Rousey an opportunity to draw crossover appeal for UFC

Rousey an opportunity to draw crossover appeal for UFC
Mark E. Ortega
Martinez News-Gazette
February 21, 2013

Heading into Saturday night, Ronda Rousey will have a lot heavier things on her shoulders than just the UFC women's bantamweight championship she is set to defend against Liz Carmouche in the main event of UFC 157 at Anaheim, Calif.'s Honda Center.

Rousey will make history as the first female to fight under the UFC banner after a successful run as Strikeforce women's champion before the company folded and was purchased by Dana White and the UFC last year.

She won't be the first female mixed martial artist to have the spotlight on her—short-lived MMA company EliteXC featured American Gladiators beauty Gina Carano as one of their flagship competitors but Carano didn't carry the successful fighting credentials into the cage that Rousey has. Carano eventually lost to Cris “Cyborg” Santos and never fought again before the company eventually folded up shop.

Rousey, on the other hand, is an Olympic gold medalist in judo, having become the first American female to capture gold in judo at the 2008 Olympic Games. Rousey is just as, if not more physically appealing than Carano and is also much more outspoken, having engaged in fun trash talk with past opponents—namely Miesha Tate before Rousey broke her arm in their excitingly fast paced and skilled Strikeforce bout last March.

It was that bout which drew the interest of this writer, a lifelong fan of boxing who has covered the sweet science for five years and never dreamed of being interested enough in a UFC card to go cover it. But Rousey's fight with Tate was unlike any MMA bout this writer had previously seen. It was fought at such a tremendous pace it almost felt choreographed. Rousey showed a couple of holes in her game but was still able to lock Tate into an armbar and snap her arm into pieces before being declared the winner.

Also as a lifelong follower of boxing, it is refreshing to see someone in a power position of another sport willing to eat their words if it makes business sense. That is exactly what UFC head honcho Dana White did. It wasn't long ago that White claimed women would never fight in the UFC, but once it became evident the money generating potential Rousey carried, White was willing to run with it and embrace it.

Rousey, to her credit, knows her importance and has played her part extremely well. On top of being an incredibly skilled fighter and an extremely attractive one at that, Rousey is outspoken and knows exactly what buttons to push in order to generate as much interest as possible.

Take for instance an interview Rousey did a few months ago where she tackled the subject of engaging in sex prior to a fight. It is a widely accepted urban legend that in fight sports, it is never a good idea to engage in sexual activity before a fight. In her interview, Rousey made it clear she doesn't believe in that old wives' tale and actually does the opposite, saying she has as much sex as humanly possible before a bout as it raises her natural testosterone before heading into a fight.

Looking the way that Rousey does, she knows lines like basically give her a license to print money. She's every marketing person's wet dream, and even better, her actual talent is on par with all of those things that will make her such a big draw.

Though Carmouche is a long odds underdog, all it takes is one wrong move from Rousey and the entire operation can unravel in a flash. Rousey knows she can be a big star, but it will necessitate winning, particularly because none of her opponents are well-known yet and there doesn't seem to exist a remote possibility of her engaging in a superfight with Carano conquerer Cris Santos anytime soon.

Saturday night, Anaheim is where it will all begin for Ronda Rousey and her quest to become the face of women's mixed martial arts. Ironically, she will be going head-to-head with another milestone in women's sports—NASCAR driver Danica Patrick became the first female to win the pole position at Daytona and will start the race in first on Sunday. But Patrick has largely been able to succeed despite her track success not coming close to approaching her endorsement success. For Rousey's part, she'll definitely have to deliver at a much more consistent rate in order to approach Patrick's marketability as a female athlete.

Make no mistake about it, this writer was drawn to this event because of Ronda Rousey. This writer is part of that target demographic that the UFC and Dana White hope to draw in that previously has not shown much interest in the product. An impressive performance on Saturday could open up the floodgates to the increased interest in future UFC events, which would do nothing but good things for the company that really is the face of mixed martial arts.

Dana White knows that, which is why he did a 180 degree turn on women's MMA and has gone as far as he can to embrace Rousey as the face of the sport. There's a lot of respect that needs to be aimed White's way for recognizing this, because otherwise where would Rousey's career be continuing?

Rousey seems very intent on proving her new boss a genius, so expect fireworks for as long as the bout may last. In undercard action, Dan Henderson hopes to turn back the clock once more as he meets fan favorite Lyoto Machida in an enticing co-feature. As well, Sacramento based MMA fighter Urijah Faber take on Ivan Menjivar among other fights slated to take place.

However things shake out, history is being made. Rousey will do her part to make sure that moment stretches into many more as time goes on. It's a lot to shoulder, but Rousey seems as game as she did before winning that gold medal. That's good news for a sport still looking to find its identity.