Tag: UFC News

UFC on FX 3 Post-FIght Analysis

Demetrious Johnson put an end to the controversy on Saturday night by clearly winning two of the three rounds in his rematch with Ian McCall to determine who will face Joseph Benavidez to become the.

Demetrious Johnson put an end to the controversy on Saturday night by clearly winning two of the three rounds in his rematch with Ian McCall to determine who will face Joseph Benavidez to become the first UFC flyweight champion. Johnson established the pace in the first round much in the same way he did in the first fight. Just like in the first fight, the most significant moment of the first round was a right hand. But this time, the punch dropped McCall instead of just wobbling him. Johnson also controlled the wrestling in the first round scoring an early takedown and stuffing all of McCall’s attempts to bring the fight to the mat. McCall came back strong in the second round managing to complete several takedowns. And although he was unable to keep Johnson down, just the threat of the takedown was enough to change the tone of the fight in the striking game and McCall was able to land more significant strikes. One of the judges awarded that round to Johnson for some reason but both of the other judges scored it for McCall, which was the proper scoring. Going into the third round, the fight was even but Johnson left no room for dispute as he clearly controlled the striking and scored the only takedown of the round. He landed several combinations and McCall became visibly frustrated as the round continued. By the end of the round, the outcome was obvious and Johnson clearly established himself as the fighter who deserves to compete against Benavidez for the title. The two battles between Johnson and McCall have set a high level of expectation for the title fight and if the five rounds between Benavidez and Johnson are anything like the six rounds between McCall and Johnson, the MMA community is certainly in for a treat. For McCall, this loss is a setback but he is still obviously one of the the best 125 pound fighters in the world and more than likely, he will get his chance to fight for the belt at some point.

Earlier in the night, Erick Silva made it clear that he has to be considered a factor in the welterweight division as he proved to be too big and too explosive for Charlie Brenneman. Silva landed a knee early as Brenneman shot in for a takedown. Brenneman realized immediately the type of power he was facing and from that point on, he was desperate to get the fight to the mat. He succeeded several times but was unable to keep Silva down and his efforts always seemed to be delaying the inevitable. Silva stayed patient and waited for the right opportunity to explode on Brenneman. After the referee restarted the fight out of a stalemate against the fence, Silva landed a spinning back kick to the gut and followed it with another body kick. The kicks hurt Brenneman and he attempted a sloppy shot that resulted in him being turtled with Silva on his back. Silva slipped in his hooks and locked his arm under Brenneman’s neck with little resistance and earned the submission victory via rear naked choke. Silva never landed cleanly to Brenneman’s head but just the glancing blows and kicks to the body were enough to break Brenneman’s will. Silva will definitely face a stiff step up in competition in his next appearance and he has earned it with three first round finishes in his UFC career thus far. The only part of his game that hasn’t been tested is his cardio and it would be interesting to see what would happen if a stronger fighter employed Brenneman’s strategy and was able to draw Silva deeper into the fight. For right now, Silva is a fighter with a high ceiling and with the depth in the UFC welterweight division, we’ll soon find out how high that ceiling is.

In the second fight on the main card, Mike Pyle earned the most surprising result of the night. The win itself wasn’t a surprise but you could have won some serious money betting that he would finish the exceptionally durable Josh Neer with a first round one punch knockout. Pyle opened the fight exactly the way one would expect by taking Neer to the mat and trying to control him on the ground. And Neer responded by doing exactly what he always does in that position staying active with his guard and cutting Pyle with an elbow from his back. Neer managed to stand up and got after Pyle with his classic attack style of body punches, dirty boxing and standing elbows. Pyle seemed to be significantly hurt to the body as Neer pushed him back against the cage and looked for an opportunity to finish. In the middle of that assault, Pyle landed a clinical overhand right directly the jaw of Neer and knocked him out. Neer fell face down on the mat and Pyle walked away with one of the more impressive victories of his career. Pyle, now age thirty six, has won five out of six fights and while he’ll never be a championship contender, the UFC should be able to find him several more interesting fights. Neer will need to win in his next fight or he may once again find himself on the way out of the UFC, which is unfortunate because his fights are always entertaining.

Eddie Wineland opened the card by announcing that he is back as a serious contender in the bantamweight division. The defensive wrestling he worked so hard to perfect for his fights against Urijah Faber and Joseph Benavidez is now fully incorporated into his arsenal and with that accomplished, he was able to let his strikes flow freely just as he did earlier in his career. He came out aggressive from the opening bell against Scott Jorgensen and didn’t slow down until he finished the fight. He dropped Jorgensen in the first round with a counter jab establishing that he still has some of the best power in the division. He repeatedly stuffed his opponent’s takedown attempts as well and kept the fight in a standing position. Jorgensen was more competitive in the second round landing several good strikes and cutting Wineland in two places including a huge gash over the left eye. Wineland seemed initially distracted by the blood flowing into his eye but quickly adjusted and began to once again take the advantage in the striking game. He even managed to take down the former PAC-10 wrestling champion. The fight seemed to be turning into a classic three round brawl where both fighters would trade combinations but Wineland’s power proved to be too much for Jorgensen as he dropped him with a right hand and pounced to finish with ground and pound. The 135 pound title is currently tied up in an interim fight between Faber and Renan Barao and the winner of that fight will likely immediately face champion Dominic Cruz to unify the title. Possible opponents for Wineland after this victory could include Brian Bowles, Michael McDonald or Barao if he loses to Faber. For Jorgensen, this outcome definitely represents another step back. One interesting matchup for him going forward would be with Miguel Torres as both would be trying to rebound from recent losses. Whatever happens, this was a huge statement by Eddie Wineland.

UFC on FX 3 Pre-Fight Analysis: Part I

McCall vs. Johnson Five years ago, I wasn’t sure whether the UFC audience would ever evolve to the level where a fight between 125 pounders could headline a card. On Friday night, we’ll find out.

McCall vs. Johnson

Five years ago, I wasn’t sure whether the UFC audience would ever evolve to the level where a fight between 125 pounders could headline a card. On Friday night, we’ll find out if we’ve reached that point. This fight has every storyline needed to sell a main event. Demetrius Johnson and Ian McCall are two of the best fighters in the world at their weight. They fought in March on the UFC on FX 2 card and battled to one of the most bizarre results in UFC history. The fight was announced a split decision victory for Johnson but upon reexamination of the cards after the fight, someone was outed as not having the first grade math skills to add up the judges scorecards. The fight had actually been scored a draw. Had everyone’s math skills been in order at the end of the fight, that result would have resulted in a sudden victory fourth round. Instead, we get a rematch to determine who moves on to face Joseph Benavidez for the right to be the first ever 125 pound champion in UFC history. I’m sure the fourth round in March would have been exciting television but three more rounds between these two can’t be considered anything other than a win for the fans.

In so many ways, these fighters are startlingly similar. Both have wrestling backgrounds and are explosive athletes. Both have used that explosive athleticism to develop excellent striking skills. Both move fluidly through transitions in all positions and neither is easy to contain for any period of time. The first fight was so even that it was nearly impossible to score. Johnson had a slight edge in the striking exchanges in the first round but McCall countered with two takedowns. Johnson managed to land a right hand that briefly staggered McCall and on my scorecard, I used that as a tiebreaker to give the first round to Johnson. The second round was where the judging ran into problems. If a 10-10 round was ever fought, that was it. But under the 10 point must system, someone has to win the round. I gave it to Johnson based on literally nothing other than a completely subjective feeling. The third round was the most dominant round for either fighter with McCall taking Johnson’s back and nearly finishing him with ground a pound. And this is where the 10 point must system went from being a problem to basically being a farce. If we follow the system exactly, that was a 10-9 round for McCall and based on my card, Johnson should win the fight. But that’s ridiculous because McCall was infinitely more dominant in the third than Johnson was in the second. So I, being a judging rebel, made the third round a 10-8 round for McCall so that it would be a draw, which is exactly what one of the judges at the event did. And I applaud him for it. Unfortunately, the person adding up his card apparently needs a calculator to handle two digit addition and we now find ourselves in this position.

According to Vegas, Johnson is a -150 favorite at the moment with McCall at +130. I’d like to know how they arrived at those lines. As far as I can see, this is a classic pick ‘em fight. These fighters are absurdly well-rounded with their strengths being in the same areas. I expect to see a similar fight to the one we saw in March. Johnson will be slightly better in the striking exchanges with McCall barely coming out ahead in the grappling. The only way either fighter will be able to gain a clear advantage is if McCall can get Johnson to the ground and somehow keep him there, which seems unlikely. If I start looking deeper for advantages, Matt Hume is one of the best coaches an in MMA. He has an entire three rounds of fight tape to study and develop a gameplan for Johnson to utilize. Team Oyama where McCall trains is a great camp but nobody other than Greg Jackson has the mind for the sport that Matt Hume has. Johnson will absolutely have the perfect strategy going into the fight. Whether or not he can execute it will be determined at fight time. Anyone willing to say that either fighter is a clear favorite didn’t watch the first fight closely enough. The only sure thing is that on Friday night, we will get a winner to face Joseph Benavidez for the title. But don’t be surprised if the outcome leaves fans calling for a trilogy.

Eddie Wineland vs. Scott Jorgensen

Both fighters will be looking to rebound from losses in their last UFC appearance in this battle to see who can earn their way back into title contention. Eddie Wineland has lost his last two fights to Urijah Faber and Joseph Benavidez while former WEC bantamweight champion Scott Jorgensen lost in his most recent fight against phenom Renan Barao.

Despite back to back losses, Wineland cannot be dismissed. Both of those fights were against the highest level of competition. Faber will be fighting for the interim 135 pound title in his next fight and Benavidez awaits the winner of the main event to determine the 125 pound champion. Wineland was competitive in both fights and while he lost decisively, he was not dominated. He greatly improved his wrestling going into the Faber fight and continued that improvement into the Benavidez fight. However, he was unable to translate his defensive wrestling into offensive attacks. He seemed so focused on sprawling and defending against takedowns that he was not nearly as aggressive with his striking as he had been in previous fights. Wineland is one of the better strikers in the division and needs to let his hands go if he is going to find success against Jorgensen. After his last two performances, he should be confident enough in his defensive wrestling to let his striking game flow knowing that his instincts will allow him to sprawl if Jorgensen shoots. For Wineland to earn the victory, he needs to combine the defensive ability he showed in his recent fights with the offensive ability that he has displayed throughout his career. If he can do that, his opponent could be in for a long night.

Jorgensen is also coming off a loss to a top tier fighter. Renan Barao will be fighting Urijah Faber in the aforementioned interim bantamweight title match. Losing to Barao is nothing to be ashamed of but if Jorgensen expects to get back into title contention, he needs to defeat Wineland. As a former champion, Jorgensen has all the skills to get back to that level and a win on Saturday night would be the first step in that direction. Jorgensen has an excellent collegiate wrestling background and has been successful putting most opponents on their backs although he did struggle with Barao. But the real improvement in his game in recent years has been in his striking and look for him to show off those skills against Wineland. Expect him to be willing to stand with Wineland for as long as he feels comfortable. If he begins to feel threatened or if Wineland starts to seize an advantage, that’s when we could see the takedowns come into play. Jorgensen should have an advantage in that area and if he can’t control the fight on the feet, he should be able to control it on the mat.

Jorgensen is the clear favorite going into this fight at -210 with Wineland at +175. That line seems about right as a victory for Wineland would definitely be an upset. But that doesn’t mean it can’t happen. Wineland will need to keep the fight standing and outstrike Jorgensen, which he is capable of doing. But if he shows the same tentative approach on the feet that he’s showed in recent fights, Jorgensen will pick him apart. And even if he brings his best striking into the cage, Jorgensen should be able to mix in some wrestling to work his way to victory.

UFC on FX 3 Pre-Fight Analysis: Part II

Erick Silva vs. Charlie Brenneman If the main event features two fighters who are startlingly similar, this fight is the exact opposite. Charlie Brenneman and Erick Silva couldn’t be more different in their approaches. Brenneman.

Erick Silva vs. Charlie Brenneman

If the main event features two fighters who are startlingly similar, this fight is the exact opposite. Charlie Brenneman and Erick Silva couldn’t be more different in their approaches. Brenneman is a calculated strategist whose five UFC victories have all come via decision including his latest victory over Daniel Roberts. On the other end of the spectrum, Erick Silva fights with an unbridled aggression that has twice caused him to lose fights due to illegal strikes. This will be a classic test of which fighter can impose his style of fighting on his opponent.

Charlie Brenneman is 5-2 in his UFC career with one of the losses coming to the absurd weight-cutting of Anthony Johnson. He has really only lost once in the UFC to someone who belongs in his weight class and that was to Johnny Hendricks who has currently worked his way into title contention. Brenneman isn’t at that level but a few more wins and the UFC will have to take notice. His style doesn’t make him a fan favorite and that has hindered his marketability. His last fight is a perfect example of that. He thoroughly outclassed Roberts and controlled every aspect of the fight. The outcome was never in doubt as Brenneman dominated position for all fifteen minutes. But in those fifteen minutes, he did little damage despite getting into dominant positions including the mounted crucifix twice. But that style will be his greatest asset against Silva. Brenneman will want to avoid trading on the feet and suck his opponent into a grinding grappling contest. If he allows himself to be drawn into a brawl he could find himself in trouble or even unconscious. But if he can use his striking to set up takedowns and control Silva, he should be able to earn the victory.

Erick Silva is explosive. He has finished his last four opponents in the first round. That includes back to back first minute TKOs in the UFC. The last fight was ruled a DQ due to strikes to the back of the head but even referee Mario Yamasaki admitted that he made the wrong call in that fight. Silva’s gameplan isn’t complicated. He will look to explode on Brenneman the same way he has exploded on all his opponents. An early finish is entirely possible and will probably be his most likely route to victory as Brenneman is a master of grinding opponents into the mat over the full fifteen minutes. That said, Silva will need to wait for the right opportunity to attack. If he attacks recklessly and gets off balance, Brenneman will take advantage and put him on his back. Silva has shown a good submission game in Brazil but he hasn’t had to contend with a fighter who has a base and defense like the one he’ll be facing on Friday. Controlling his explosive aggression and timing his attack properly will be the key for Silva.

Silva is the favorite at -145 with Brenneman at +125. This is a relatively close line for an MMA fight and both fighters have a legitimate path to victory. Silva will look to end the fight early by overwhelming Brenneman with power and explosiveness. Brenneman will look to survive that early onslaught, drag the fight out as long as possible and pull out the victory in the final rounds. History says that the more experienced fighter with better positioning and control is likely to win the fight. But if Silva destroys Brenneman the way he has destroyed his first two opponents, he will be officially announcing his arrival as a factor in the welterweight division.

Josh Neer vs. Mike Pyle

What a great way to start the main card. Neither of these fighters will ever compete for a UFC title but they have both been fixtures in MMA for years with Pyle debuting in 1999 and Neer coming along four years later in 2003. Both have improved immensely in their time in the sport and have consistently provided fans with high level entertaining fights. They are both well-rounded with the ability to finish from any position. Old school fans will be looking forward to this fight as much or more than any other fight on the card aside from the main event.

Mike Pyle is 5-3 in his most recent UFC stint including a TKO victory over Richard Funch in his last appearance. He landed a big right hand followed by a knee that dropped Funch. He then pounced and landed a few more strikes to stop the fight. That kind of finish is unlikely against the absurdly durable Neer. Pyle will more than likely need to beat Neer for fifteen minutes if he wants to earn the victory. He has the stand up game to compete with Neer on the feet and fifteen minutes of striking would be a treat for the fans. But the more likely route to victory would be to put Neer on his back and use grappling to control the fight. Even from there, Neer will still be dangerous and Pyle will need to be wary of submissions. And getting Neer to the mat won’t be easy either. If Pyle can’t get the takedown, look for him to step back and try to win the fight with his kickboxing.

Josh Neer is one of those fighters who seems to be incapable of being in a boring fight. He tries to finish from every position and has the skill set to do so. He was released from the UFC after back to back losses in 2009 but earned his way back in with four consecutive wins in 2011 and has now won back to back UFC fights including an impressive first round submission of Duane Ludwig in January. Ludwig was winning the fight on the feet as would be expected but Neer was able to land a takedown and caught Ludwig in a guillotine as he attempted to get back to a standing position. Expect him to try to keep the fight standing against Kyle as he should have the advantage. But he won’t be afraid to grapple with Pyle and this fight could end up showcasing all aspects of MMA. Neer needs to be careful of spending too much time on his back looking for submissions as the judges will not look favorably on that if the fight goes to a decision. He has the ability to win wherever the fight goes but his most likely road to victory takes place in the striking game.

Pyle comes into this fight as the favorite at -190 with Neer the underdog at +165. Once again, I’m surprised at the gap in these lines as Neer has a legitimate chance to win this fight. Pyle should be able to use his wrestling to get Neer on the ground but whether or not he can keep him there could determine who wins the fight. Neer will look to land damaging shots on the feet and catch a submission if the fight ends up on the mat. If Kyle can avoid those attempts and control the pace of the fight, he can earn the victory. If not, Neer could walk away with another upset.

Countdown to TUF Brazil

This Sunday, here in America, The Ultimate Fighter: Brazil will be debuting on Fuel TV; just two weeks shy of when coaches Wanderlei Silva and Vitor Belfort were scheduled to face off. But instead, for.

This Sunday, here in America, The Ultimate Fighter: Brazil will be debuting on Fuel TV; just two weeks shy of when coaches Wanderlei Silva and Vitor Belfort were scheduled to face off. But instead, for yet the fourth time out of the past six seasons, that fight’s not going to happen (but that’s another article for another day). Now the UFC 147 main event will be Wanderlei Silva versus Rich Franklin. Two future Hall of Famers going to war in a five round Fight of the Night rematch from three years past, sounds pretty great doesn’t it? Until you look at the facts and how this is just the latest in a long line of disappointments and changes made to the upcoming UFC: Brazil show.

In one corner we have TUF: Brazil coach ‘the Axe Murderer’ Wanderlei Silva. Who following his UFC 99 loss to Rich Franklin, announced he would be out of action for a while to undergo facial surgery. A scar tissue removal surgery which he desperately needed to repair an oft-broken nose and avoid being easily cut open for future fights, which in the end resulted in a 30% increase in his oxygen intake for his February 2010 middleweight debut against Michael Bisping. A matchup Silva was the Vegas favorite in, (despite only winning one of his last six fights). And after three well contested rounds, Silva wound up getting the win by unanimous decision (his first victory in nearly two years). Yet soon after he would be break three ribs training for a fight against Yoshiro Akiyama, follow that with knee surgery, and in the end wouldn’t be seen in the octagon again until UFC 132 against Chris Leben. An embarrassing 27 second TKO loss that would leave Dana White stating in his opinion, Wanderlei should hang it up. Yet just four months later Silva was given another chance to prove himself, with a thrilling second round TKO victory over Cung Le earning him his third Fight of the Night honor.

And in the blue corner, ever the company man, Rich ‘Ace’ Franklin has again answered the call and will be returning earlier than expected from shoulder surgery to fill in for yet another injured TUF coach. Ironically Franklin followed his UFC 99 victory with a loss to Vitor Belfort. Before stepping in to coach the last two weeks of The Ultimate Fighter for a released Tito Ortiz and knocking out Chuck Liddell with a broken arm. Before going on to lose by unanimous decision to Forrest Griffin, and being out of action ever since.

All leading Sportsbook to open the odds at
Wanderlei Silva -145
And Rich Franklin + 115

While it is always fun to see two legends slug it out in the octagon, with both fighters past their prime and out of title contention, in the end this bout is pointless.

Which is probably the reason the coaches’ battle was originally scheduled to be the co-main event, underneath the Anderson Silva Middleweight title defense. Call it simple fight hype, or Chael Sonnen’s brilliant marketing, either way his death threats were able to get their fight relocated to Las Vegas at UFC 148. So how do the more than 12 million weekly Brazilians who tuned in to The Ultimate Fighter get rewarded? After that, and moving the show to Belo Horizonte, the UFC further dissed the Brazilian faithful by refusing to bump up Jose Aldo’s title defense two shows, leaving them with only one other top-name fighter Fabricio Werdum to cheer for. Bottom line: no Jose Aldo, no Anderson Silva, no Junior Dos Santos, and neither Nogueira, Brazil deserves better.

By: J A Keenan

“War of the Welterweights” (Martin Kampmann and Rory MacDonald)

Ok, so last year when my brother texted me the catastrophic news that George St. Pierre had sustained a knee injury and would no longer be fighting to defend his title, I may have taken.

Ok, so last year when my brother texted me the catastrophic news that George St. Pierre had sustained a knee injury and would no longer be fighting to defend his title, I may have taken it a little too hard, but after speaking with the crisis hotline, I put down the can of gasoline and decided that not burning the whole world down would probably work out better for me in the long run.

More than six months later, and the guy is still in rehab with no set date for his return. For MMA fans, this sucks, but luckily for us, there are plenty of other badasses ready to beat the living hell out of each other for our viewing pleasure.

That said, the crazy ass Diaz-Condit affair—for those of you who don’t know what I’m referring to, please see the internet—offered a temporary distraction from our suddenly GSP-less world. Well, that sh*t is old now and I want to see more epic violence!!!

My solution to the problem is simple.

Martin Kampmann and Rory Macdonald should fight for a shot at Condit’s belt:

Here are my top 10 reasons why:

1. Welterweight god, George St. Pierre, straight up told UFC Central in an interview that he does not realistically expect to be in the cage before November, which is pretty much another six months. He won’t even be training full out until July. Weak…

2. If the “Natural Born Killer” waits until GSP’s return, he will have held the interim title for 10 months without a single defense…that is a long time to not defend a belt plenty of people (all Nick Diaz fans) think he shouldn’t have in the first place. Hey I’m a huge Condit fan but let’s be honest, the fight with Diaz could have been scored either way. If NBK wants to be widely recognized as a legitimate UFC champion—I say this knowing full well that Condit viciously defended his WEC title several times, and is in fact totally legit—he needs to fight a motherf@!*er or two.

3. GANJA! Nick “F*ck You” Diaz’ unbridled love of the marijuana combined with an unforgiving NSAC hearing completely screwed up the rematch that was supposed to go down with Condit, robbing fans of what would have surely been a very entertaining spectacle of brutality.

4. Martin “The Hitman” Kampmann has been on an insane tear lately, choking out Thiago Alves (dude was coming off his own submission victory) and KO’ing Jake “The Juggernaut” Ellenburger, who, by the way, has 17 tko/ko victories of his own in 27 professional victories. What is really impressive is when you consider that, besides Kampmann, NO ONE ELSE HAS DONE THIS TO HIM in over 30 pro fights.

5. The Hitman has already beaten Carlos Condit once before, which definitely supports his case for at the very least a shot at the number one contender spot.

6. Rory “Ares” MacDonald is also on a crazy winning streak, absolutely dominating guys like Nate Diaz and Che Mills. These are some very scary men and yet MacDonald freaking molested them on national television almost effortlessly. For God’s sake man, he suplexed Nate “I ain’t no b*tch” Diaz three times in like .04 seconds.

7. MacDonald lost by tko to Condit already. But, hey what?!?! Wait a minute, how does that help your argument, John? Well if you were paying attention to that fight, the first two rounds clearly belong to Rory. Referee Kevin Dornan’s controversial stoppage with only seven seconds left in the final round gave Condit the win, but the scorecards show that had he not stopped it when he did, MacDonald would have picked up the split decision from the judges. So while not quite as good as Kampmann’s decision win over Condit, at the very least it raises the question, “How much better is Rory now and could he take the rematch?”

8. I know this probably would never happen because Rory and GSP are BBL’s (Best Bros for Life) but how crazy would it be if MacDonald took the title and then GSP came back and there was all this Jon Jones/Rashad Evans style drama about how they don’t want to fight each other but then maybe they develop bad blood or something…I don’t know. They could sell it…I leave the marketing to the UFC. At the very least it would open the door for some very interesting matches down the road i.e Koscheck/MacDonald, Hendricks/Condit etc. In the end whoever has the interim title is really only keeping it warm until GSP has healed up.

9. It would probably win the “Fight of the Night” award.

10. I really just want to see this fight happen…

I can’t be the only one, right?

Cheers people!

By John Rivera

Never mess with a girl; especially not Ronda Rousey, as it will get “rowdy”

The sport of mma has become exceptionally amplified in the past few years in regards to women in the sport. Not only does this appeal to the male audience as a new image and ideal.

The sport of mma has become exceptionally amplified in the past few years in regards to women in the sport. Not only does this appeal to the male audience as a new image and ideal of what women should look like and strive for, but also appeals to a broader range of the female audience as a new sense of “girl power”. As a female fan of mma, one may feel the sport is sexist, as it shows men fighting and girls in scantily clothed ring girl costumes parading around the octagon. However, with the rising publicity of women fighting in mma, in contrast to women walking around with booty shorts showing off their assets, it appeals to a wider range of fans. As an avid mma fan, I have never had a problem with watching men fight, and the women viewed as sex symbols as the octagon girls. But with new women fighters gaining momentum in mma, it does give you a sense of “girl power”, and a greater sense of pride of being a female.

Ronda Rousey is the epitome of every girl’s fantasy of what they would be like as an mma fighter. She is the current bantamweight champion of Strikeforce, has a killer six-pack and biceps, and could scrap with any man, any day of the week. She gives a sense of urgency to the octagon, and empowers women to stand up for themselves. I would never underestimate her ability to stand up against a man or any woman for that matter. In this sense, if I was a guy I would never double cross her in any way. One man discovered the outcome of this scenario the hard way. As a former fling, the anonymous man behind this exchange made a big mistake in contacting Rousey only after she became famous.

Once again, I believe this only strengthens her reputation. Some may say she has become hardened the more famous she has become, but honestly, this is once again every woman’s fantasy. Who wouldn’t want to have the guts to say this to a man who has treated you like trash? I believe women athletes like Rousey are continually strengthening the sport of mma. She gives a new idealistic image for women everywhere. This only broadens the sport, and gives empowerment to female mma fans and women alike.

By Elise Kapala