I think you are pretty much spot on with all of this.
People don’t seem to get the importance of a fighter “liking to get hit.” I’m not talking the Diaz Bros “please-punch-me psychosis” but more like Donald Cerrone. He likes getting hit because getting hit is part of the game and he likes the game.
There are fighters that truly hate it, even some great ones (I’m looking at you GSP.) They are fantastic at not getting hit or, having been hit, not getting hit again but if you put the leather on them no matter how solid their chin it starts to break them.
Look at Georges St. Pierre v. Hendricks, Roussey v. Holms or Nunez, Silva v. Weidman I, Lesnar v. pretty much everyone but Mir and you’ll see it demonstrated in painful relief.
Exactly. Vince has a habit of bailing on people he thinks are losers. Case in point: he once had Mike Tyson scheduled to be on a show, but when Buster Douglas knocked Tyson out, Douglas got the spot instead. The fact that UFC is not the WWE flavor of the month after what happened with CM Punk doesn’t make things easier for her.
Okay, Brock Lesnar was pretty much welcomed back with open arms after losing to Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipović, but he was already an established wrestling name. The only way I see Rousey being welcomed by WWE is if she wants to make wrestling a legitimate career.
The problem is that she really has no chin and that is something that cannot be taught. You can always teach them to hit hard, but taking hard hits OTH, sure neck exercises and head positioning can increase survivability, but a glass jaw is a glass jaw:
I agree with either of these–Nunes has a lot of bad tendencies herself and could’ve easily been baited into exposing herself to a situation where she gets taken down and submitted by someone with take downs as good as Rousey and her amazing submission skills on the ground. But it would require a very different mentality to fighting than Rousey has ever displayed before, which like you say would’ve required almost certainly different coaching, and some fighters just refuse to do anything anyway but “their way” and I’m not sure Rousey was ever much capable of changing from a personality perspective.
I always liked Miesha Tate because she’s one of those fighters who I think was always entertaining (and pre-dated “Rouseymania” in women’s MMA), but yes, she was never any amazing striker. She was better at striking than Rousey but that’s a very very low bar. I think Miesha was a good technical fighter but lacked the physical gifts, she’s not very big for her weight, I think she was never that strong or fast, and that’s why she suffered so many losses. But there were definitely times when she showed some real technical proficiency.
Lesnar was widely considered one of the best in ring talents of his generation in WWE. He had the huge, dominating size that Vince loves in a wrestler/main event talent, he was never very injury prone, he has the “look”, he’s strong as hell, agile, fast, and basically worked some amazing matches. The contract he signed when he came back to WWE meant he had to work very little, and the booking meant he rarely worked compelling matches (so if you were to watch WWE the last 2-3 years you’d not see much of Lesnar’s old talent), but Vince was only about 50% interested in Lesnar due to his “legit bad ass” angle from his UFC days. The other 50% was that Lesnar was a proven good wrestler who could draw fan attention. So he’s not the same as a “celebrity” like Rousey or Tyson who would be considered for a special appearance in the WWE based solely on their pop culture/other sport status.
FWIW, I was quite impressed with Tate on the panel afterward. She was made up attractively and was poised, humorous, well-spoken, and enjoyable to watch and listen to. I’m thinking she may wind up with a fairly successful career as a commentator. Cite
No, she’s not a striker. My point was Martin said she had “have no striking **or strike defense skills **”. However, the reason she beat Holm while Rousey got destroyed by Holm is that she was much better equipped to defend herself and counterattack against a striker than Rousey.
Now, do I think she’s a better fighter than Holm or if they’d had three fights she’d have won two of them? No, but she clearly had “strike defense skills”.
The ire she raises amuses me. She’s a bad stand up… a huge hole in her game that got found out. Reminds me of Mark Coleman back in the day… once everyone figured out you stand Coleman up and avoid take downs he got pummeled. Randy Couture developed his stand up… Rhonda never did… she doesn’t move her head/neck at all. when you throw a punch she’s exactly where you want her to be…
Well Rousey was the biggest name in women’s MMA for several years, and more importantly she deliberately generated a lot of attention for herself, in some ways that’s probably her least noted skill, and puts her in the long tradition of smack talking fighters like Floyd Mayweather, Muhammad Ali and etc. There’s a skill to it, and being good at it can legitimately generate PPV buys and ticket sales, people start paying money to see you lose. So the fact she generates ire is…both to be expected and exactly what Ronda wanted, she’s a millionaire now because of it, and Amanda Nunes is not because she doesn’t generate nearly that level of interest/passion from fans.
But obviously you need to keep winning to keep it alive, which she is no longer doing.
I have to believe Rousey will retire. After apparently contemplating suicide following the Holm fight, I can’t imagine she’ll ever muster up enough confidence to fight again. What did she say? She has to think about her future? Doesn’t sound like someone who has it in her to get back after it. WWE probably looks pretty appealing right about now.
I hope she doesn’t join the WWE. All that play acting. Is she going to be a baby face or heel? Wrestle tag team and eventually turn on her partner? Kicking and stomping her in the ring. Then the months long feud matches that ends at WrestleMania. All those tired storylines pro wrestling has used since the 1950’s. Vince never changes the scripts.
I guess she has to make a living. But I’d really hate seeing a Olympian and former MMA champion go that route.
I doubt it, unless she is a spendthrift. She’s young ( relatively ), but she’s done very well for herself financially. With reasonable investment she is probably at least “comfortable” for life.
