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411 Fact or Fiction MMA: Will Ronda Rousey Return in 2016?

May 18, 2016 | Posted by Lorenzo Vasquez
Ronda Rousey Image Credit: Sports Illustrated

Welcome back to another edition of 411 Fact or Fiction MMA! I’m your host, and still the new guy, Lorenzo Vasquez III. Two weeks down and the boat is smooth sailing, baby! Before we move on, a quick thank you for last week’s comments and votes. Last week, Dan Plunkett and Todd Vote, went tooth for tooth as they discussed Miesha Tate getting into Ronda Rousey’s head, Holly Holm getting booked for a tough but a seemingly very winnable fight, Carlos Condit retiring, and the UFC booking Tony Ferguson vs. Michael Chiesa. Todd held an early lead, but Dan quickly caught up and took the lead for a few days. Nonetheless, when the dust settled on the narrow contest, Todd was left standing by a single vote. “The Toddfather” racks up his first victory under my watch, while, “Handsome” Dan will have to shake off the narrow loss and come guns blazing next around.

This week, Dino Zee sets his his eyes on annihilating Mark Radulich as they dive into subjects ranging from new weight cutting policies and Alistair Overeem getting the next heavyweight title shot; too, the sale of the UFC and Cris Cyborg running through the elite women of the UFC. So, strap in, and get ready for the ride, because we should be in for an interesting edition of fact or fiction MMA! Let’s get things rolling one more time…

TALE OF THE TAPE
RED CORNER
Mark “Headshrinker” Radulich
Supreme Overlord,
Radulich in Broadcasting Network
0-0-0

VS

BLUE CORNER
Dino “Salad Bar” Zee (#2 Seed, West)
Contributor, 411 Wrestling Zone
0-0-0

While, it is refreshing to see the UFC taking steps to deal with the issues surrounding weight cutting, their new policy of having fighters weigh within 8% of their official fight weight at the start of fight week, coupled with the IV-ban, is only a temporary patch of sorts and will cause more than a few fighters to remain dehydrated for much longer than necessary?

Mark Radulich:FICTION Lorenzo is correct in the sense that there are guys that will find ways to cheat or abuse the system. But overall, I think we are approaching an age in professional fighting where making overtly silly weight cuts is coming to an end. More and more fighters are seeing situations in which a) a fighters body reacts in such a way that they grossly miss weight, b) a fighters body shuts down due to an excessive weight cut or c) a fighter realizes that cutting weight also cuts power and causes them to be less physically prepared than if they fought closer to their walk-around-weight. It’s always about advantage in professional sports and I think more and more fighters are starting to realize that the perceived advantage of cutting absurd amounts of weight in order to be the biggest fighter in a weight class is actually more of a hinderance and a threat to their longterm health.

Dino Zee: FACT Sure, I could see “more than a few fighters” doing something like that. Still, I also see “more than a few fighters” no longer being able to attempt to drop upwards of 20-30 pounds in a week anymore and, for me at least, that’s the bigger battle for the time being. Sure, in Xanadu, we want everyone to be perfectly healthy while attempting to cut weight for their job where they got punched and kicked a lot. But, outside of Xanadu, that just doesn’t seem to be totally possible yet. So, we have to keep taking the baby steps, and if mandating a walk-around weight that is within X of the contracted fight weight is one of those steps, so be it. That doesn’t mean people won’t still abuse the system, but it could mean a lot less people will, and will do so under less harsh circumstances.

Alistair Overeem, having just convincingly beat Andrei Arlovski and sporting a four-fight winning streak, will be the next challenger for the heavyweight title?

Mark Radulich:FICTION Logically sure, he deserves at this point but I suspect that if Cain Velasquez actually makes it to his date with Travis Browne and then beats him, Dana White will once again give Valesquez yet another undeserved title shot. He has a history of bending over backwards for Velasquez because of his potential marketability in Latin America. Cain just has to stay healthy and make it to the date. If Velasquez beats Browne there will be a rush to get him and Miocic in the octagon as soon as possible (probably October, maybe MSG in November). The smart money has Overeem vs Werdum III as the co-main event of Miocic vs Velasquez, that way if Velasquez gets injured again, they are covered with not just Overeem, the rightful contender but also Werdum for the rematch (not that he deserves it either). Another possibility is the rumored Fedor Emelianenko signing. If that’s a real thing I would imagine he’ll get pushed to the head of the pack in an immediate title or one fight away (Werdum rematch).

Dino Zee: FACT Part of me still believes that they’re just waiting for Cain to smash Travis Browne at 200 so they can book Cain’s usual fight of “Title Match,” but there’s another part that thinks they’ll strike while the chance is there to finally get Overeem the title shot he’s been basically guaranteed since showing up. It’s really tough when you put two guys the UFC clearly wants to keep at the top at all times in this spot, which is why I’m not totally certain on this one. Still, Overeem will be coming off the strength of a 4 fight streak while Cain, at best, would have one whole win over Travis Browne. Of course, if Cain loses at 200, then this is a total slam dunk Fact.

With Dana White uncertain about Ronda Rousey’s return in 2016, and Rousey yet to begin filming on her two current Hollywood projects, as well as teaming up with the Lfetime Network on a 3-movie deal, it is safe to say we won’t see the former women’s bantamweight champion inside the octagon in 2016?

Mark Radulich: FACT Rousey appears to be a bit of head case and I mean that in the nicest way possible. Losing her title and her undefeated streak seems to have affected her worse than the average fighter. If I were to wildly speculate, based on her history i.e. switching weight classes and picking a fight with Miesha Tate in Strikeforce, adopting a bombastic public persona, being the public face of the UFC, etc; I would say Rousey looked at MMA more as a way to make celebrity money and not necessarily as someone who wanted to be a professional competitor. That might sound odd seeing as she was a champion but again, look back at her career. She opted to drop to bantamweight 1) to avoid Cyborg while they were both in Strikeforce and 2) because it was more often than not the more featured weight class. And she didn’t just drop and work her way back up. After disposing of Julia Budd, she immediately and publicly lobbied for a fight with Miesha Tate. Her biggest reason was ostensibly because they were both hot (she said as much on the MMA Hour). She also basically said competition and fairness is for the olympics, she’s in this to make money (also said on the MMA Hour). I’m not sure her heart was truly in professional fighting as I’ve always said, if your hearts not in it, don’t do it. She has other irons in the fire and doesn’t have to fight ever again provided she doesn’t have massive gambling debts or a drug problem. I think she’s satisfied with her legacy and as long as she can do less physically demanding things to make money, she’ll probably stick with that. And I say good for her!

Dino Zee: FICTION Maybe it’s just the fan in me (sorry, I’m not sorry), but I get the feeling Ronda will be back this year, and that decision will be even easier to make if Tate gets by Nunes. Why wouldn’t Ronda return to take the title from her enemy while also beating her ass for a third time? Even if Tate loses the belt to Nunes, that’s another fight that’s probably winnable for Rousey, so why not come back for that? Yeah, she’s got some things on her plate, but I just don’t think she’ll allow more than a full year to pass without even some sort of announcement for an upcoming fight, and I do expect to see her back before the end of the year. Like, say, in New York or something.

SWITCH!

Although, riding a 5-fight winning streak with 2-submission finishes, Demian Maia still needs a win over a top five welterweight before challenging the welterweight champion?

Dino Zee: FACT I don’t think it’s fair, though. Neil Magny, Gunnar Nelson, and Matt Brown are all guys the UFC likes to / have been trying to push, and Maia made them all look ordinary. However, Maia still has that stain from his ill-fated title shot against Anderson Silva, shouldering the blame for how that fight went even though most of that falls on Silva, in my opinion of course. Maia has looked really good while at 170, but it appears that unless he hits a double flip fire uppercut, he’s not going to get his due. Perhaps, if he could do to Stephen Thompson or Rory MacDonald what he did to Brown, he’d finally get a title shot. As it stands, I fear that Maia is in that “Fitch / Okami” class with UFC Brass where he wins, but they don’t like how he wins, and so he won’t move up the ladder much further. He’ll need a big win to get there… is Condit done throwing a temper tantrum about losing yet? Maybe forget the Diaz rematch, and fight a guy who, rankings wise, would make more sense in your road to a rematch?

Mark Radulich: FACT Maia as 0 wins over anyone of serious note on this current win streak. His debut and subsequent streak bore more notable fruit but this time around he’s got 3 decisions over not-so-notable talent. His 2 losses before he got back on track were Jake Shields and Rory MacDonald. MacDonald is wrapped up with Stephen Thompson, Carlos Condit may be retired (although if he’s not, that’s a good match for Maia) and Woodley has the next shot against Lawler. Maia is currently ranked #4 in the official UFC rankings. Besides Condit, it might be in his best interest to wait and see who ends up losing in their forthcoming fights. I wouldn’t mind seeing a rematch between him and MacDonald in order for him make his case for a title shot. I also would like to see him take on Wonderboy before being set up for a title shot.

In light of all the talk of the UFC going up for sale, it is possible to say, speaking “hypothetical,” that a sale of the promotion in its entirety, would signal the upstart of a new era for fighters, as it could potentially make way for fighters coming together collectively and gaining more power over their careers from promoters and the like?

Dino Zee: FICTION I’m only going Fiction because it could signal a new era, but I hesitate to say that it would. We’re assuming the new owners aren’t just as control-freakish as Uncle Dana. That they won’t like the already established rules, or that they wouldn’t honor existing contracts with guys like Reebok. That they wouldn’t enjoy making most of the money from every card, and that they wouldn’t enjoy all the same things the guys that currently run the UFC enjoy. That’s just too big of a leap for me to make in good faith for a group of hypothetical strangers. I think it’d be much easier for the new guys to keep the status quo than anything, and so that’s probably what we’d see.

Mark Radulich: FICTION I fail to see how one would bring on the other. Right now the fighters have no collective power or bargaining rights. If I’m a potential buyer, I would want to keep the status quo, not walk into a wasps nest of unions and collective bargaining. The only “new era” that I could see being sparked is one where Dana White is fired and someone with a modicum of class and professional demeanor takes his place. It would also be nice to see fighters who deserve rematches actually get them and those that don’t be sent to the back of the line instead of decisions being made based on favoritism and whatever market they are trying to open.

Cristiane “Cyborg” Santos’ quick annihilation of the always tough, Leslie Smith, is evidence that no bantamweight, under the UFC women’s roster, could beat the Brazilian, to include Ronda Rousey?

Dino Zee: FACT It’s almost like there’s a reason we have weight classes or something. Yeah, the Featherweight Champion starched a mid-level Bantamweight. Can you believe that?! A heavier champion wrecked a lighter – (watches GSP / Penn) – oh, right. This is exactly what’s to be expected, and shouldn’t be that big of a deal in the first place. Yes, Cyborg probably wrecks the entire Bantamweight division. And, as long as she can’t make 135 and the UFC refuses to create a 145 division, those are the fights we’re going to get for her. I’d still like to see Holm and, oddly enough, de Randamie get their chances, but I’m not sure how legit of a challenge they’d present. And then there’s Ronda. Yeah, she probably gets smashed, too. Like I said… it’s almost like there’s weight classes for a reason or something.

Mark Radulich: FICTION Cyborg lost a kickboxing match in Lion Fights. She’s also been taken to the 4th round by Marloes Coenen. She’s not unbeatable. Holly Holm could probably give her a good fight and most likely beat her. Rousey probably doesn’t fair so well since she doesn’t handle being in the face like she should as a professional fighter. If Rousey stuck with her bread and butter, grappling, maybe she gets the sub but Cyborg is not slouch on the ground either. In any case, sure, most of the Bantamweight roster gets killed by Cyborg but there are some that can stand up to her.

So who won? Did we have another close contest? Or, did Dino Zee out wit Mark Radulich? You’ve got until midnight eastern on Saturday to vote, so make sure you make your voice heard!

And that’s it for today, but as always, we’ll be back next week with another contest! Be sure to leave your comments below. And please, be sure to vote!

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