It’s been almost six months since Ronda Rousey suffered her second crushing defeat in the UFC, and by all accounts we may have seen her fight for the last time in the Octagon. Now the hunt is on to find the next female superstar in the sport, and in this article we’ll be looking at […]
It’s been almost six months since Ronda Rousey suffered her second crushing defeat in the UFC, and by all accounts we may have seen her fight for the last time in the Octagon.
Now the hunt is on to find the next female superstar in the sport, and in this article we’ll be looking at 10 women who are best placed to fill the void left by Rousey, from existing stars with the potential to take their fame to the next level, to up-and-coming prospects who have shown promising signs they could be the next big thing in WMMA.
To be clear, what we’re looking for here are not just talented fighters, but rather those who, like Rousey or indeed Gina Carano before her, also have that elusive ‘it factor’ that could enable them to gain mainstream recognition and become a major draw on pay-per-view.
Before we begin though, here’s a few honorable mentions to these talented ladies who just missed out on making the list but are worthy of recognition: Michelle Waterson, Ilima Macfarlane, Alexa Grasso, Julianna Pena, Holly Holm, Megan Anderson and Kayla Harrison.
10. Anastasia Yankova
In some circles, Anastasia Yankova is already being touted as the ‘Russian Ronda Rousey’.
The 26 year-old has gained considerable attention for her stunning looks and has over 180,000 followers on Instagram, but she has been training in martial arts since she was six and is a former Russian Muay Thai champion.
Her star potential was quickly recognized when she transitioned to MMA and with just two wins under her belt, Bellator jumped at the chance to sign Yankova in 2016.
She’s since improved to 5-0 and demonstrated that she’s more than just a striker by claiming three victories by way of submission.
There’s no doubt Yankova is a marketer’s dream and she’s already struck up sponsorship deals with the likes of Nike and Reebok, been featured in the Russian edition of Vogue, and speaks English fluently enough to have been interviewed by TMZ.
The caveat here is that though she remains unbeaten her performances in the cage so far suggest she’s still a work in progress, and so doubts remains as to how she’ll cope when the level of competition increases, with another rising Bellator star, Ilima Macfarlane being among those eager to derail her hype train.
Invicta FC featherweight champion Cris “Cyborg” Justino is finally set to make her UFC debut in a catchweight bout against Leslie Smith at May 14’s UFC 198 from Curitiba, Brazil. Although it won’t be the long sought upon super fight with former bantamweight queen Ronda Rousey, it is a good sign to see the Brazilian
Invicta FC featherweight champion Cris “Cyborg” Justino is finally set to make her UFC debut in a catchweight bout against Leslie Smith at May 14’s UFC 198 from Curitiba, Brazil.
Although it won’t be the long sought upon super fight with former bantamweight queen Ronda Rousey, it is a good sign to see the Brazilian slugger finally make her way over to the Octagon.
One thing to note, however, is that the UFC doesn’t have a featherweight division for female fighters. With that being said, Justino will likely have to continuously fight at catchweights, or find some way to cut down to the 135 pound limit.
While some fighters, including reigning UFC champion Miesha Tate, have expressed their willingness to fight “Cyborg” at a catchweight, Rousey has never seemed to budge.
Recently speaking on the matter, Justino admitted that a fighter can’t be pushed into a fight, although she is hopeful that Rousey will accept a bout at 140 pounds with her upon the “Rowdy” one’s return:
“You know, you can’t push a fighter into a fight, it’s better for them to compete because they want to challenge themselves. I like to challenge myself. I’m an MMA world champ, but I fought the Muay Thai world champ because I like to challenge myself. Maybe I’ll lose, maybe I’ll win, but I’ll be getting better.”
“I think when Ronda comes back to fight, all of the fans want to watch me fight her. She has talked about me in the past, she has pushed the idea of this fight, but after that said I had to make 135lbs to fight her, because she knew it was impossible for me. Now I’m in a 140lbs catchweight division, so if she wants to challenge herself and not just talk, we can make the fight happen.” Justino told Bloody Elbow.
As far as Tate and Holly Holm, another former UFC champion, go, “Cyborg” respects them all, but once again admits that she can’t make these highly intriguing bouts happen herself:
“I respect Holly Holm. She’s a great fighter and she has had big changes in her life now. She’s a good person. Miesha Tate is a good person too. I’m here to fight anyone, but fighters either want to challenge themselves or not, and I can’t change that. I can only control myself and challenge myself, so I just have to focus on May 14th, making 140lbs and fighting Leslie Smith.”
What do you expect from “Cyborg’s” future in the UFC?
(Gina Carano prepares for a showdown with Ronda Rousey by developing the Rouseybuster Armor MK II. / Photo via Getty)
And no, Dana White is not talking about a Facebook relationship status. He’s referring to Zuffa’s current contract negotiations with Gina Carano, the former “Face of Women’s MMA.”
Not too long ago, White triumphantly announced that the UFC would sign Carano and book her in a fight against UFC women’s bantamweight champ Ronda Rousey. As the old saying goes, be wary of Dana White bearing promises. This boast, like almost every other thing Dana White has ever said since this fateful interview, turned out to be bullshit.
It turns out signing the fighter-turned-actress is harder than Uncle Dana anticipated.
(Gina Carano prepares for a showdown with Ronda Rousey by developing the Rouseybuster Armor MK II. / Photo via Getty)
And no, Dana White is not talking about a Facebook relationship status. He’s referring to Zuffa’s current contract negotiations with Gina Carano, the former “Face of Women’s MMA.”
Not too long ago, White triumphantly announced that the UFC would sign Carano and book her in a fight against UFC women’s bantamweight champ Ronda Rousey. As the old saying goes, be wary of Dana White bearing promises. This boast, like almost every other thing Dana White has ever said since this fateful interview, turned out to be bullshit.
It turns out signing the fighter-turned-actress is harder than Uncle Dana anticipated.
It appears we won’t be getting Rousey-Carano, after all–at least not in 2014. While such a fight is dubious in terms of legitimacy (a fighter who hasn’t fought since 2009 earning a title shot despite coming off a loss), there’s little doubt it’d generate some much-needed heat for the UFC.
To be honest, a little heat is kind of necessary, especially for the women’s bantamweight division. Rousey crushing over-matched contenders with no name value is getting old fast. While it’s our belief that she’d destroy Carano pretty easily, it’s highly probable that Carano would generate more buzz and excitement than the likes of Alexis Davis and Cat Zingano can generate.
Until the UFC signs Carano, Holly Holm will have to suffice as Rousey’s next biggest potential opponent.
I don’t know if this is a sexist statement to make or whatever, but the great thing about amateur women’s MMA is that the fighters never, ever block punches. Sometimes, that can be really sad. But when the fighters are both awful evenly matched, it can be magical.
On Saturday night, amateur MMA fighter Jade Chun (the girl in the pink top) competed at Kansas City Fighting Alliance 10 against Taeler Jackson, and what Jade lacked in basic understanding of the striking arts, she made up for in heart, determination, and straight-up balls. For the first 20 seconds, the fight just looks like any other slugfest between two rookies with nothing to lose. Then, Jade’s like, “Screw it, I’m just going to throw standing hammerfists for the rest of the fight and see what happens.” She also starts using what I can only describe as “the imaginary shield defense.” It is glorious.
Eventually, Chun gets her lip split wide open by the marginally more competent punches coming from Jackson. Chun spits her own blood — angry, like Bruce Lee — and applies more and more pressure, and fires uglier and uglier punch-like-thingys, until Jackson is KO’d in a heap against the fence. The fight is a true underdog story, played out in less than five minutes. It’s probably the worst thing you’ll see today, but in a weird way, it might be the most inspiring. We are all Jade Chun, just plugging away, trying our best to succeed despite our total lack of ability. Sometimes tough is enough.
I don’t know if this is a sexist statement to make or whatever, but the great thing about amateur women’s MMA is that the fighters never, ever block punches. Sometimes, that can be really sad. But when the fighters are both awful evenly matched, it can be magical.
On Saturday night, amateur MMA fighter Jade Chun (the girl in the pink top) competed at Kansas City Fighting Alliance 10 against Taeler Jackson, and what Jade lacked in basic understanding of the striking arts, she made up for in heart, determination, and straight-up balls. For the first 20 seconds, the fight just looks like any other slugfest between two rookies with nothing to lose. Then, Jade’s like, “Screw it, I’m just going to throw standing hammerfists for the rest of the fight and see what happens.” She also starts using what I can only describe as “the imaginary shield defense.” It is glorious.
Eventually, Chun gets her lip split wide open by the marginally more competent punches coming from Jackson. Chun spits her own blood — angry, like Bruce Lee — and applies more and more pressure, and fires uglier and uglier punch-like-thingys, until Jackson is KO’d in a heap against the fence. The fight is a true underdog story, played out in less than five minutes. It’s probably the worst thing you’ll see today, but in a weird way, it might be the most inspiring. We are all Jade Chun, just plugging away, trying our best to succeed despite our total lack of ability. Sometimes tough is enough.
To the sane, she’s a potential money opponent for Ronda Rousey in a sea of female fighters who simply aren’t up to snuff. Holm is closer to Rousey athletically than most other women in MMA.
To the delusional, she’s the Woman to Beat Rousey™. This sentiment is great for selling a PPV, but let’s not kid ourselves. While Holm is head and shoulders above the division, Rousey is mountains above it.
Still, MMA fans like to speculate about such matters. And whenever a fighter like Holm wins a fighter–or a fighter like Cris Cyborg loses one…in a different sport–this speculation reaches a fever pitch.
Holm fought this past Friday at Legacy FC 30. Holm outclassed her opponent, Juliana Werner, throughout the fight and finished her off with a devastating head kick in the fifth round (check out the GIF via @ZProphet_MMA).
This is good news, isn’t it? Cyborg losing a Muay Thai fight erases all her credibility (we don’t actually think this but Dana White probably does), so Holm winning in such a devastating way must’ve impressed White, right?
To the sane, she’s a potential money opponent for Ronda Rousey in a sea of female fighters who simply aren’t up to snuff. Holm is closer to Rousey athletically than most other women in MMA.
To the delusional, she’s the Woman to Beat Rousey™. This sentiment is great for selling a PPV, but let’s not kid ourselves. While Holm is head and shoulders above the division, Rousey is mountains above it.
Still, MMA fans like to speculate about such matters. And whenever a fighter like Holm wins a match–or a fighter like Cris Cyborg loses one…in a different sport–this speculation reaches a fever pitch.
Holm fought this past Friday at Legacy FC 30. Holm outclassed her opponent, Juliana Werner, throughout the fight and finished her off with a devastating head kick in the fifth round (check out the GIF via @ZProphet_MMA).
This is good news, isn’t it? Cyborg losing a Muay Thai fight erases all her credibility (we don’t actually think this but Dana White probably does), so Holm winning in such a devastating way must’ve impressed White, right?
Not necessarily. Rousey’s immediate future, and therefore the immediate future of the UFC women’s bantamweight division (and by extension, women’s MMA) is still up in the air.
Second, Holm broke her arm in the first round of her fight against Werner. A picture of Holm’s supposed X-ray has been circulating around the web, but we haven’t been able to verify it (websites are citing “Facebook” but not providing a link; Holm’s Facebook has no such picture on it) . So this might be Holly Holm’s broken left arm, or it might belong to some plebeian:
As many of us noted following Ronda Rousey‘s quick win over Sara McMann at UFC 170, the women’s bantamweight division is quickly running out of viable contenders. Watching Rousey dispatch any and all opposition has been thrilling these past couple of years, sure, but it has also shown fans just how far above the skill level of her competitors “Rowdy” truly is. And unlike the middleweight division during the Silva era, the women’s bantamweight division is simply too shallow to keep feeding Rousey journey(wo)men and expecting fans to pay the price of admission.
With the division housing their quote unquote “biggest star” rapidly approaching purgatory, the UFC appears to be in dire need of a change-up. That’s where Joe Rogan steps in, as he did during an interview with KROQ’s Kevin & Bean Show (audio above) last Friday, stating that a “huge announcement” regarding Rousey’s next opponent is coming our way:
I can say no more than I’ve already said. I will tell you this, and this is a KROQ exclusive, within the next probably week or so a huge announcement will come about women’s fighting and I’ll be back in [the studio] and we’ll talk some more. It’s going to be crazy. Madness. I wish I could [talk about it now], but I would betray the confidence of my friend and employer.
Knowing Rogan as well as we do (I think Seth bumped into him at an expo one time, maybe?), this can only mean that Rousey’s next opponent is one of four people. Join us after the jump as we definitively rank those opponents in order of probability.
As many of us noted following Ronda Rousey‘s quick win over Sara McMann at UFC 170, the women’s bantamweight division is quickly running out of viable contenders. Watching Rousey dispatch any and all opposition has been thrilling these past couple of years, sure, but it has also shown fans just how far above the skill level of her competitors “Rowdy” truly is. And unlike the middleweight division during the Silva era, the women’s bantamweight division is simply too shallow to keep feeding Rousey journey(wo)men and expecting fans to pay the price of admission.
With the division housing their quote unquote “biggest star” rapidly approaching purgatory, the UFC appears to be in dire need of a change-up. That’s where Joe Rogan steps in, as he did during an interview with KROQ’s Kevin & Bean Show (audio above) last Friday, stating that a “huge announcement” regarding Rousey’s next opponent is coming our way:
I can say no more than I’ve already said. I will tell you this, and this is a KROQ exclusive, within the next probably week or so a huge announcement will come about women’s fighting and I’ll be back in [the studio] and we’ll talk some more. It’s going to be crazy. Madness. I wish I could [talk about it now], but I would betray the confidence of my friend and employer.
Knowing Rogan as well as we do (I think Seth bumped into him at an expo one time, maybe?), this can only mean that Rousey’s next opponent is one of four people. Join us after the jump as we definitively rank those opponents in order of probability.
We all know how much the UFC loves themselves a grudge match, and it doesn’t get much grudgier than Rousey vs. Cyborg. These two have been feuding since their Strikeforce days, and I don’t even remember what a Strikeforce is anymore. Now that Cyborg is making the drop to 135 lbs, one could picture Dana White forgetting the past to make a penny in the future, if you know what I’m saying.
The conspiracy theorists out there will argue that this fight will never happen on account of the UFC “protecting” Rousey. Fact is, Rousey’s value has reached a point where it will likely drop with every squash match she is placed in moving forward. There’s a ceiling on this whole “Ronda Rousey *is* WMMA” thing and it’s rapidly approaching. Booking Rousey vs. Cyborg not only sheds the notion that the UFC is protecting Rousey, but injects the division/sport with a marquee matchup that is sure to go down in the history books. Simply put, the women’s division needs its Chuck vs. Tito and Rousey vs. Tate was not it.
I’m speaking in hyperbole, but you get the point. The UFC is in the money-making business, and Rousey vs. Cyborg is the most profitable option that currently exists in women’s MMA. Dana White can call Cyborg a roidhead all he wants, but we ain’t fooled. You know who else The Baldfather publicly trashed before signing? Kimbo Slice. James Toney. Let that sink in for a minute.
Cyborg seems to be clean for the time being and the UFC would be insane not to book this fight while they still can. Even if Rousey were to lose to Cyborg, the money they would make off the fight and subsequent, immediate rematch would be well worth the risk of exposing a hole in Rousey’s armor (plus, everyone loves a comeback story, right?).
And finally, if you don’t think that Dana White would sign Cyborg the day after Tito Ortiz stepped down as her manager purely out of spite, then brother, you don’t know Dana White. I know we’ve been burned in the past, but goddamn it you guys, try to believe.
This one’s a bit of a curveball, because while the former boxing champion turned undefeated MMA fighter is the talk of the town amongst hardcores and Joe Rogan-type followers of the sport (hence why he would call the matchup “madness”), she is not exactly a hot commodity amongst casual fans/marks/outlanders, etc. There’s also the fact that Holm’s manager may be placing a higher price tag on his client than the UFC is willing to pay which makes her signing the far less likely scenario, but stop making points already, will you?
Holm is certainly an easier opponent to hype than either Alexis Davis or Cat Zingano — the latter of which is dealing with both a major injury and the death of her husband, so who knows when she’ll back — but has also yet to be tested against UFC level competition, let alone the woman who is dominating said competition. We’re not really sure if Holm could be the cause for this “huge announcement” or not, but she’s a higher probability than the next two options I’m going to list.
Just because Shooto chickened out on what would have been a tremendous step forward for equality doesn’t mean that the UFC can’t take the heat. You show me someone who *wouldn’t* pay to see Rousey vs. Caraway (or any male bantamweight of comparable skill level) and I’ll show you a bold-faced liar, friends.
This fight would be the epitome of everything Alice Paul campaigned for, and anyone who says otherwise is a misogynist.
I feel like an asshole even writing this, but there are some (wild and completely unsubstantiated) rumors going around that the UFC is trying to book Ronda Rousey vs. Gina Carano for their huge 4th of July weekend card, which hasn’t even been announced yet is somehow already lacking star power. And worse yet, these rumors are gaining steam.
You see, despite the fact that Gina Carano hasn’t fought in some five years and couldn’t make 135 even when she did, there’s been talks of her working with Mike Dolce or Dr. Phil or whatever, fuck you.
This is not going to happen. In fact, I will go as far as to say that if this turns out to be the case, I will decrease my daily CagePotato output by 33%. TRY ME, DANA.
Before I forget.
Alternate Scenario Worth Considering: Joe Rogan is Drinking the Dana White Kool-Aid
Remember all that noise Rogan was talking about Pat Cummins to hype up UFC 170? The Internet remembers. It seems more and more often these days that when the UFC is at a loss for words in regards to one of their subpar matchups, they send UFC Hypster Joe Rogan in to say some shit that not even Comedian/Podcaster Joe Rogan would agree with.
Maybe it’s nothing, is what I’m getting at. Maybe MMA is nothing. Maybe we’re all just counting down our days on this tiny, spinning pebble and deluding ourselves into believing it’s something more. Life. Death. Gainsbourg. It’s all for naught.
It’s pretty much the most nihilistic way of looking at a piece of non-news, but a necessary perspective nonetheless.
So what do you think, Nation? Is Rousey vs. Cyborg surely on the horizon? Or are we just jerking off?
