Say what you will about Ronda Rousey. Some dislike her somewhat abrasive, ultra-competitive personality, while others are in love with her appreciation for Pokemon. However, let it never be said that she doesn’t know how to sell a fight. With rumors of Gina Carano possibly signing with Bellator, Rousey has stepped forward to contend that Carano would be her most dangerous opponent, presumably to get more people interested in what most are writing off as a mauling waiting to happen.
Rousey said that Carano is a stylistic nightmare for her, due to Gina’s ability to set and control the distance the fight takes place at. Of course, Rousey fought Sarah Kaufman, a boxer with a very solid jab that looks to set the distance, and Ronda just bull-rushed in to get a clinch and judo tossed Kaufman to the ground, tapping her in under a minute. That puts of a bit of a question mark on the theory that Ronda has trouble against fighters controlling the distance against her.
Ronda added that Carano is one of the few female fighters with true one-punch knockout power, something every fighter needs to be cautious of. While I imagine Carano hits very hard, I expect someone with “one-punch knockout power” to have more knockout wins than decision victories, something that can’t be said for Gina. She’s certainly no Melvin Manhoef, with his 26 KOs off 28 wins. I do agree that any fighter has the potential to knock out any other fighter, but Carano hasn’t really shown that kind of soul cleaving power in the past. It’s not like Ronda’s going to be fighting Veronica “I have several five-second one hitter quitter knockouts on my record” Rothenhausler.
If all things are taken into consideration, Carano does have the potential to be a tough out for Rousey. However, people thought the same thing about most of Ronda’s recent victims. Sara McMann is an Olympic silver medalist in wrestling (One better than Rousey’s bronze in judo), so surely she would be able to stifle Ronda’s take down attempts! Didn’t matter, Rousey killed her liver in just over a minute. Alexis Davis is a BJJ ace, her grappling can neutralize Rousey’s, right? Also didn’t matter, since Ronda murdered her in a quarter of a minute with a flurry of ground and pound punches.
At this point, due to how thin the women’s bantamweight division is, Ronda has entered Georges St. Pierre mode of calling all future opponents “thee ‘ardest, mos’ daen-jer-us test of my keh-reer” just to get people to consider buying the PPV for reasons other than “how bad is Ronda going to destroy this person?”