ROWDY Ronda Rousey is at the zenith of the MMA world. Notice I didn’t say women’s MMA.
I have abundant respect for other writers who opine that it’s Conor McGregor, or it’s Jon Jones. After all, the outspoken Irishman was recently the beneficiary of the most heavily promoted UFC fight ever and he rose to the occasion by defeating Chad Mendes in 2
rounds at UFC 189.
Jon Jones is still a force to reckon with and as of last count, still holds the record for the most defenses of the light heavyweight crown. But he’s been stripped of the title following a felony charge which involved a vehicle collision and an injured woman and so right now, his career is in limbo.
But nobody has ever seen anything quite like Rousey inside an Octagon. None of her 11 victims survived past the 3rd round, and nine of those succumbed to her signature arm-bar.
She’s a force of nature and arguably the most dominant champion in the history of the sport.
CORREIA. This Brazilian firebrand is undefeated in 9 starts and she got Rousey’s attention after calling her out following a succession of victories against the latter’s training partners.
She is ranked seventh in the division, and is the most compelling challenge that Rousey can face at this time.
However, she has been pegged as a 15-1 underdog and surprisingly, even though this fight will transpire in Brazil- has seemingly lost out her fan base to the insanely popularRousey, if the public reaction during the open workouts in Rio de Janeiro are to be used as metric.
MATCHUP. Rousey’s judo base is the bedrock of her excellence inside the Octagon. Her mastery of the art is so pure, that taking down her opponents is innate and instinctive.
I always tell my eldest daughter Julia who is learning KravMaga-an Isreali self-defense system designed to inflict pain where it matters most-to watch Rousey in action.
She’s the epitome of the ultimate female fighter. She doesn’t waste energy during a fight. With Rousey, you seldom see any unnecessary movements as she goes for the kill and ends it early.
On the other hand, Correia is primarily a striker and has openly trumpeted her strategy to defeat her American Rival.
“She doesn’t trade punches. In 11 fights, she’s never really shown her boxing, so I’m going to go in there and box with her”, says Correia.
That sound like a feasible game plan. Correia who is trained by her boyfriend Edelson Silva, has power in those fists, but the
question is do they have enough torque behind them to keep a rampaging Rousey at bay?
I am not convinced, and so I’m predicting Rousey to win this one via stoppage before the third round.
Interestingly, Rousey has stated that she won’t end the fight early and plans to systematically inflict the hurt on Correia.
That’s quite uncharacteristic of her and Correia has capitalized on this comment by responding that that Rousey know she can’t stop her and that’s why she’s going to knock Rousey out.
Indeed, if there’s a chink in Rousey’sarmour, it has to be the striking game. Though she has defeated Alexis Davis via knockout in 16 seconds, Rousey isn’t really a puncher and I would rate her as an above average striker.
Ergo, that means Correia has to be an excellent striker in order to prevail and of course, that also presupposes that she doesn’t succumb first to Ronda’s deadly submission game and succeeds in turning this fight into a slugfest.
I’ve always been a sucker for the underdog, but in this case, there’s just too many “ifs” to a Correia victory.
VERBATIM.J ust because my body wasn’t meant to be f***ing millionaires doesn’t mean it’s not feminine. There isn’t a single muscle in my body that isn’t there for a purpose.--Ronda Rousey (UFC Embedded)
LAST ROUND.It’s on my kumpare Renault Lao who recently celebrated a milestone. As they say, this is the age where life begins my friend…Cheers!
(jingo_quijano@yahoo.com)