Bethe Correia in the main event at UFC 190.
Rousey (1…

Undefeated women’s bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey will put her title belt on the line Saturday in Brazil as the biggest betting favorite of her career against unbeaten No. 5 contender Bethe Correia in the main event at UFC 190.

Rousey (11-0) will be fighting outside North America for the first time and is at -1600 (bet $1,600 to win $100) against the Brazilian Correia (9-0), who is a +800 underdog (bet $100 to win $800) at sportsbooks monitored by Odds Shark with victories over two of the champ’s training partners in her past two bouts.

The challenger Correia will be attempting to become just the second opponent to ever take Rousey to the second round, as the past two have lasted a combined 30 seconds in the Octagon with her before being finished.

Miesha Tate made it to the third round in her championship fight with Rousey back in 2013 at UFC 168 before tapping out via her infamous armbar submission for the second time in as many bouts. The previous time came for the Strikeforce title in 2012.

Of her 11 MMA fights, Rousey has submitted nine opponents with an armbar, including six within the first minute of the first round. Previously, the biggest number on Rousey was -1000 when she fought Liz Carmouche in her UFC debut on Feb. 23, 2013. That UFC 157 bout ended with a Rousey armbar at the 4:49 mark of the first round.

In the co-main event at HSBC Arena in Rio de Janeiro, former light heavyweight champ Mauricio “Shogun” Rua (22-10) will take on Antonio Rogerio Nogueira (21-6) in a rematch of their PRIDE battle from 10 years ago. Rua won the first bout by unanimous decision in what was named Fight of the Year, and he is a solid -200 betting favorite to win the second matchup as well.

Nogueira is a +160 underdog and has gone 2-3 in his past five fights with wins over Rashad Evans and Tito Ortiz, but he is coming off a first-round knockout loss to Anthony Johnson last July 26 in just 44 seconds. However, Rua has struggled even more recently, dropping four of his last five bouts, with the lone victory over James Te Huna via first-round knockout two years ago.

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