UFC 207: Nunes vs Rousey

[lambyUK]

Thing is, while Nunes did everything with precision, she really didn't have to work too hard to get the win. Rousey offered up a nothing clinch attempt, but apart from that she just stood in front of Nunes and offered little in the way of defence and offence. I think most capable fighters would have battered this Rousey. It's pretty stunning how exposed she was out there. At least with the Holm fight she had an even half a round and made it to the second.

Whilst I agree Ronda was awful you're not giving Nunes enough credit.

 

She made it easy because her striking is just that good.

 

There's a reason why Nunes' striking is so good now. She's been able to transform her striking with adding that range whilst also maintaining her power.

[ColinBollocks]

I did type she did everything with precision, which she did. What  I meant by that is she rarely wasted a punch - which is a compliment.

 

However, any capable striker (with power, obvs) would have battered Rousey. Once Rousey couldn't get the clinch it was over. Of course, the fact it was done in 48 seconds is an example of how capable Nunes is.

[wandshogun09]

Rousey just looked like a fighter who'd lost all confidence in herself. Like Col says, she'd gotten herself into tremendous shape for this. Probably the best shape she's been in her entire UFC run actually. But she was pretty fucked here whatever she did. While I get people going 'what the fuck was her gameplan?' I think she was buggered regardless. You'd think if she'd have tried to grapple from the start it would've helped but that would've made her predictable. I don't think it'd be straight forward either because Nunes is such a physical force, she's almost built like a female Phil Davis and she's got a strong grappling base. But choosing to stand was always going to and badly as well. I think a lot of it comes down to Ronda being mentally defeated ever since the Holm loss, and the rest is down to Nunes just being a fucking beast.

 

It's weird because from the time the fight was announced, I just kind of accepted that Ronda was probably about to catch a beating. Usually I think about a fight and my opinion flips a few times in the build up. But I never had any confidence in Rousey this time. We've all been watching combat sports long enough to know what a comeback story looks like. There's a reason that when Clubber Lang battered Rocky Balboa in Rocky III, they never had Rocky shut himself in his room with the curtains drawn, refusing to talk to anyone, talking about offing himself on talkshows etc. He did the old epic comeback thing and went back and overhauled his training, brought in his old mate Apollo and trained like a demon. We never heard anything encouraging during Ronda's time away from the sport. Granted we didn't have much to go on because she mostly vanished from the public eye. But in MMA you can't keep anything secret. If someone gets KO'd in sparring you'll probably hear about it. Even when the UFC were trying hard to keep the Brock return announcement for UFC 200 under wraps it got revealed. And in the year since the Holm loss, we never once heard anything about Ronda hitting the gym, bringing in new training partners, fuck we never really even heard anything that she even wanted to come back. The only times we heard from her she was talking suicide and the few times we saw her she looked all out of shape. She didn't seem like a fighter who was itching to get back in there. She seemed genuinely depressed. And I actually found the whole thing pretty uncomfortable. With hindsight I don't think she should've been anywhere near that cage last night.

 

Reading between the lines as well, did anyone else notice that both Ronda's mum and Gene LeBell were uncharacteristically quiet during this past year and the (non) build up to this fight? I get the impression they weren't really on board with her coming back. Her mum is usually her biggest cheerleader and I haven't heard much from her since she publicly trashed Edmond.

 

The Rousey ride was fun while it lasted. I'm not really interested in seeing her comeback again now though. Don't get me wrong, if she did I'd watch of course. But if I was her and I'd made as much money as she has and I'd accomplished what she has, I'd leave it now. Leave it at just the two arse kickings and go and have babies or something. She's going to feel all woe is me today because she just got destroyed. But when you look at the big picture, she's rich enough to never have to work again if she doesn't want to. And she's still young enough to start a family. How many women are in that position at her age, through their own work and not by being a do nothing bitch gold digger?

 

I wish Cyborg had waited a bit to pop for PEDs because just imagine a situation where Cyborg beat the winner of Holm/De Radamie and was the 145lb women's champ. And they did Nunes vs Cyborg as a champion vs champion superfight! I'd have a bit of that.

[jimufctna24]

I think Ronda listened to the wrong people. I was going to say that she was stuck in an echo chamber, but that doesn't seem to be the case. Karo Parisyan and her own Mother were outspoken against Edmund, yet he was kept around and didn't half make a twerp out of himself last night. It's not like Edmund is some sort of magician. Travis Browne has hardly looked the business since he joined Edmund's camp. As stated above, Rousey probably needed her own version of Apollo Creed in Rocky 3 to turn up. Change was needed, and we didn't see any last night. 

 

There's also the fact that the Woman's 135lbs class is relatively a young division. Not only that, but it's the go-to weightclass for most aspiring WMMA fighters. Similar to the Men's Lightweight and Welterweight classes. This means that not only are there grounds for the division to improve - given its lack of evolution - but also that there will be an influx of emerging talent. Rousey and Tate dominated the division for 2-3 years, and they will always be held up as pioneers for that. But much like Royce Gracie in the mid-90's, they were only a year or so ahead of the game. Someone was bound to raise the bar eventually, just like Coleman and the Lion's Den camp did in the late 90's. Nunes was that fighter. Even if Rousey made the proper adjustments, it's questionable whether she could have retained a stranglehold on the division. Nunes has quietly progressed into becoming the real deal, and is the new standard bearer of WMMA. Good on her. 

[wandshogun09]

Yeah, if anything Travis Browne's career went on a downward spiral since he started with Edmond. Hard to believe the Travis Browne you see today is the same man who knocked out Overeem and crushed Josh Barnett. Edmond's almost the anti Paul Heyman. He seems to take talent and accentuate their negatives and hide their positives. He's got it all cocked up.

[ColinBollocks]

He's shit. Luke Thomas wasn't mucking around with his post-fight show when the subject of Edmond came up. At one point he basically says "someone this rubbish doesn't deserve to have a talent like Rousey". Seriously though, in the past few years have we ever heard a positive story about Edmond the trainer from people that are in the know? I don't think we have. Ronda's Mum, the top MMA journalists and even folk like Rogan have all pretty much come to the opinion he's terrible.

 

You just need to look at how Rousey fell apart during that. Granted, Rousey may have always lost, but imagine how better she would be with a year with a Greg Jackson, or someone of the calibre.

[Slapnut]

Could somebody explain to me why everybody seems to hate Ronda Rousey? I've seen lots of posts calling her a nasty person and a bully. I've not really followed her career outside of the fights themselves so I'm not sure where all that comes from.

[seanz25]

Not necessarily sure why people feel the need to bully her so to speak, but there's a lot of animosity online, at least I feel, built up from how sore of a loser she's acted. Avoiding the media, to storming straight out the octagon following both defeats and refusing to do a post fight interview/presser. She's not handled herself the best.

 

Still doesn't warrant some of the stuff I've seen online.

[ColinBollocks]

There are several famous stories from other fighters where she's acted like a massive twat towards them. Obviously, the one of note is her hatred of Miesha Tate, which was caught on camera for the last great TUF season, where Rousey came off as a nutter.

 

You also have PVZ's story, when she met Rousey backstage at some press deal. Apparently everyone was told not to bother Rousey, because she's a star now. PVZ decided to trouble her for a picture, after telling Rousey how much she loved her, only for Rousey to bark back "you fair weather bitch" and how dare PVZ say anything negative about her after her Holm's loss.

 

I can see why it doesn't make sense, because when Rousey is on while talking to the press she seems like a good laugh and surprisingly down to earth. Her other mental competitive side was exposed during TUF, so I believe all the stories of her storming off in the huff and shouting down other women, despite it being out of order.

 

The MMA media and in particular Helwani, seem to have turned on her a bit as well, due to the way she's gone about the past few months.

 

Personally, it doesn't bother me so much. I'm still a Rousey fan.

[Slapnut]

Thanks both. I figured that the way she's conducted herself over the past few weeks wouldn't have gathered her many fans, but I remember people calling her a bully and a horrible person literally the day after her loss to Holm, but nobody would really elaborate.

[Fox Piss]

Was it because at the weigh ins Rousey tried to intimidate the placid Holm. Holm stood her ground and give her a little extra and Rousey didn't like it. Through a slight tantrum and then went on Instagram and ranted about Holm.

Give it but couldn't take it. A bit like her fighting style.

[Polish Dad]

I was first turned off by the comments she was making about trans fighters like Fallon Fox. Just your usual reactionary stuff, but between that and her series on TUF I stopped being able to enjoy her outside of fighting.

[wandshogun09]

She's definitely done herself no favours. I'm still a fan. Her and Joanna Jedrzejczyk are my two favourite women fighters ever. But she's said and done a lot of stuff over the years which makes it understandable why she gets the backlash against her.

 

The Miesha stuff is bollocks though. They hated each other and were each other's biggest enemies in the sport. The fact that they never squashed that rivalry (their last fight was three years ago now, for fuck's sake!) just shows that rivalry was 100% legit. It was the Lesnar vs Mir of women's MMA in that way. I've got no problem with Ronda being a cunt to her biggest rival.

 

One thing that hasn't helped her though is this refusing to do media carry on. If she'd won then the narrative would be rewritten as 'Ronda went away and shut herself off from all the distractions and came back with a vengeance'. But now she's been battered again, and probably is retiring now, the lasting memory she leaves everyone with is that she sulked her way through her last fight week and got twatted out the door. And Helwani touched on this in the preview show - it tells us that she'll talk to media when things are going well but when it goes wrong she shuts the door on the same media who played a big part in her success and being seen as a genuine star. You can't do that. You don't get to pick and choose with the media like that and only open the door to them when things are all nice and rosy.

 

It doesn't reflect well on her. Chances are she doesn't give a fuck. She's made mad money and she never has to face the MMA world again if she chooses not to. But it would've probably done her public image a lot of good last night if she'd taken the loss with some grace, maybe said a few words and walked away on some kind of positive note.

[wandshogun09]

I think that PVZ will replace RR as the face of the womens division, she is certainly marketable and suitable for posters, she is beautiful 

She'd be the ideal choice but she's just got soundly beaten and submitted by Michelle Waterson (who is also fucking gorgeous btw). Paige has lost two of her last three now. She's still very young so it's not like she can't bounce back but for right now I don't see her carrying the position as the face of women's MMA. Especially when she's in Joanna Jedrzejczyk's division.

 

I think it was Lamby who mentioned it earlier but Dominick Cruz came across really well at the post fight press conference. Here's the Cruz bit of the presser...

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&persist_app=1&v=WY3K6phqyrM

 

Class act. It really is night and day when you look at the top two fights on this card and see the contrast in how Cruz and Rousey have taken their losses.

[Keith Houchen]

Bollocks. It didn't record for me so looked at the results, then seen my TiVo box is recording it tonight. Fuck knows how I managed that.