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Ronda Rousey is one of the greatest fighters of all time. Now, although certain sections of combat sports fans may disagree with this opinion, none of us can deny the fact that Rousey did indeed serve as a revolutionary force not only in Women's MMA, but also in all of sports.
After a long run of dominance in the MMA realm, which began back in 2012, Rousey suffered her first loss as a pro MMA fighter, when she happened to find herself on the receiving end of one of the most brutal head-kick KOs of all time.
Former professional boxing world champion Holly Holm entered Rousey's life, and akin to a storm, dominated and destroyed the latter in their UFC Women's Bantamweight Title fight at UFC 193 back in 2015. Following which, Rousey didn't compete in a professional MMA fight until UFC 207 in December of 2016 -- a matchup which she ended up losing by way of TKO to Amanda Nunes.
Regardless, it's a cold, hard fact that despite coming up on the losing end in her past couple of fights, Rousey's legacy is already secure. Irrespective of what her detractors may say, the proof is in the banana pudding (yes, that's a Mauro Ranallo catchphrase!) -- and it's undeniable that "The Rowdy One's" 12 victories far outweigh the impact of the 2 defeats.
After having just witnessed a marvelous UFC Women's Flyweight Title matchup between Valentina Shevchenko and Joanna Jedrzejczyk at UFC 231, today, we take a special look back at an ex-UFC Women's Champion. We examine why the former UFC Bantamweight queen, Ronda Rousey, is the Women's MMA G.O.A.T.
#5 Ronda Rousey finished elite opponents
Perhaps the biggest criticism most 'experts' have against Ronda Rousey, is that she only beat second-tier opponents. Well, a brief look at the statistics would suggest exactly the opposite!
Rousey's list of victims, all of whom were defeated by stoppage (KO/TKO or Submission), include: Ediane Gomes, Charmaine Tweet, Sarah D'Alelio, Julia Budd, Miesha Tate (2x), Sarah Kaufman, Liz Carmouche, Sara McMann, Alexis Davis, Cat Zingano, and Bethe Correia!
When Rousey was fully-focused on her MMA career, rather than devoting a large portion of her time to Hollywood obligations and UFC media promotional tours; she truly was a stone-cold destroyer who ran through elite opposition...
#4 Ronda Rousey brought the spotlight on Women's MMA
Before Ronda Rousey, stars such as Gina Carano and Cris Cyborg ruled the Women's MMA world. And to be honest, Carano was the first true female MMA star who successfully broke through into mainstream popular culture.
However, Carano's respectful demeanor didn't really coerce the fans to invest as much time and effort into following Women's MMA, as opposed to Rousey's brash trash-talking antics. Rousey captured everyone's attention with her inimitable style and didn't care about people's opinions at all.
It's intriguing to note here, that well after she'd achieved mainstream notoriety, Rousey confessed that when she wasn't a well-known public figure and worked multiple jobs to pay the bills, she'd often tell people about how great a Judoka she is.
Rousey has often asserted that while working a shift as a bartender, she thought about giving the sport of MMA a shot, and just started talking a bunch of trash and breaking a bunch of arms! It was this very aggressive and passionate attitude which eventually served as a strong source of attraction for the fans towards Rousey.
Considering that, it isn't really far-fetched to say that Rousey is the most important fighter behind the current popularity of Women's MMA. In fact, UFC President Dana White has often stated that Rousey's star-power is one of the main reasons behind large sections of the combat sports community starting to follow Women's pro fighting...
#3 Ronda Rousey achieved success at the highest levels of MMA, despite not training at a world-class gym
It's truly baffling when you think about it. However, the fact stares us right in the eyes -- Ronda Rousey never really trained at a world-class MMA gym.
Honestly speaking, Rousey spent the majority of her MMA career, training under her head coach Edmond Tarverdyan. Now, while the latter is a controversial figure in the combat sports community -- with several fans and experts alike claiming that Tarverdyan is the one responsible for Rousey's losing streak in MMA -- "The Rowdy One" has always chosen to continue honing her MMA skills under his guidance.
Most people attribute Rousey's seemingly strange decision of choosing to train under Tarverdyan, to her loyalty...perhaps a case of loyalty having gone too far. Nevertheless, the fact remains that Rousey ascended to the highest of highs in MMA, in spite of not having trained at a legitimate, world-class Mixed Martial Arts gym...
#2 Ronda Rousey is unafraid to "stand and bang" with elite strikers
Over the course of her MMA career, Ronda Rousey has been lit up on the feet on several occasions -- at times, even by relatively mediocre strikers. However, to her credit, she's always been more than willing as regards adhering to the age-old MMA mantra -- "Stand and bang".
Rousey may not have the best defensive striking fundamentals, but she's undoubtedly been blessed with legitimate one-punch KO power, as evidenced by her Knockout win over archrival Bethe Correia. Furthermore, I'd like to hark back to Rousey's fight with Holly Holm here, particularly the stand-up exchanges.
Despite being clearly dazed in the very first round, courtesy a barrage of deadly left hands from Holm, Rousey continued to soldier forward and strike with "The Preacher's Daughter". On that note, it'd be safe to say that Rousey truly is a fearless warrior, who never backs down even when she happens to be outmatched...
#1 Ronda Rousey returned to fight Amanda Nunes, despite being mocked by several hypocritical bandwagon-jumping fans and experts
Something truly vile and ugly transpired after Holly Holm knocked out Ronda Rousey at UFC 193. That being, a large majority of the MMA as well as combat sports communities as a whole, shamelessly mocking Rousey for her perceived downfall.
Keyboard warriors and armchair analysts who've probably never gotten into a fistfight themselves, began claiming that Rousey was nothing more than an over-hyped product of the UFC PR machine. Even some of Rousey's biggest supporters did an about-turn on her, and began criticizing the former champ.
Nevertheless, despite being the recipient of the harshest criticisms an athlete could ever receive, Rousey still mustered up the courage to make a comeback to the sport of MMA. She returned at UFC 207 to take on Amanda Nunes, and although Rousey ended up losing the fight, The Rowdy One did prove that she can get back after being knocked down in life.
Love her or hate her, you simply cannot deny that Ronda Rousey is one of the most important figures in MMA history, and quite possibly may be the Women's MMA G.O.A.T.
What are your thoughts on Ronda Rousey? Sound off in the comments!
