UFC woman’s bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey is set to take on former Olympic wrestler Sara McMann at UFC 170. The fight will serve as the night’s main event. Both woman are former Olympic wrestlers.
McMann is the first American woman in history to receive a silver medal in Olympic wrestling, and was a silver medalist in the 2003 world championships and bronze medalist in 2005 & 2007 World Championships. “Rowdy” also has her share of Olympic accomplishments as she became the first American woman to earn an Olympic medal in judo at the summer Olympics in 2008.
Both woman have an excellent background in grappling and jiu-jitsu. Rousey’s weakness (if any) does seem to be with really strong grapplers. She was in a minor struggle with Liz Carmouche at UFC 157 before escaping and winning the fight in the first round via armbar. UFC 168 was the first time we saw her go into deep waters, which she proved she can do with flying colors against Miesha Tate.
When you breakdown the mold of Ronda Rousey, you’ll ask yourself, what is her kryptonite? Anyone can get knocked out, but no one has been able to test her chin. If you grapple with her, you usually end up on the wrong end of things.
Will this be the case against McMann? McMann has some of the best grappling in all mma. Will she take Rousey down? More than likely, but how long will she stay down? That’s the big question. I think the bigger question is, what happens when she gets her down?
Rousey proved in her last fight that she has more submissions than just the armbar. She had Tate in a pretty tight triangle at UFC 168 and just didn’t seem to want to lock it up in my opinion. You can bet if McMann gets her in a dangerous spot on the ground, that she will utilize her entire submission game and hold nothing back. Not saying she really held back in the Tate fight, but she definitely wasn’t scared of Miesha on the mat.
If and when McMann gets Rousey down, you can bet she will have more respect for her on the ground. Either way, it will take more than wrestling to take Rousey’s belt from her cold blooded hands. If Rousey is ever defeated, you will have to finish her, not just out point her.
McMann has the tools to beat Rousey, hopefully she doesn’t just rely on her wrestling. She will have to out strike Rousey, mix up her striking with take-down attempts, stay away from being one dimensional and really mix things up if she wants to upset the UFC’s first woman 135lb champion. This will be a way better fight than most anticipate, but it will more than likely end up another armbar victory for the “Rowdy” one.
Ben McPhee (@mmawriter1 on Twitter)