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"Even if she carried her same brilliance into a clinch with stronger individuals—she only has one way of getting there, running straight forwards and eating blows."
Interesting piece here. This is a perfect balance, give Ronda her due for being ahead of the game, but keep it realistic and keep her out of the man vs woman discussions.
One of the angles that the internet has come to love is the “that's what you get for talking shit” narrative. Gifs and videos of Bethe Correia shouting in Rousey's face at the weigh ins and then face planting along the fence flooded Reddit and the masses reveled in it. As if getting laid out in thirty seconds by a vastly superior fighter wouldn't have happened if Correia hadn't produced the drama. It's perfect, it appeals to the bullied child in all of us.
Of course, Bethe Correia had no business being in there fighting for a UFC title to begin with. She's done nothing of note in a division which is far from stacked with talent anyway. But in beating two of Rousey's friends and manufacturing drama, Correia created a narrative and a reason for Rousey to fight her. This was aided by taking place at a time when the UFC has basically admitted desperation and announced that Miesha Tate gets a third crack at Rousey despite never looking like she had anything for the champion in the previous two meetings. Really we should be applauding Bethe Correia for getting the world interested in a fight which was absolutely awful on paper, and was preceded by three hours of largely uninteresting match ups.
Now, I don't mind this talk of Rousey being the greatest pound-for-pound talent in MMA because pound-for-pound is a tool used to sell fights to the gullible anyway. It's the assertions that she could beat many male mixed martial artists which hurt my brain. The folks who believe this always fall back on the same airy, nebulous notions of technique overcoming strength and size. Of course, they never actually reference what 'technique' they're talking about.
The truth is that not only is there the usual strength and athleticism divide between the male and female divisions of the sport—the technical proficiency in women's MMA is, for now, considerably lower. Put Rousey in with a top 25 fighter in any male division and she'd get lit up. Even if she carried her same brilliance into a clinch with stronger individuals—she only has one way of getting there, running straight forwards and eating blows. As we discussed at length in Killing the Queen, Rousey is not a methodical, pressuring ring cutter like Chris Weidman or Cain Velasquez, and she doesn't have to be because the women she fights will trade right hands ineffectually as soon as she gets close, thereby giving her the clinch.
http://fightland.vice.com/blog/wushu-watch-ronda-rousey-versus-men