If there is one more thing I would love to see Ronda do in the Octagon, it would be for her to kick some arse. Literally, I mean literally for her to win a fight by using her shapely and gloriously muscular legs to put an opponent to sleep.
Metaphorically, Rowdy has already kicked many cage fighters and non-MMA fighters (Mayweather) right up their royal bottoms. Too many to count, really. She won her first eleven matches (Professional and Amateur) by armbar submission, most within a minute, grossly humiliating for all her adversaries who were largely outstanding athletes in their own right. As a result people nicknamed her the ‘Arm Collector’. Earlier this year in Feb 2015 after she literally twisted poor little Cat Zingano’s arm into submission within 14 seconds of their fight, it became a turning point in Rousey’s career as the ‘Wow’ factor of her arm twisting super-powers officially became the norm, something that was completely expected of the champion.
Rowdy is now turning to the Hollywood big screen, and rightly so not simply due to her splendid form and magnificent skillset in Martial Arts, but because Rousey has a natural talent in theatrics. Correia’s biggest mistake may not have been to attempt to out-punch Rousey, but to try upstage ‘Rowdy’ before the fight. The comment about ‘killing herself’ is not simply cruel and foul, it was plain folly. Even considering the remote chance that Correia could have won the fight, she would have gone down in history not only as the woman who tamed Rousey, but as the most unsportsmanlike champion in Women Bantamweight history. Instead of disrupting Rousey’s morale, Correia only awoke a dormant part of Rousey – an astonishing ability to punch the crap out of a star striker.
A wrestler’s instinct is to maintain posture stability. A boxer’s instinct is to keep low and light footed at the same time. Both tend to stay closer to the ground and keep their feet further apart. A Muay Thai fighter’s instinct opposes both impulses as they need to keep their feet closer than other stances due to the necessity to swiftly lift and throw a kick in the shortest possible time. This final stage of Rousey’s evolution will be challenging for her as the exceptional Judoka and supernatural arm Twister that she is, kicks, especially high kicks will be a compromise all of the things she is good at.
There is no longer any doubt that Rousey can win a fight in any method she sets her mind on. In fact, winning fights, especially via armbar submissions may be starting to become boring for her. Since the end of her judo Olympic Career, Rousey acknowledged without a doubt that survival in life outweighs holding any trophies or medals in her hands. Her progress to Hollywood and other means of living is a one-way ticket that will someday have all her Octagon fans shed a tear or two (myself very much so). Before she turns her marvellous silhouette away from the sport, I would wish for her last and final act to be a Bruce Li style, kung-fu fighting, and gravity defying kick that will remain forever a moment of gold in the history of combat sport. Something simply beautiful like the legacy that Muhammad Ali left in the hallway of all boxing fans.
