UFC 190: Rousey vs. Correia Date: August 1, 2015 Location: HSBC Arena Venue: Rio de Janeiro, Brazil Broadcast: PPV UFC Women’s Bantamweight Champion Ronda Rousey The first American woman to medal in Olympic Judo, Ronda Rousey (11-0) has gone from promising amateur to the reason why women’s MMA is in the UFC in just over three years. Her meteoric rise through the sport is as unprecedented as her eight-straight armbar wins between 2011 and 2013, seven of which came in the first round. Rousey was the Strikeforce women’s bantamweight champion prior to entering the Octagon, and she is now the reigning and defending UFC women’s bantamweight champ, having already defended her belt five times in just over two years with the UFC. Her judo is seemingly impossible to defend against, and, at only 28 years of age, she keeps improving and her striking gets better with every fight, with two of her last three wins coming by way of knockout. No woman has been able to truly threaten her, with Rousey finishing the likes of Cat Zingano, Alexis Davis, Sarah Kaufman, Miesha Tate (twice), Liz Carmouche, Sara McMann and Julia Budd with ease. She’s the most dominant champ in women’s MMA history, and easily one of the best pound-for-pound fighters in the sport regardless of gender. For her next challenge, she travels to Brazil to take on Bethe Correia in a fight she should dominate with ease. UFC Women’s Bantamweight Contender Bethe Correia A standout female fighter from Brazil, Bethe Correia (9-0) has looked great in the UFC so far, going 3-0 with wins over Shayna Baszler, Jessamyn Duke and Julie Kedzie to earn a spot in the top 10. A striker, the 31-year-old Brazilian showed she has knockout power in her win over Baszler at UFC 177, and she showed in her fights against Duke and Kedzie that she also has solid takedown defence, stuffing most of her opponents’ takedown attempts in those bouts. However, all three of those fighters were unranked, and Correia appears to be getting a title shot against Ronda Rousey not based on merit, but rather due to a lack of contenders in the UFC women’s bantamweight division. Although Correia could beat many of the UFC’s female fighters, taking out Rousey seems like an impossible task. She will have hometown advantage for this fight, but that’s about it, and she’ll step into the cage as one of the biggest underdogs in UFC history this summer when she takes on the champ. Opening UFC 190 Main Event Analysis: MMA oddsmaker Nick Kalikas made Rousey a massive -1500 favorite (bet $1500 to win $100) while Correia opened as a huge +700 underdog (bet $100 to win $700) at Several Bookmakers. This fight is a huge mismatch on paper, and the odds suggest that. While Correia is undefeated in her career and has been solid in the UFC, she is untested against elite competition and Rousey is by far the best fighter she’s ever fought. Rousey has been nothing but dominant and coming off of a 14-second submission win over Zingano at UFC 184, it’s hard to see her losing her title anytime soon, especially to someone as unproven as Correia. With all due respect to Correia, she did not earn a title shot and it appears the decision to give her a crack at the belt is a business decision first and a fight decision second. For Correia to win, she’d be pulling off the biggest upset in the history of MMA, and it’s just not likely going to happen, which is why you see the odds as wide as they are.
