The face of women's MMA is back in action this weekend, as Strikeforce Women's Bantamweight Champion Ronda Rousey defends her title against Sarah Kaufman at the Valley View Casino Center in San Diego, California.
While Kaufman was the inaugural Strikeforce titleholder at 135 pounds - and she has the kind of striking game that could give Rousey trouble - she isn't being given much of a chance by the oddsmakers. As a result, it's only natural that MMA observers are wondering about what's next for Rousey after Saturday, and Cris Cyborg is giving them something to talk about.
The former Strikeforce Women's Featherweight Champion has stated her desire to fight Rousey, although she has requested that the fight take place at her fighting weight of 145 pounds, or a catchweight of 140 pounds. Rousey, for her part, has refused the suggested weight, insisting that Cyborg - still serving a steroid suspension - can make the weight to fight her at bantamweight.
The matchup seems like the sort of battle that can help build the profile of women's MMA, growing the sport to the point where a women's division could conceivably be added to the UFC at some point in the future. The criticism that UFC president Dana White and others have had of women's MMA has been that there's a lack of elite-level female fighters. There's some truth in that - although the all-female Invicta FC promotion is helping to remedy that situation - and there's no doubt that two well-known fighters are better than one when promoting a fight.
However, as the buildup to Rousey vs. Kaufman has shown, Rousey is a brand unto herself. The combination of her looks, her Olympic pedigree (bronze medal in judo in 2008) and her slick submission skills has been enough to land her in ESPN: The Magazine's Body Issue, on the couch with Conan O'Brien and ringing the bell at the NASDAQ stock exchange. Unless she can pull the upset on Saturday night, the record will wind up stating, for all intents and purposes, that Sarah Kaufman was there too.
There could also be a more likely fight for Cyborg at 145. With her gold medal win in London two weeks ago, American judoka Kayla Harrison has generated plenty of buzz about a possible move to MMA, and if she does make that move, she's more likely to fight at 145 than 135 (her judo weight class is 78 kilograms, or 171.6 pounds). If Rousey-Cyborg can't happen, Harrison-Cyborg could wind up being just as good.
There's no doubt that Rousey wants to fight Cyborg, and that she'd like to fight Gina Carano as well, if Carano can put her film career on hold long enough to return to the cage. For right now, though, Rousey is the star, and she's playing that role to the hilt.
In the long run, women's MMA is going to need more than Ronda Rousey to be successful. It's going to need more than Rousey, Carano, Cyborg, Kaufman, and Miesha Tate. However, in terms of generating the kind of interest that can lead to long-term growth, Ronda Rousey is doing just fine, thank you.
