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Could UFC champion Ronda Rousey be competitive against male fighters?

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Sean

Banned
This weekend UFC champ Ronda Rousey beat undefeated fighter Cat Zingano in just 14 seconds (video), setting the record for fastest UFC title fight, fastest submission in a UFC title fight, and the only UFC fight with zero recorded strikes. Three days before the fight took place she told TMZ Sports that she was aiming to "get it on Instagram" which has a 15 second limit for videos. Her previous fight only lasted 16 seconds meaning her last two title defenses were only a combined 30 seconds. If you add up the length of her last three fights, it's a combined 96 seconds - less time than it takes to microwave a Hot Pocket. After eleven professional fights, she's only spent 25 minutes total in the octagon - the length of a single championship match.

Ronda has a 100% finish rate with only a single opponent managing to survive past the first round. She has 8 finishes in under a minute compared to Mike Tyson's career of 9 finishes in under a minute. Currently she's ranked #7 in the UFC's pound-for-pound rankings. She's obliterated the entire division and with no legitimate contenders left, it's led to hypothetical talks of Ronda fighting men. Obviously this will never happen - it's purely a 'what if' scenario.

UFC President Dana White on Saturday said:
What do I do with this girl? What do I do with this girl? I keep joking saying she is going to have to fight men, but I'm serious. (video)

Several days ago Joe Rogan was on The Dan LeBatard Show and said he believes Ronda can beat 50% of the mens bantamweight roster.
Joe Rogan said:
There’s a lot of guys her size she could beat. I mean, a lot. If you took the roster of the UFC’s bantamweights, 135lbs, and you paired them up against Ronda Rousey, she might be able to beat 50 percent of them, and that’s not a joke… There’s a difference in the male structure, there’s a difference in the male frame, testosterone plays a big difference, the ability to take punches is a significant difference. The structure of the face, the muscles of the neck. Women just cannot take the same kind of punches that men can. That’s the only reason why I only give Ronda a chance at beating 50 percent of the men. If she could take the kind of punches that some of these guys might possibly land it might get up to like 60 percent. She's a truly special talent.

UFC ring announcer Bruce Buffer said she probably couldn't hang against the top 10, but would likely be ranked in the top 20 of mens bantamweights (video):

Bruce Buffer said:
She is the most dominant fighting athlete in the world. There's nobody more dominant in a female fighting athlete than Ronda Rousey. I'm not going to compare her to men, although quite frankly, I'm sure she'd do very well against at least half the division that she's in, which is the bantamweight. Can't tell you [where she ranks] until she fights the first guy... Well, I mean there's no reason that you can put her in the top ten amongst men, because it's not fair. No woman has ever professionally, to my knowledge, fought a man in a professionally commissioned, sanctioned fight. And it's not going to happen. I mean, I'd be amazed if that ever happened. It's not gonna happen. Top twenty... Yeah, in the bantamweight division, I think she probably could... Not top ten, top twenty.

Rener Gracie believes Ronda could tap anyone:
Rener Gracie said:
There's no doubt that she can put it on some men, for sure. I've seen it happen, and really do some damage. Here's the thing, naturally, what everyone is going to say is ‘no' -- that men have the physical strength, the power advantage over someone like Ronda, or any female, you would say. And that's generally a fair statement, I think. But the thing is this: Ronda has some things that I've never felt in even men, if that makes sense. Ronda has a certain flexibility, a dynamic flexibility mixed with strength, and blended with those two, impeccable technique. [...] Now, you know, what happens when you're going against a man, they put a little more power behind their punches, the knockout power is stronger, and who knows, they can muscle out of submissions a little crazier. But I'll tell you what, once she's latched onto a limb, I don't care who's limb it is, they're going to tap. That's for sure.

UFC flyweight (125 lbs) fighter Ian McCall says he'd have his way with her:
Ian McCall said:
They say all these comparisons to her fighting men, even like Joe [Rogan]. I need to have a conversation with Joe about it because she's not beating up a man. I'm sorry, it's not going to happen. A good man will not lose to Ronda Rousey. I could put a judo gi on, [she's] an Olympian. You're not throwing me. It's not going to happen. I will throw you on your head. Pretty simple. And you weigh more than me.

I can't compartmentalize it, it doesn't make sense to me. I know it's all talk. They compare her to [former heavyweight boxer Mike] Tyson. She's dangerous, she's good. I get it, but it's just silly. Ronda's definitely not the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world. She's the best woman on the planet. That's cute. Cool. Well, we're doing men things. Different. I get it, you're really good and all but to compare her to Jon Jones, Jose Aldo, Demetrious Johnson or Cain Velasquez ... come on. Any of the champions. It's a different world. It just frustrates me.

Last year ESPN asked whether Ronda could beat undefeated boxer Floyd Mayweather in an MMA match. Guest Joe Rogan said yes, some of the hosts disagreed. Then a few days later pound-for-pound #1 UFC champ Jon Jones was asked and he picked Ronda too. ESPN polled their audience and after 70,000 votes, Ronda emerged as the favorite:

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Los Angeles Times also ran the same poll with similar end results (55% Ronda, 44% Floyd). So clearly the general public thinks Rousey could hold her own against a stronger, more powerful dude.

What does GAF think? Could Ronda (or any other female) be competitive against men in her same weight class or is the genetic difference too much to overcome?
 
That poll is laughable. People just want to clown on Mayweather. They don't actually believe that

It says MMA fight, she could probably ground him and win since he has no training on that I think.
But boxers have higher endurance and punch much harder than the usual MMA fighter if I remember correctly.
 

notworksafe

Member
The Floyd poll is a bit odd. Does he have a history of training for MMA? I feel like he'd fall apart once he hit the floor.
 

kirblar

Member
Not a chance she'd be competitive, the power difference is too big to ignore.

One of the great things about Women's MMA is that it's so radically different than Men's MMA because of the difference in strength- you get a lot more of the wrestling/submission game.
 

RdN

Member
Nope.

The same way Serena Williams would have no chance against a male tennis player.

They both dominate their gender, but the gap in physical strength alone would be too big for them to overcome.
 
The poll is kind of stupid since MMA and Boxing are 2 different things. She could very well beat floyd if he has no MMA training.
 
Nah. Besides, everybody who says they want to see it doesn't really want to see it. Seeing some dude hauling off and laying waste to Ronda like he would to some guy would be cringeworthy.
 

Kacho

Gold Member
I don't think shed be able to hang. I'd pay money to see it happen though. I have no clue who any of these women are that she's been fighting so its hard for me to appreciate her talent. One thing is for sure, she won't be finish a fight with a dude in 15 seconds.
 

Angry Grimace

Two cannibals are eating a clown. One turns to the other and says "does something taste funny to you?"
Sure, she could kick my ass no problem.
 
Don't think it's fair to say a woman wouldn't have a chance, she would be more than capable of dealing a knock out blow if she got into perfect position.

Also, Mayweather isn't an MMA fighter so that would be a rather large disadvantage would it not?

This is a strange question, really.
 

cdyhybrid

Member
No. Also she'd have to actually get her hands on Floyd to even have a prayer at beating him, which I'm not sure is something you can assume.
 

Zemm

Member
It says MMA fight, she could probably ground him and win since he has no training on that I think.
But boxers have higher endurance and punch much harder than the usual MMA fighter if I remember correctly.

He'd knock her out so fucking hard before she even gets near him.

It actually feels like the ufc are taking more and more about this, almost putting out feelers for it. It'll be suicide if they ever go through with it.
 

Leunam

Member
Last year ESPN asked whether Ronda could beat undefeated boxer Floyd Mayweather in an MMA match. Guest Joe Rogan said yes, some of the hosts disagreed. Then a few days later pound-for-pound #1 UFC champ Jon Jones was asked and he picked Ronda too. ESPN polled their audience and after 70,000 votes, Ronda emerged as the favorite:

QQxPzUA.png


Los Angeles Times also ran the same poll with similar end results (55% Ronda, 44% Floyd). So clearly the general public thinks Rousey could hold her own against a stronger, more powerful dude.

This is some of the dumbest shit I've ever seen related to combat sports. Jesus Christ.
 

diehard

Fleer
Serious question, would hardcore feminists want to see this? I can think of reasons they would and wouldn't.
 

THRILLH0

Banned
He'd knock her out so fucking hard before she even gets near him.

It actually feels like the ufc are taking more and more about this, almost putting out feelers for it. It'll be suicide if they ever go through with it.

With those pillow fists?
 

SmokeMaxX

Member
I think she'd have a good chance of beating Floyd in an MMA match. It's pretty damn easy for a boxer to get taken down because they're not trained in such tactics. I don't know why everyone thinks she's just going to stand there and let him punch her. Strike the legs until he slows down and take him to the ground. People are too simple minded too when it comes to weight advantages. Sure having a weight advantage is real, but it's not the only determining factor in a fight. In Judo I regularly threw people 2-3x my weight and people acted surprised as if skill weren't a thing. Hell I was playing poker recently and one of the guys who's like 5'10 350 lbs (probably 300 lbs of which was fat) said he would 100% beat Floyd in a fight because there's no way Floyd could knock him out.
 

cdyhybrid

Member
With those pillow fists?

He wouldn't be wearing boxing gloves.

I think she'd have a good chance of beating Floyd in an MMA match. It's pretty damn easy for a boxer to get taken down because they're not trained in such tactics. I don't know why everyone thinks she's just going to stand there and let him punch her. Strike the legs until he slows down and take him to the ground. People are too simple minded too when it comes to weight advantages. Sure having a weight advantage is real, but it's not the only determining factor in a fight. In Judo I regularly threw people 2-3x my weight and people acted surprised as if skill weren't a thing. Hell I was playing poker recently and one of the guys who's like 5'10 350 lbs (probably 300 lbs of which was fat) said he would 100% beat Floyd in a fight because there's no way Floyd could knock him out.

Why are we assuming Floyd wouldn't be trained in at least basic takedown defense? They wouldn't be fighting tomorrow.
 

Exr

Member
No way in hell she could beat Floyd. Sure he's done when he hits the floor...but he won't. Dude would finish you when you get into range.
 
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