13 fights, 7 on the main card, and capping off with one of the sports biggest stars: Rowdy Ronda Rousey facing off against Bethe Correia in a battle of undefeateds.
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UFC women’s bantamweight champion ‘Rowdy” Ronda Rousey will put her title on the line when she takes on fellow undefeated challenger Bethe “Pitbull’ Correia in an extremely personal encounter.
However, she has been pegged as a 15-1 underdog and surprisingly, even though this fight will transpire in Brazil- has seemingly lost out her fan base to the insanely popularRousey, if the public reaction during the open workouts in Rio de Janeiro are to be used as metric. Rousey has said she wants to make this fight go a little longer to punish Correia, but that only gives her opponent more of a chance to win.
However, there is no one in the women’s bantamweight remotely close to Rousey’s equal.
Ronda Rousey vowed to crush Brazilian Bethe Correia this coming saturday in the UFC 190. Shogun’s chin has definitely deteriorated badly now after so many wars over the years though, but on the other hand he is the more unsafe and effective striker of the two and Nogueira’s age and lack of fights lately suggest ring rust could also be an issue for him. After an opening charge and flying knee by top-ranked Cat Zingano, Rousey rolled with her on the mat and improvised a straight armbar to force the tapout in a mere 14 seconds. Her hit list, while impressive, pales somewhat in comparison to that of potential future opponents for Rousey. “And I hope this is the last time”.
The pair first met through trainer Gene LeBell, who trained Piper in the 70s and then took on Rousey as she began her MMA career.
Shortly after the bout, Rousey held back tears to pay homage to her namesakes.
“When I don’t have the home-court advantage, that’s another thing that really keeps me motivated”, said Rousey, who hasn’t fought outside Las Vegas or her native Southern California in three years.
Through the week leading up to the bout, Rousey was welcomed by the Brazilian fans in overwhelming fashion, but the arena crowd greeted her with boos and the trademark Brazilian chant of, “You’re gonna die”, as she made her now iconic speed walk to the octagon to Joan Jett’s “Bad Reputation”.
“I dreamed about this moment for a long time, I think Brazil needs a champion, ” said Correia after the stare down. Her success in the male-dominated sport has led to comparisons to champion fighters like Mike Tyson and she’s widely regarded as today’s best fighter, regardless of gender. Everyone was excited to see Rousey deliver on her promise as she is known for ending fights in less than two minutes. “There is no girl who deserves this title more than me”. It is very different from her life of reality.
When Rousey fights, the world stops.
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Correia went on to say the quote was mistranslated from Portuguese to English, however Rousey is not shopping for it.
