t’s rare for UFC women’s bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey to go through an entire interview without a few names coming up.
There’s always going to be questions about her rivalry with Miesha Tate or the possibility of facing former Strikeforce champion Cris ‘Cyborg’ Justino.
The most disturbing trend of inquiry when it comes to Rousey is the inevitable question about how she would do against the best male fighters in the world.
It doesn’t help matters much that Rousey’s boss UFC president Dana White will tell anyone who will listen how the most dominant women’s fighter on the planet would dismantle boxing champ Floyd Mayweather Jr. Rousey is guilty of perpetuating the stories as well, especially after her long-standing feud with Tate’s boyfriend and fellow UFC fighter, Bryan Caraway.
Part of it comes from Rousey’s inability to ever back down from a challenge.
?MMA is already fighting to be accepted, especially with all the Ray Rice and all these things going on. It’s never going to be a good thing to have a man hitting a woman on television or ever in any circumstance ?
? Ronda Rousey
She’d be the first person to admit that she goes all John Locke whenever anyone puts a scenario in front of her that seems insurmountable and Rousey is always ready to tackle it head on.
“People ask me ‘Do you think you can beat this person? Do you think you can beat that person?’ and I always say, ‘I’m not going to place limits on myself. I’m not going say I can’t do something,’ ” Rousey told Jim Rome recently. “You can’t tell me there’s a string of circumstances and events that could lead to me not beating anyone.”
The problem is lately domestic violence cases have permeated the sports landscape, especially in light of the revelations surrounding former Baltimore Ravens running back Ray Rice. Domestic violence issues have also landed closer to home for Rousey with UFC light heavyweight contender Anthony Johnson currently on indefinite suspension following allegations of his own that recently surfaced.
It’s brought Rousey back down to earth whenever she might normally spout off about how she would toss Mayweather on his head or beat the s–t out of Caraway in a fight. You may also like… Daniel Cormier announced as new UFC Tonight co-host Fabricio Werdum ‘almost died’ from carbon monoxide poisoning in Mexico MMA in the real-life Harry Potter Hogwarts school? It may very well happen. Ronda Rousey takes part in local Southern California pro-wrestling match Mickey Rourke working on his MMA skills with NFL insider Jay Glazer
“I don’t think it’s realistically a good idea at all,” Rousey said when addressing women fighting men. “Because MMA is already fighting to be accepted, especially with all the Ray Rice and all these things going on.
“It’s never going to be a good thing to have a man hitting a woman on television or ever in any circumstance unless it’s the gym where I’m about to go train right now after this.”
Rousey has spoken out on the Rice incident several times since the notorious elevator video landed on the Internet a couple of months ago. She’s never once to mince words, but Rousey knows that the things she says carry a lot of weight these days.
She’s not only representing herself, but also the entire sport of MMA.
Is there a chance Rousey could follow through and beat Mayweather, Caraway and Rice in a fight? Certainly. Rousey is one of the best fighters on the planet and a force of nature in the cage.
Should any of those fights ever happen or even be discussed? That’s a much different answer. Rousey believes pitting man against woman in a fight is a lose-lose situation for everybody.
“I don’t think it would be good to have that image on television,” Rousey said. “I don’t think it’s a good idea.”
