June 4, 2015
By Ryan Porzl
"Rowdy" Ronda Rousey vs. Cris "Cyborg" Justino is a superfight that fans have been looking forward to for years. It's also a fight that could potentially be the biggest fight in Women's MMA to date. Unfortunately, things have prevented the fight from happening. With most of blame going to Cyborg because she has not moved down to bantamweight, I've decided to write this article to debunk the talking points and show that while Cyborg is no saint, she's not to blame here. Also, I will take a look at who are really responsibile for the fight not happening and why they don't have much to gain from it happening. Before beginning, I want to make it perfectly clear that this isn't an anti-Rousey, anti-UFC, and pro-Cyborg article. It's me trying to clear the air on ridiculous talking points and who the fans should really be calling out if they want this fight.
The first talking point to be debunked is one UFC President Dana White said claiming that the superfight has to be at bantamweight because "champions don't chase". They don't? Well, I'm quite sure what Dana meant to say was that Rousey doesn't chase because since Zuffa has owned the UFC, they have allowed many champions to move up to higher weight classes for a fight. Not only that but many of the fights were no where near as big as this one. In 2009, Lightweight Champion BJ Penn moved up to face Georges St-Pierre for the UFC Welterweight Championship. In 2006, UFC Welterweight Champion Matt Hughes moved up to face Royce Gracie in a 175 pound catchweight fight. Anderson Silva moved up to light heavyweight three times during his seven year reign as UFC Middleweight Champion. In 2008, he faced James Irvin, then Forrest Griffin in 2009, and Stephan Bonnar in 2012. While the first example can be justified, the others can't. Hughes can move up five pounds to utterly destroy a 39 year old, one dimensional, aging Royce Gracie. Anderson Silva can move up twenty pounds to practice his recycling skills on two tomato cans and smash a former champion coming off a title loss. Yet, Rousey can't move ten pounds or even five (catchweight) for a superfight?
The second talking point is that Cyborg has to move down to Bantamweight. Why? Why is it all up to a fighter dropping down to a weight class she's never fought in before? This doesn't happen in most cases. Usually, the smaller fighter moves up since they can and they don't have to worry about cutting as a much weight. GSP and BJ Penn fought twice and there was never any consideration of having their fights at lightweight. Nobody expected GSP to cut an additional fifteen pounds and he wasn't considered a coward for not doing it. Meanwhile, GSP and Silva couldn't come to terms on weight but St-Pierre was at least willing to consider the move to middleweight and in his defense, he never fought there before. Hell, some people said St-Pierre was ducking Silva when he didn't move up. When people talked about the possibility of Jon Jones and Anderson Silva fighting, everyone assumed it would be a light heavyweight fight with Silva moving up should the fight ever happen. There was never any thought of this being a middleweight fight if it happened. At no point did Silva or his manager Ed Soares demand that Jones drop down to middleweight. Then there's Cain Velasquez and Jon Jones. When people talk about that fight, they automatically assume it would be a heavyweight fight. Granted, Velasquez would have to cut 35 pounds to make light heavyweight and it can be considered an extreme example but what about a catchweight fight? No one is even considering a 220 pound catchweight fight. It's heavyweight or bust. Even non title fights recently have seen fighters move up. Nick Diaz moved up to middleweight to face Anderson Silva, King Mo moved up to heavyweight to fight Cheick Kongo, and Urijah Faber moved up to featherweight to face Frankie Edgar. Obviously, the light heavyweight to heavyweight comparison can be extreme but like I said, no one is even considering a 220 pound catchweight. The thought of GSP or Jon Jones or Cain Velasquez cutting 15-20 pounds isn't even considered but everything is on Cyborg having to cut an additional 10 pounds?
I should also point out that Ronda Rousey is, by no means, a natural bantamweight. In fact, she's a big bantamweight as Rousey has fought above bantamweight four times. Three out of her first four fights were featherweight fights and her second fight was a 150 pound catchweight fight. She also competed at 155 pounds in the Olympics. So Rousey is not a small fighter and should have no problem moving up. I know the argument to her moving up is because she's a UFC champion and Cyborg isn't. Two problems with that reason. First is that Cyborg has stated that she doesn't want to challenge for the belt and the fact this is a superfight means the title doesn't need to be put on the line since the fight will sell itself. Second is that Cyborg isn't a UFC champion because there is no women's featherweight division. If there was then you can bet she would be.
A third talking point has been Cyborg's previous drug test failure for steroids. While Cyborg did flunk a drug test, that was three and a half years ago. Since then, Cyborg has competed in three MMA fights and two kickboxing fights all the while passing her tests. Not to mention that Rousey shouldn't have to worry. Drug testing and punishments have been stepped up. There's been out-of-competition testing, random testing, and blood work so there's no way Cyborg will be taking anything or she'll get caught. The risk has also gotten to be too great. If caught, Cyborg would serve a two year suspension which would be horrible to her career.
Now, I do want to point out that there should be some pressure from Cyborg because you need her and Rousey in order to do this fight. However, out of the three parties, I feel she deserves the least pressure. To her defense, she has, at least, been willing to compromise and do a 140 pound catchweight fight. In reality, the most pressure on doing this fight should be shared by Rousey and the UFC. In the case of the UFC, they are the promotion who have them under contract and the people behind it should be able to cut some deal to satisfy both parties. The UFC also doesn't have the greatest track record in regards to superfights. They never signed Fedor and thus never did Fedor vs. Randy Couture and Fedor vs. Brock Lesnar. They had Anderson Silva, Georges St-Pierre, and Jon Jones all under contract and were never able to do either Silva vs. St-Pierre or Silva vs. Jones. Sure UFC has made St-Pierre/Penn 2 and Henderson/Melendez but for the most part, that's it. People want to see this fight and Dana White has said they make the fights fans want to see so the pressure should be on the UFC to make this. Then there's the claims that White said the fight would reach two million buys. I'm no business man but if I have a fight that can draw two million then I'm probably going to personally align the planets to get this fight.
Then there's Rousey. Honestly, Rousey should probably have the most pressure. Unlike Cyborg who is at least willing to compromise, Rousey won't budge. It's her way or the highway. Not agreeing to the Cyborg fight should be a problem for Rousey's image. For one, she and the UFC have made claims or at least joked about her fighting men and beating 135 pound men fighters. She's also made claims that she would be willing to move up to face retired boxer Leila Ali and retired MMA fighter Gina Carano. Granted, I think the mens and even Ali fights are her and UFC joking but the Carano fight is serious. So if it is, why is Rousey fine with moving up ten pounds for a retired fighter that hasn't fought in six years but she won't for a superfight? She also had no problem doing three fights early in her career at featherweight and another at a 150 pound catchweight but she can't move up for a superfight? Another reason the pressure should be on Rousey is the fact that she wants to be the best and a lot of people think she is the best. The problem is that if she's the best then why not fight Cyborg at her weight and prove it? The biggest names in MMA history usually didn't care about fighting bigger opponents. Fedor Emelianenko, Igor Vovchanchyn, Mirko Cro Cop, and Randy Couture were some of the greatest fighters to ever compete at heavyweight and they were all natural light heavyweights. Dan Henderson and Kazushi Sakuraba were natural middleweights who frequently fought at light heavyweight and even heavyweight at least once. BJ Penn is a natural lightweight who made trips to welterweight and even fought Lyoto Machida in a catchweight fight at 191 pounds. Royce Gracie made his legend beating much bigger opponents in openweight fights with little to no rules. Kid Yamamoto and Urijah Faber are both natural bantamweights but had lots of success in higher weight classes with Yamamoto in lightweight and Faber in featherweight. Overall, these legends didn't care about facing heavier and bigger fighters so Rousey shouldn't worry about ten pounds if she wants to be the best. Finally, there's the case of Rousey saying Cyborg is nothing but steroids including recent comments about her having no technique and no chin but all steroids and muscle. If that's the case then why not fight her at featherweight? I mean, Cyborg won't be able to use steroids and if she has no technique or chin then surely Rousey should have no trouble thrashing her right? It should be an easy paycheck and she can shut up critics so why not move up since Rousey won't break a sweat, regardless of weight, by fighting someone with no technique or chin?
Finally, there's the real reason why the UFC and Rousey don't want this fight. Sorry to the UFC and/or Rousey haters but it's not cowardice. Rather, it's business. I know it doesn't seem to make sense but it does if you look at the big picture. Outside of a nice paycheck and pay-per-view buys, what do the UFC and Rousey gain from doing this fight? Nothing. In fact, they stand to potentially lose everything and only gaining nothing. In the case of the UFC, if the worst case scenario were to happen and Cyborg destroys Rousey then they lose the face of their women's division and their biggest female star. The MMA world already saw what happened when Cyborg faced a bankable star in Gina Carano. She smashed her and Carano retired to cash in her fame for a movie career. She hasn't fought since and likely never will again. Women's MMA took a hit when Carano left and Cyborg never filled the void or became a new star despite the win and fun fight style she brings. Cyborg is fun to watch and has talent but she doesn't have the bankable charisma or star power that Carano or Rousey possess. If lightning were to strike twice, what would stop Rousey from bailing on MMA and following Carano to tinseltown? The bantamweight division would be without it's top star which is something the new division can't afford. The UFC has also been lacking big stars in recent years. Chuck Liddell, Randy Couture, Brock Lesnar, Matt Hughes, and BJ Penn have all retired. Georges St-Pierre is on a leave of absence and no one knows when or if he'll return. Anderson Silva missed all of 2014 due to a career threatening leg injury and is out of action again due to a drug test failure. Just recently, Jon Jones was suspended indefinitely due to personal problems and legal issues. Ultimately, the last thing the UFC needs is for Rousey to suffer a big loss or leave.
Rousey also has a lot to lose. Say she does beat Cyborg, what will she gain besides a nice paycheck and shutting up some critics? She has nothing to gain and everything (and I mean everything) to lose. Think about it. Rousey's whole thing is that she's this indestructable force of nature. She's chews people up and spits them out. Because of it, she's earned tons of respect and fame for it. She's broken into the mainstream. She's received movie offers included big franchises like Entourage, Fast and the Furious, and the Expendables all the while being in demand for talk show appearances like the Tonight Show. If she loses to Cyborg especially in a dominating way then she can kiss a lot of this goodbye. MMA and the entertainment industry in the United States have very fickle audiences. One minute, you're on top of the world and the next, you're yesterday's news. A tough loss would hurt her in the mainstream. The movie offers and talk show appearances won't happen as often and people won't be talking about her as much. She'll be looked upon either as a has-been or overrated to the fickle audience. Now, I'm not saying she'll be in mainstream but there won't be as much interest in her. Her career will also suffer as Rousey is a lot like other dominant fighters in MMA history. She has an aura of invincibility and can psyche fighters out before the fight begins. If she loses then she loses that aura, she loses that psychological advantage, and she'll come off as human.
Again, I want to point out that I don't want this to come off as an anti-Rousey or anti-UFC article. Cyborg does have a part in this fight happening. In this case, it takes three to tango so she has to deliver as well. However, I do think she doesn't deserve all the pressure to deliver. This article is mostly written for the diehard UFC and Rousey fans who believe the talking points and that it should be shouldered upon Cyborg to meet their demands. It's also to debunk the talking points because I do understand the business reasons but these excuses are insulting to the fans intelligence. There's a difference between being a fan and blind devotion and these fans are showing blind devotion when they give passes to Rousey that they would never give to another fighter.
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