Could Joanna move up in weight and fight Ronda, and other WMMA musings

1) could JJ move up to fight Ronda? JJ looks like a skeleton on a hanger at her current weight. I'm sure she could eat a lot of gravy and make 135. If she did, isn't she the type of matchup that could actually be interesting against Rousey. Grapplers are not a good matchup for Ronda. Ronda is probably going to be a better grappler. But a striker who can keep it on the feet? That might pose some interest.

2) I think we will look back on Rousey's reign and see the parallels to what the Gracies did early on. They picked good matchups and kept the spot light off real competition. Royce wasn't fighting Ruas or the sambo guys or elite wrestlers. He was in there with lambs to the slaughter. Some of that is true with Rousey too. We're not seeing her against other elite judokas or a series of top level lady wrestlers or even against really skilled lady strikers. She is facing a cavalcade of barely-competitive-for-Tuf opponents.

3) The death of WMMA will be when it is almost exclusively populated by rough looking, tattooed, homely women. If you think the UFC could sell Cyborg versus Bethe, you're probably delusional. Ronda is just good looking enough, just young enough, just feminine enough, with just enough of a body, and the right color hair to sell as both a fighter and a pinup. That is what has people paying attention. If Cyborg were to beat her, and then beat her in a rematch, and then Cyborg wa facing off against a series of homely looking women fighters, that would probably be the end of WMMA as anything seriously featured or watched. I'm sure this will enrage a bunch of people here. And I'm not saying it is right or okay, but there is a lot of truth to it. I just don't think you could sell Sarah Kaufman versus Sarah McMann if they were the two top WMMA contenders. Women's boxing took off in the U.S. when a semi- good-looking Christy Martin was the top fighter. Then a series of rough looking tough women came along and took over. We didn't see much women's boxing after that, except for the short stint where Ali's kid came in and gave name recognition. If Meisha gets a third shot (or will it be fourth, I've lost count) this will drive hom my point. Miesha is good. But her looks are helping her get shots. Eye versus Tate was a very safe title eliminator in that regard.

4) what would be the heavyweight limit for women's MMA? At what point could you still have a critical mass of big women who were still not obese? Any idea what the heaviest women fight at in Olympic judo and wrestling?

5) somehow Reebok managed to have uglier uniforms for the women than for the men.

6) Ronda, Conor, and a decent HW 2.5M ppvs. Imagine if Brock was still fighting! Heck, that would be a great card for CM Punk to debut on.

 

Well she is a former 125er but considering how gadhelha took her down etc being a big 115er herself.I think 20 pounds and against a superior grappler would be to much.

 

Obviously a champ and has a name, but she wouldn't be anything more than a draw in terms of making sense of the fight. I'm a big Joanna fan but it's just like everyone else who faces the beast Honda... But if cyborg never makes weight their fight will never happen so this fight isn't to far off realistically.

 

The Jedi would get subbed in the first round.

Not even competitive.

 

she wouldn't have anything to offer honda...sorry but you just can't make wmma compelling.

 

She actually has a brain unlike the rest of the trash that is wmma and uses angles feints and a hell of a jab, shed bloody up honda before hitting the ground.

Depends how good her sub defense and ability to get back up is. Honda is taking her down eventually but what happens when there is still a somewhat unknown.

 

She probably could. And she shouldn't. Let's not kill off a good champ like Joanna.

 

No need to, she might have a few good fights there, size and strenght disadvantage would be too much.

 

Ronda > fat Joanna.

 

Too small, she'd get smashed.

Could see it happen, just for the $ but it would be stupid.

 

Joanna would be quite undersized and being so against Ronda would be a bad idea since Ronda is a phenomenal grappler.
Though that being said I do think Joanna is a better striker but Ronda would most likely win.

 

Obviously the burden should be on RR to go down in weight. It makes perfect sense.

So what if she's never made it before, she obviously could, and is ducking JJ.

Right?

 

People need to stop with the JJ vs Rhonda talk. That's 2 weight division above her and she just won her belt like 6 months ago.

 

lol at ronda not being way fatter

 

Besides Cyborg, who do you think Rousey should be facing? Where are these top level judokas/wrestlers/strikers in mma? Can you name any or are they hypothetical? You're right about UFC 1 being handpicked for Royce (though they didn't even have the best Gracie competing because skinny Royce would be more impressive) but I don't see other top level female fighters who are being denied shots at Ronda. Except Cyborg, but she needs to make weight. If Cyborg makes weight and the fight doesn't happen, then I'd agree. Until them, you're reaching.

 

Lol, nice. Not totally fair, because there's no 145 belt in the UFC for Ronda to want to claim, but there's something to the argument.

 

If Joanna were the same size as Rousy, Joanna would wreck her. Size is a factor in MMA unfortunately.

 

Fat Ronda > fat Joanna

 

Dude, seriously.

Nobody gives 2 fucks if a belt is on the line or not.

It's literally the only fight in WMMA anyone has ever cared about.

 

Joanna's my favorite WMMArtist, but I don't think she'd be able to keep it on the feet. I really wouldn't wanna see this.