Issue 131
August 2015
MMA’s HISTORY retold through FO's archives. August 2012: Ronda Rousey’s trash talking was her ticket to a title shot, and she backed it up by becoming MMA’s biggest attraction.
When Strikeforce’s female contingent claimed Ronda Rousey’s trash-talking earned her the title shot against Miesha Tate rather than merit, ‘Rowdy’ brushed it off and snatched the title to make everyone eat their words.
Her rivals claimed her behavior was hardly becoming of an ambassador for the sport, but the soon-to-be queen of MMA let everyone know why she let her mouth go.
“Screw everyone’s idea of what sports are supposed to be like,” she said. “I did what sports were supposed to be like, and I was living in my car. So you know what? I’m gonna talk a bunch of s**t, I’m gonna break a couple of girls’ arms and I’m not gonna feel the least bit sorry about it, because you know what? At least I can feed my dog.”
Not only did her mouth open the door to a lucrative combat career, her superstardom led to an interest from casting directors in Tinseltown, which means nights sleeping in her car are a distant memory. She’s also backed up every word of what she said, ripping off limbs and scoring KOs in the Strikeforce cage and the UFC Octagon ever since. She’s untouchable.
Better yet, she’s still the same Ronda. When her latest challenger, Bethe Correia, earned a title shot through her own trash talk, the champion had some choice words for her.
“I don’t just want to defeat her, I want her to leave that arena embarrassed,” Rousey said. “I understand why she went about things how she did, but it doesn’t mean that it’s OK. In order to get a title shot as quickly as possible, she disrespected my friends, which I consider my family. And if you f**k with my family, you are f**ked.”
Hardly the most debonair response, but we wouldn’t have Ronda any other way.
AUGUST 2012 HEADLINES
Flyweight savior?
Ahead of his UFC flyweight debut, a confident John Dodson revealed his ambitions to hold the 125lb, 135lb and 145lb belt at the same time. ‘The Magician’s ambitious aims didn’t quite come to fruition as his only title challenge ended in defeat to Demetrious Johnson. However, after some time on the treatment table he’s back and called out ‘Mighty Mouse’ for a rematch, as well as bantamweight champ TJ Dillashaw. His quest for a trio of titles may be about to begin once again.
Heavy artillery
In 2012, a title fight between Junior dos Santos and Alistair Overeem was confirmed for UFC 146. To fans’ despair the fight was scuppered when the Dutchman pulled out with an injury. Since then the two have exchanged biting comments to each other, calling one another ‘journeymen’ of MMA. The prospect of the fight has fizzed back up and in a heavyweight division desperate for big-name attractions, this bout makes sense for them and for the fans too.
NOSTRADAMMAUS
Saturation city
FO consultant editor Gareth A Davies was right on the money when he wrote: “Too many events run the risk of burnout on several fronts.” Sure enough, the sheer number of events seem to have diluted the offering on all but the most marquee PPV events. In fact, the last time the UFC attracted more than one million PPV buys was in 2013, for UFC 168: Weidman vs. Silva II. Maybe it’s time we started seeing more cards stacked with the kind of talent we saw just a few years ago?
