A Rapidfire Ronda "Rowdy" Rousey Recap, Plus Cybrog News

(Re-posted from BE cause Rollo told me to)

For those that need a quick catch-up, on the last Strikeforce Challengers card Ronda Rousey defeated Julia Budd by armbar, dislocating Budd's arm in the process. Rousey improved to a professional record of 4-0, with all of her victories coming by armbar within the first minute of action. After the fight, Ronda said she was planning on moving down to 135 and wanted to fight Miesha Tate for the title (Rousey clarified that she'd be willing to fight Sarah Kaufman for number one contendership, but her main goal was taking the title from Tate.)

A number of female fighters under the Strikeforce banner voiced their opinions on twitter, making accusations that she was ducking Cris "Cyborg" Santos, as well as criticizing Ronda for asking for a title shot at a weight she has never previously fought at. (Gal's Guide to MMA covered them here and here.)

Ronda had stated before her fight with Sarah D'Alelio that she would not move down to 135, saying:

"I can’t go any lower than 145. That’s the lowest weight I can healthily make. I might consider taking a catch-weight fight at 140 someday, but not unless I was very persuaded."

However, a much more recent interview with USA Today showed Ronda leaning towards a new position:

Given the difficulty of finding quality 145-pounders, how concerned are you that the division might not be viable?

Even if it wasn't, I think I definitely do have the capacity to move down. I have to do it in a very professional way. Get a nutritionist and have a structure to do it the right way.

But if Strikeforce decides to get rid of 145 and only keep the '35, or put them together into a 140, I'll be able to deal with the situation fine.

(from November 14th)- Article link

(Cyborg also mentioned that Strikeforce was considering eliminating the Women's 145 lb. division. Her response and more from Ronda Rousey after the jump)

"I think that (a title fight between her and Tate would) be a huge fight and it would lead to an eventual fight between me and Cris Cyborg being an even bigger deal. I'm just trying to figure out the right way to do things so us girl fighters have some job security a few years from now."

Link

A fight between Rousey and Cris "Cyborg" Santos could depend heavily on A) what Strikeforce decides to do with the 145 lb. division, and B) if Strikeforce does eliminate the 145 division, would Cyborg be able to cut to 135. While this would seem like a very difficult task for Santos, she confirmed that she had been asked about it by Strikeforce personnel and would be willing to give it a try. From an interview with TATAME:

There two divisions and they want to unify it to a single female division. In that case you’d have to lose a lot of weight. How do you see it?

Actually there’re still two weight divisions: 135lbs and 145lbs. It’s already hard for me to drop to 145lbs, I gotta work a lot and they’re thinking about one division only, they asked me if I could do it. I can try, it’s not impossible. Let’s see... I guess that, in the future, there’ll be some news.

It’d be good for you to have more opponents to fight against, right?

It’ll be hard because I got a lot of weight to lose, but it’d be good because I could fight more. I guess it’s important to keep active, it’s my job, so I’ll try it to stay here.

Link

(Note: nothing official has been mentioned by Strikeforce, though the infrequency with which they've been able to offer Cyborg opponents to defend her title against speaks for itself.)

Finally, the L.A. Daily News did an interesting background piece on Rousey- http://www.dailynews.com/ci_186

Some highlights

• She's already suffered a litany of injuries, "She's dislocated both elbows, along with three knee surgeries, a dislocated shoulder, a broken foot, broken toe, broken nose (three times)"
• Ron Rousey, Ronda's father, broke his back during a sledding accident, and this injury was complicated by a blood disorder. He was given a prognosis of two years to live, and rather than leave his family with a huge medical bill and force his family to watch him slowly wither away, Ron decided to take his own life. Ronda was 8 at the time. Ron left Ronda a final note saying that he knew she would be the best in the world at something when she grew up.
• Ronda struggled with maintaining weight during her teen years while she rose to the top ranks of judo competitors. Her constant struggles with weight led to bulimia. (my note: I feel this has a lot to do with her initial reluctance on moving down below 145. She now seems to be in a much better head-space, and plans on working with a nutritionist to find the healthiest for her to make the cut down to 135.)
• Ronda left Judo long before she ever formulated plans of starting an MMA career. She felt worn down by the constant grind of training and competition, as well as the burden of expectations. Meanwhile she feels much more upbeat about her MMA career, and although the training is still grueling she does not feel the same sense of being overwhelmed that she felt during her Judo years.