SXSW has gone from a music festival to a sprawling behemoth that encapsulates all media, which is why we shouldn’t be surprised that there was an Interactive Panel yesterday called ‘UFC: Women Breaking Ground Inside the Octagon’ where Dana White, Ronda Rousey, and fellow 135-pound contender Jessica Eye talked about women’s mixed martial arts.
Sadly for Jessica, no one considers her or anyone else in the women’s bantamweight division a proper challenge for the dominant Rousey, who recently finished off No. 1 contender Cat Zingano in under a minute (the 10th ‘Gone In 60 Seconds’ win of her career), hence why the topic of Ronda Rousey fighting men came up again. After a few weeks of saying she’s capable of beating anyone, it seems like Ronda and the UFC are firmly putting the kibosh on all that co-ed fighting speculation.
“There should never been a venue where we’re celebrating a man hitting a woman,” Rousey repeated, and a large crowd at the South by Southwest 2015 Interactive Conference greeted her stance — and her honesty — with huge applause.
In other words, no.
And if there was any doubt, “With our organization, she’ll never fight a man,” said UFC President Dana White.
The SXSW Interactive Panel covered a ton of bases: Dana White’s switch from “Women will never fight in the UFC” to “Women are the most exciting fighters in the UFC,” Ronda Rousey’s thoughts on being a role model and participating in stuff like the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue, and Jessica Eye on how she feels about being overlooked as a potential opponent (“She hasn’t fought me yet!”).
Conspicuously absent from the conversation: Cris Cyborg, the only legitimate threat to Rousey who happens to be of the right gender and from the right sport. Alas, she also fights at the 145-pound weight class while Rousey competes at 135. Which, according to Rousey, means the fight isn’t going to happen.
Tune into Uproxx Sports for more Ronda Rousey news as it happens. Hopefully we’ll have something on an opponent Ronda will actually fight sooner rather than later.
(SXSW Infographic via Imagethink)