Sports Illustrated World's Most Dominant Athlete

[Zero]

I would really like Rousey not to be a 'one off', and that's nothing to do with her because I think she'd agree. I want there to be loads of 'Rousey's'. I want scores of female fighters in different weight categories to be as good as her, I want female MMA to be as accepted as the men's, with as many young fighters coming up as possible.
What is happening now is that everyone is treating Rousey as a marvel, that she is exceptional because women can't/don't fight as she does. A lot of people like to de-feminise her, to say she can fight men etc because this makes her seem less female, more bloke like and therefore able to fight.
In 50 years time I don't want her to be the only female fighter that people talk about, I want there to loads of arguments over lots of amazing female fighters in all the weight divisions.
I'm not taking anything away from her saying this, I just don't want her to be the one and only female fighter people talk about. I want WMMA to expand to build and to become amazing. You can say she's the latest in a line of amazing female fighters but we need more, we need as many women as there are men fighting. Will it happen? Who knows but I would be sad if it all ended with Rousey. I want to see her out there fighting, being challenged showing whether she can do it or not, it's no good saying she has more in the tank if she's only going to fight the same opponents or those hand picked by the UFC. It would also show us how deep the UFCs commitment to female fighters is other than earning money from them.

As said by someone else on another post, they need to get another very solid, top/world-class female fighter, maybe another grappler and get them to focus on striking skills as well (or it needs to be a great striker but trained very well in ground/takedown counters). As you said yourself, what about the girls that got silver and gold in the Olympics in judo (where Rousey got Bronze) and give them or their equivalents some MMA focused training and set them loose on the scene? I am not taking anything away from the other females in UFC but Rousey makes them look just like "scrappers" and there has to be plenty of other top-class talent that could challenge Rousey...where are they, maybe they don't care. Unlike with male sportsmen, it's not like women's boxing or other fight sports pay anything of worth to keep them from wanting to get onto UFC...are they just not interested?

 

[Zero]

Try this one.

Ok, thanks, but that's more than enough(!!!), I'm at work now and need to concentrate : )

 

[Tez3]

As said by someone else on another post, they need to get another very solid, top/world-class female fighter, maybe another grappler and get them to focus on striking skills as well (or it needs to be a great striker but trained very well in ground/takedown counters). As you said yourself, what about the girls that got silver and gold in the Olympics in judo (where Rousey got Bronze) and give them or their equivalents some MMA focused training and set them loose on the scene? I am not taking anything away from the other females in UFC but Rousey makes them look just like "scrappers" and there has to be plenty of other top-class talent that could challenge Rousey...where are they, maybe they don't care. Unlike with male sportsmen, it's not like women's boxing or other fight sports pay anything of worth to keep them from wanting to get onto UFC...are they just not interested?

It starts with the grass roots, there are hundreds of thousands of women in martial arts who compete in kick boxing, karate and Judo competitions as well as other styles. MMA has since it's inception been marketed as the macho competition, posters of big bruisers with blood running down their faces and gruesome show titles were for a long time the norm. Many people were against it using emotive terms like 'human dog fighting' campaigning against the 'no rules' fighting' and 'to the death fighting', it did not encourage women in at all. Most people will tell you they don't like to see women fighting, that it's 'wrong' to have women punching each other. Look how long it took to get female boxing into the Olympics even then the head of the international amateur boxing wanted the competitors all wearing skirts to compete in! We had to fight that one hard before he said they could choose and then he said that they had to put their headguards on after they got in the ring so people would still know they were women!

In MMA gyms the atmosphere was predominately male, not inviting for women. Over the years I've been in MMA, 16 or so now, things have got a lot better, male coaches are accepting female fighters as are the male fighters but it does mean that women's MMA is still in it's infancy. The atmosphere at fight nights is still predominantly male but we are getting there, females are going to watch more and more, the ring girls have been traded up from the slappers they were to attractive models. Professionalism is now the norm rather than fight nights thrown together as the early promoters realised that while they could make money they needed to up their game.
Women's MMA is still on the starting blocks, how Rousey and the UFC take it from here is very important.

 

[Buka]

As said by someone else on another post, they need to get another very solid, top/world-class female fighter, maybe another grappler and get them to focus on striking skills as well (or it needs to be a great striker but trained very well in ground/takedown counters). As you said yourself, what about the girls that got silver and gold in the Olympics in judo (where Rousey got Bronze) and give them or their equivalents some MMA focused training and set them loose on the scene? I am not taking anything away from the other females in UFC but Rousey makes them look just like "scrappers" and there has to be plenty of other top-class talent that could challenge Rousey...where are they, maybe they don't care. Unlike with male sportsmen, it's not like women's boxing or other fight sports pay anything of worth to keep them from wanting to get onto UFC...are they just not interested?

As for other women fighters getting some training and then being set loose on the scene - they don't exactly grow on trees, my brother.

Yes, Rousey makes them look just like "scrappers". As Ali did, as Dan Gable did, as Anderson Silva did.

Right now, Ronda Rousey is doing more for women's fighting than any other women has done, ever.
As a fan of women's sports, I, for one, will always be grateful for what she's doing.

 

[Buka]

Also - I don't think the cheesecake photos of Rousey have any place in this conversation.

 

[Zero]

As for other women fighters getting some training and then being set loose on the scene - they don't exactly grow on trees, my brother.

Yes, Rousey makes them look just like "scrappers". As Ali did, as Dan Gable did, as Anderson Silva did.

Right now, Ronda Rousey is doing more for women's fighting than any other women has done, ever.
As a fan of women's sports, I, for one, will always be grateful for what she's doing.

Yes, I hear you Buka, I am with you there, it's always good to see the sheilas getting more of a focus, to be honest the English women's football team (and I think cricket too) always do better and go further than the male equivalent so perhaps they merit more support in any event!! Funny isn't it?! Or sad maybe...

Who knows? Maybe in a few years Rousey will have a cleaner record than any of those highly skilled gents you reference... Smokin' Joe always gave Ali trouble. Anderson has a great record but has gone down a few times to others and quite a few of his fights have been close. Gable I only know of as a wrestler but don't really know about him...
Maybe Rousey will continue to hold her class and go on undefeated for some time or until she bows out of the ring to focus more on the movies and Expendables IV through to VIIII...

 

[Tez3]

Also - I don't think the cheesecake photos of Rousey have any place in this conversation.

Now you see if I'd said that people would have been all over it, saying I was jealous, that I was prudish etc etc. I know... because when I have said something like that it's what I've had back.

 

[Steve]

I think she's a victim of her own success. Some think she's not as good as she is precisely because she's so dominant. Other here seem to resent her success.

We humans are at our core pack animals. She's outstripping the pack and members of the pack are trying to pull her back into the fold.

I also think it would be great to see many more women fighting at her level. In contest to tez, however, I think acknowledging how remarkable rousey truly is and using her as an example of what can be achieved is far more constructive than diminishing her accomplishments with vague suggestions of a larger conspiracy.

 

[Steve]

Now you see if I'd said that people would have been all over it, saying I was jealous, that I was prudish etc etc. I know... because when I have said something like that it's what I've had back.

Context is important. In this conversation, I think Buka is 100% on point. In another conversation, perhaps those pictures would be just fine.

 

[Brian R. VanCise]

Ah yes, thanks for the correction Chrisoro!

 

[elder999]

If someone could have beaten her......they would have.....that's kinda the defintion of....I dunno...dominance.

She's got some next-level stuff in her bag of tricks that she hasn't used because she hasn't needed to.....(though that 14 second defeat of Cat Zingano was some, as she says, "pretty next level ninja ****." )

Looks kinda dominant to me......just sayin'

Frankly, whatever criteria the magazine used to choose their pick for "most dominant athlete," had nothing to do with money from the UFC, because they surely didn't get any....

...I'm also betting she plays the "psycho" card in Brazil, that when she beats Bethe Correia she'll disrespect her....

...since it's in Brazil, I'm betting she'll step on her neck.

 

[elder999]

. I want WMMA to be bigger than just one person, I want to see WMMA expand with good fighters of all weights who are respected for their abilities, if you can't see that and insist on making this into something personal I'm sorry but that isn't my monkey and it isn't my circus.

Dana White plans on adding more weight classes for women to the UFC.....so it will be bigger......the smaller promotions, like yours, will stay just that: smaller promotions-a minor league step on the way to the big show, the UFC....that is, quite simply, the way it is......

...as for dominance, if there were no weight divisions in MMA, Ronda Rousey would likely beat everyone at the top of MMA, of any weight, from any promotion, from any country.....she really is just that good

 

[Tez3]

Interesting that on the MMA section here there are criticisms of fighters, people saying they don't like this fighters or that fighter yet no one suggests it's because the poster is upset because they don't come from where they live. There's criticisms of GSP but no one suggest the American posters are just jealous because he's not an American, no, such small minded posts are reserved for me, to try to belittle me. Well if a woman is criticising a woman, gosh it must be because she's jealous/bitchy etc mustn't it. One could suspect online bullying. I don't like Rousey's public persona, trust me I wouldn't like it if she were my daughter. I've said that several times and I've also said that she's a good fighter yet still people insist that it's personal, sorry guys, it's not, get over it.

 

[Tez3]

I can't help it if you don't understand what I write, remember... what you ascribe to others is what is in you...

The UFC charges from £80 up to £400 for tickets, the smaller shows charge on average £30 so why do you think people will go to small shows and not the UFC when it does come here, plus the cost of travelling and hotels makes going to the UFC very expensive, a show in your local town not so much but of course you didn't think didn't you? The last UFC here was in the Republic of Ireland, not the UK, to get there would require a flight or a long road journey then a ferry then another long drive, plus a couple of nights in a hotel, plus the price of a ticket, any guesses why the UFC isn't as popular to go to when it's going to cost more than a grand to go as opposed to thirty quid? Perhaps you can afford a thousand pounds to go to a fight night but most here can't.
The UFC is shown on a very small channel here which is run by British Telecom, a telephone and internet provider. It's not shown on Sky or the big terrestrial channels.
Nothing I posted is not true, spin and twist it as you want but it won't change that.

 

[Buka]

With nearly a century of Martial experience between them, one barks quotes from the cave dweller, the other stabs with poinards.

I wish I could give hugs via this machine. Alas.

 

[Zero]

With nearly a century of Martial experience between them, one barks quotes from the cave dweller, the other stabs with poinards.

I wish I could give hugs via this machine. Alas.

Sorry, when is the next hate-death match going down between you guys?

Where did this post go? : )

 

[elder999]

Yo

perhaps the mods could have a look and see if this a case of bullying or attempted bullying anyway as I have no intention of being bothered by this, disappointed in you though.

Odd. I'm not the one who called the other one "bitchy.".....

Nothing personal, Tez... just don't care for your attitude towards the UFC in general, and Ronda Rousey in particular.....and do think that's personal for you.

Sorry that no one's ever heard of your little promotions over here....and, likely never going to....

 

[Zero]

Also - I don't think the cheesecake photos of Rousey have any place in this conversation.

There was nothing disrespectful about that photo I posted Buka, or how I posted it, so I am struggling to follow your and Steve's concerns on this, what are they?

That snap I posted showed no more flesh than pics posted showing male fighters. It was clearly also a bit of tongue in cheek, clearly I respect Rousey, and female fighters in general, from my post content. You're entitled to your opinion but to be clear I do not think that photo and in the context is an issue at all so I am a bit confused about what point you are trying to make.

 

[Zero]

She's got some next-level stuff in her bag of tricks that she hasn't used because she hasn't needed to.....(though that 14 second defeat of Cat Zingano was some, as she says, "pretty next level ninja ****." )

Looks kinda dominant to me......just sayin'

Yeah, that is definitely some next level ninja stuff going on there!

 

[elder999]

With nearly a century of Martial experience between them, one barks quotes from the cave dweller, the other stabs with poinards.

Which is which????