Reactions to Tate vs Rousey

Lord I need to come up with better blog titles.

Anywhoooooo looks like Ronda Rousey pulled it off again (pun intended.) After four minutes into the first round and one botched arm bar attempt, Rousey managed to trap Miesha Tate in her signature move and forced a submission. Word is that Tate may have dislocated something prior to tapping.

Huh.

Looks like Rousey not only talks the talk but can indeed walk the walk, and Sherdog touted her as the new face of women's mma. I'm sure Carano doesn't mind. 

When asked by interviewers about her intimidation tactics and word battles with Miesha Tate on the buildup to this fight, Rousey stated that her intention was to get into Tate's head and ruffle her feathers to the point that the fight would become a personal matter. Apparently it worked; from the get-go, Tate appeared thirsty for a bloodbath and ran in guns blazing. Rousey, for all her talk, fought in a much more calculated fashion, and that may have been the key to this fight. Had Tate been more level headed and more polished in her throw defense and grappling, this fight may have turned out different.

Lets not forget, though, that Tate DID put up a good fight. At slightly over 4 minutes, this was the longest fight that Rousey has had in her MMA career, professional and amateur both considered. To top it off, Tate did manage to fight against Rousey's first armbar attempt and make the Judoka scramble a bit on the ground.

But, that should not draw away from the fact that Rousey really is a good fighter. The two key elements to her game, it would appear, are quickness and presence of mind. It doesn't hurt that homegirl has muscle without the need to juice *cough* Cyborg! *cough* Her Judo experience also gives her an edge against a stand-up fighter. Since the art is mostly made up of throws from standing, I'd venture to say that she is well-versed in ways to throw a kickboxer off balance. A taller opponent could probably keep her at bay with reach tactics, but Rousey is quick enough that she'd get inside and throw down.

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Earlier in the card, Sarah Kaufman did indeed come up with a second victory in her rematch with Davis. The entire fight has been aptly described as a slugfest - both fighters were bloodied up and some great technical exchanges were made. The fight was decision, and though Davis had managed to take Kaufman to the ground and be in dominant position in the final round, she could not make anything out of it. Kaufman is likely to be the next contender in line to fight with Rousey. The kickboxer will likely not be as effected by Rousey's mind games as Tate - she is quite calculating in her fight style, perhaps even more than Rousey. Her ground game, though not her bread and butter, is solid to boot. It would be interesting to see how the two of them duke it out.

Personally, if Cyborg ever comes back and lays off the juice, I would LOVE to see her and Rousey fight. I think even off the 'roids, Cyborg is aggressive enough and powerful enough that the fight would be quite exciting. In fact, I'd love to see her in ANY fight without the juice. It would make for a much more interesting study in fight mentality and tactics. I am irritated with her as I'm sure ALOT of fans are, but I'll give her another chance. I'm nice.

But Cyborg, if you blow it again, please don't blame it on diet pills. We know better. Believe it or not your deltoids can say aloooot about testosterone levels.

...

On a similar note, did you notice how good and healthy Rousey looks at this weight? DAMN homegirl you should keep fighting at 135! Your abs are almost as enviable as Gwen Stefani's. Almost.

...seriously guys at 40 something with 2 kids, you've reaaally gotta give the Gwen some cred.

Thoughts on Tate vs Rousey

Strikeforce's next fight is Tate vs Rousey, airing live on Showtime on March 3rd at 10 PM ET. The fight card includes:

Miesha Tate vs Ronda Rousey Women's Bantamweight championship fight.

Josh Thomson vs KJ Noons

Sarah Kaufman vs Alexis Davis (prelims)

Alot of fighters scheduled for the March 3rd card have had to drop out for health reasons or injuries, reducing the night's roster of fights, but Tate and Rousey will still be headlining.

To have a women's match be the headline fight on a card is quite exciting and a step forward for women's MMA. The last time something like this happened was the Cyborg vs Carano fight in 2009! Anyway, to the analysis of the women's fights:

Kaufman vs Davis

This fight will be a rematch. Statistically, Davis is the underdog here. Both have 15 professional fights under their belt, but while Kaufman is 14-1, Davis is 11-4. Davis' losses are split between decision and TKO, while Kaufman's sole loss is by submission. Judging by these statistics, if Kaufman keeps Davis on her feet, Kaufman will have an advantage. If Davis takes Kaufman to the ground, Davis will have the advantage.

I have a feeling this fight will be spending some time on the ground. Davis' fighting style is influenced by Jiu Jitsu while Kaufman has notable wrestling skill. Statistically speaking, Kaufman is largely a kickboxing specialist, with the vast majority of her wins being by TKO and her loss coming from the ground. However, despite all the aforementioned numbers, she is willing and able to take the fight to the ground, and many of her fights spend some time there. She may not rely on her groundwork so much to end a fight, but she has endurance and can use it to tire her opponents out. In addition to that, she shows good proficiency in clinch fighting.

TL;DR: Kaufman also has good endurance and her fights tend to last some time, with proficiency on the ground. I am favoring Kaufman to win this fight by decision, though an upset could stir more excitement for Strikeforce's bantamweight division. This should be a well-rounded fight! The winner of this fight is likely to go against the victor in the Tate/Rousey tilt.

Oh, and by the way, Sarah Kaufman is the fighter responsible for this awesome KO:

word.

"Takedown" Tate vs "Rowdy" Rousey

Oh, Lord, here it comes.

"Rowdy" Ronda Rousey is first and foremost a Judo/wrestling specialist - not to mention an Olympic medalist in Judo - with a penchant for hyperextending her opponent's elbows. All of her MMA wins have been by arm bar, and she is quick to go for it. While Rousey most definitely shows talent, some would say she has not proven enough experience quite yet for a title match. And yet, here we are!

Rousey is currently WMMA's biggest loudmouth. She's cocky, brash, up front, and happy to stir up some drama for the sake of entertaining television - which she believes will bring more attention to the sport. But for all of her talk, Rousey has very little MMA experience. She is a bronze medalist in Olympic Judo and has been, according to her, competing in Judo all her life. And there is no denying the effectiveness for Judo in takedowns! Still, all together Rousey has experience in 7 MMA fights, only 4 of them being professional. They were all wins, having managed to do so within the first 60 seconds of the first round.

Miesha "Takedown" Tate is defending her belt and title against Rousey. Both athletes have engaged in some smack talk via Twitter and interviews. Tate is no doubt irked by Rousey's behavior and words but not threatened by it. Tate, with a 12-2 record, has won 5 of her fights by submission and has shown that she, too, is a talent on the ground. Crazy as it would be for Rousey to pull off a fast win against Tate, I am hoping this fight lasts long enough so we can see how long Rousey endures. If anyone could defend against Rousey's quick arm bar, it would probably be Tate, and there is no doubt in my mind she's been training along those lines. Rousey could surprise us with some other techniques, like a choke perhaps (maybe even a kick or two!) but she is so confident in her signature move that I won't be surprised if she goes for it again. If it ain't broke... well, you know.

Personally, I'm not sure who will win, the fight seems pretty well matched. The pure statistical odds don't seem to favor one over the other, but judging by experience alone, Tate should be able to keep "Rowdy" at bay. For all her brashness, I do like Rousey and am excited to see how her MMA future unravels, but I'm leaning towards Tate for the win. This will probably be a shorter fight than Kaufman vs Davis and I see a submission by 2nd/3rd round. The good news about that is, if Tate wins, Rousey's not the type of chick to pull a Gina Carano and she'll probably take the loss as inspiration to fight harder.

TL;DR: This is a well-matched fight between the loudmouthed, quick-rising talent Ronda Rousey and the experienced Miesha Tate. Hopefully, it will be a long fight, both for excitement value, and to see how well Rousey fares in a longer fight. Hopefully, a show-stopper fight! I see a 2nd/3rd round submission but am undecided as to who will come out the victor.


The fight will air this weekend. As I do not have access to Showtime, I'm gonna hitch a ride on the youtubes and watch the fights the morning of March 4.

Good hunting, y'all!