In all of combat sports right now, there is no one who is more head and shoulders above their competition than Ronda Rousey. In her latest match on February 28th, she defeated Cat Zingano in just 14 seconds via an arm lock submission to retain her UFC bantamweight title.
This was thought to have been Rousey toughest challenge yet. Instead, Rousey recorded the fastest victory of her career and improved to 11-0. It also marked Rousey’s fifth UFC title defense, four of which have ended in the first round. Her past three title defenses have lasted 66, 16 and 14 seconds. What’s even more impressive is that 10 out of her 11 wins have all come in the first round. If you combine the minutes of all of her fights, it will be just over 25 minutes. Whether it’s boxing or MMA, you will not find a fighter that has come close to this level of dominance.
UFC legend Chuck Liddell gave Rousey a high praise after the fight. I’ve seen some really good submission guys who don’t do it as well as she does … and she’s still getting better, too”
Rousey, who won a Bronze medal in judo at the 2008 Beijing Olympics and U.S. Olympic medalist in judo, has cleaned out the UFC’s 135-pound female division, which was introduced in early 2013 mostly due to Rousey’s popularity. In fact, Rousey popularity has grown so much that she’s crossed over into film.
Last year she co-starred in the movie Expendables 3 that had an all-star cast that included Sylvester Stallone, Jason Statham, Wesley Snipes, Antonio Banderas, Mel Gibson, Dolph Lundgren and several more of some of the biggest actions stars of all-time. Despite this being her first time in a feature film, Rousey stood out. Next month she will appear in the seventh installment of the Fast & Furious saga Furious 7 featuring Vin Diesel and the late Paul Walker.
At only 28, Rousey is in the prime of her career and will only get better. She is clearly the face of the UFC including men. The only question is who will she fight next? There have been talks over the past few years about making a fight between Rousey and Cris “Cyborg” Justino (13-1-1). This would be by far the biggest fight that can be made in the women’s division and would be one of the highest grossing pay per view numbers in the history of the UFC. Some feel Justino’s strength will allow her to get out of Rousey grapples and in particular her arm bar submissions. However, in order to make this fight happen, Justino would have to drop ten pounds to get to the bantamweight limit.
If this fight happens, this will be another opportunity for Rousey to show why she is the most dominate fighter in combat sports, which is a title that use to be reserved only for men.