Ronda Rousey was named the UFC women’s champ this afternoon at the UFC press conference in Seattle. Rousey will defend the UFC title against Liz Carmouche as she will headline UFC 157.
Rousey was presented the belt at the UFC on Fox 5 Press Conference. White announced that she would fight Liz Carmouche (not Cris “Cyborg” Santos as some initially thought) at the Anaheim, California event February 23rd.
Rousey, a SoCal resident, will be fighting in her backyard as UFC 157 will be in Orange County. Dan Henderson versus Lyoto Machida will be the co-main event.
Payout Perspective:
We have known about Rousey coming to the UFC but the date of her first appearance was still in the air. We shall see how much mainstream press she will receive. It will be interesting to see how the UFC will market her and her opponent, Liz Carmouche. Since Orange County is big into MMA and Rousey is from the area, we should see a near sellout at the Honda Center. But, what will that translate in PPV buys?
How appropriate that I finally read the Sports Illustrated article on Rousey at the dentist’s office this morning prior to going to the press conference. For what it’s worth, Rousey was one of the last fighters to leave the presser as she did interviews yet came back out to take pictures and sign autographs for fans. Interesting note: 1) you could have probably got a picture with Rousey if you wanted because there was not much of a crowd at the time she came back out and 2) most of the guys (I actually saw just one girl) taking pictures with her were definitely intimidated.
Rousey is scared to fight Cyborg and wants her to be drawn out at 35. I can understand the strategy but the fact remains she is afraid to fight at 45 and is exercising her rights as “champion” to handpick the conditions. Ideally the UFC would just have them fight openweight but have no more than a ten-15 pound difference. These are two seasoned fights and champions theres no way an AC would deny that fight. THen neither would need to cut and they could just show up and fight a good fight.
This is a desperate move by Zuffa imo. They’re hyping up Rousey like they did Brock Lesnar, but using her sex appeal instead. Just another flash in the UFC pan as far as I’m concerned. Sorry, will not be watching this as I’m coming to the realization that I am no longer a hardcore MMA fan.
Why was the guys intimidated? How old were they? 12?
@BS
LOL. No, they were in the UFC demo. Mostly young guys in their 20s.
Sorry, this is just so much BS. I love RR, but the UFC just anoints her champion then gives her an easy fight for her first “defense”. Can it be a defense if you didn’t actually win it? What is next, Dana just starts over-ruling the judges decisions. Still a UFC fan, but definitely not as hardcore anymore.
Women’s MMA will be short-lived in the UFC. Dana said so himself — he’s not in the WMMA business. He’s in the Ronda Rousey business.
Women’s boxing got lots of hype a few years ago. Muhammad Ali’s daughter on the cover of SI. Where’s women’s boxing now?
RR is part of Dana’s PT Barnum circus. He’s striking while the iron’s hot. He’ll drop it when it cools off.
Yeah..Juice…you are full of shit. ‘Using’ a position as champ do ‘pick conditions’.
Let us examine that for a sec: If you have a title fight, you have to make weight. If Cyborg “cock n balls” santos wants a shot, she has to make weight. If it is not at 135, it is not a title fight. If you don’t understand that, kill yourself you stupid shit.
damn the title. I wanna see the fight. She is a paper champ.
That’s why I mentioned OPENWEIGHT you fool.