Rona Rousey= most influential fighter

[Kenpo5.0Hawker]

The threads on this forum have been stuck on the same and the booting since I joins MT. So in an effort to add some spice to this place... I'll contend that Ronda Rousey is the most influential fighter of our generation. And I'll ask the readers if they agree or disagree. But!!! I ask you support your statement. Don't just agree or not please. Back thst **** up.

Id say Ronda brought us female fighters and keeps the interest in chick UFC current. I'd even state that ffemales in the UFC owe their status directly to Ronda and her ground breaking moves. Yep. Every women in the UFC had better thank Ronda because she is why they are there.

Starting with Ronda's debut (UFC157? I think) Dana has ate his words. He started eating crow because of Ronda and never let up. Partly because he's man enough to say he was wrong.. But equally because the Gals can bring a good fight. They never fail to do so.

So, assuming Ronda brought all that, what if, any male fighter has done as much to influence the UFC or MMA altogether? And what did they contribute?

 

[skribs]

Uh...Rhonda is riding the shoulders of the women who came before her in MMA. Women might not have been allowed in UFC until recently, but they've been doing MMA for a while.

Guys actually created MMA. MMA was founded as a "no rules" tournament and slowly turned into the more acceptable form that it is now. Guys linked different styles together to create new fighting styles that you don't see in grappling-only or striking-only arts.

I'm not trying to be gender biased here, I'm just saying if you want to look at what each gender has done to influence MMA, guys created it, developed it, and have been in it longer. Girls have been trying for a while, and I'd say anyone who influenced Ronda is just as important (if not more important) than Ronda herself.

 

[punisher73]

I agree with skribs. Rousey is just the latest step up the ladder. If you are talking female fighters, I would say that Gina Carano was much more influential at getting the general public exposed and aware of women's MMA.

As to the most influential fighter overall...it depends on what you are looking at in the links that make up the rise of MMA.

You could argue Royce Gracie for exposing the martial arts world to ground grappling. Or even the Gracie family for helping come up with the idea of the UFC
You could argue Marco Ruas for being the first one to incorporate BJJ and Muay Thai that later became the blueprint for almost all MMA fighters.
You could argue Randy Couture for winning multiple weight class titles and being one of the first to be a name outside of the sport and being in movies with other big name action heroes.
You could argue Dana White for getting the UFC and the sport of MMA to where it is today as a mainstream sport instead of a sideshow underground event like it used to be.

I don't think that in the sport of MMA/NHB that there is ONE "most influential" each one has added a layer to where it is today.

But, I wouldn't rank Rousey up there with any of that yet. She is too new on the scene.

 

[TFP]

Not even the most influential female fighter of all time! That goes to Gina Carano.:inlove:

 

[Kurai]

I think Kathy Long was a great influence as well. She was a bit of time before Gina Carano.

 

[Twin Fist]

Right now, rousey is the hot name

 

[punisher73]

I think Kathy Long was a great influence as well. She was a bit of time before Gina Carano.

Good call on a women's pioneer. Although, I don't think anyone outside of the MA world knows who she is. Gina Carano was one of the first women to have mass appeal to those outside of the sport knowing who she was.

Also, Erin Toughill started fighting women's MMA in 1999 and was a name for those who followed MMA when it was still in it's infancy.

Ronda Rousey may be a big name now, but I still don't think she is anywhere as groundbreaking or influential as those who came before her. That is not to take away what she has accomplished in the sport, but nothing that hasn't been done already.

 

[Twin Fist]

thats true, long was just as dominate as rousey is, Carano is just as pretty, but rousey will forever be the one that got woman into the UFC