The Queen is back!
Wellllllllll…she isn’t the queen anymore, Amanda Nunes is.
Take Two.
The former Queen is back.
The announcement was made earlier this week that Ronda Rousey will make her long-awaited return from a self-imposed exile (and getting her face punted 50 yards) to face the new champ, Amanda Nunes, at UFC 207 on Dec. 30. Her return will cap a year in which the UFC broke many records, for PPVs and the $4+ billion sale. Having said all of that, I have no idea what to expect here.
Let’s recap.
When we last saw Rousey, she lost in brutal fashion to Holly Holm. Now, every successful MMA fighter will lose at least one match; some of the GOATs have lost at least once. GSP: after getting KOd in 2007, went on to dominate in 12 straight to close his career; Jon Jones: after getting DQd early in his career, he went on a 13 fight tear to continue his career; Anderson Silva: we are still trying to see what he will do…bad example. The mark of a successful MMA fighter is how they bounce back from the loss. The one thing that gives me cause to pause is that she took her first professional loss about as hard as anyone we’ve ever seen before. She essentially dropped off the map. Her confidence took a major hit.
However, I definitely did not foresee this:
That interview gave me chills. As someone that was personally affected by suicide, I did not like hearing this. As a bit of context, Rousey’s father committed suicide when she was 8 years old.
One of the more underrated, yet most important aspects of a fighter is confidence. You need to have confidence in your skills, your gameplan, and your coaching to be successful. Speaking of coaching and confidence, I have no confidence in her coach’s, Edmond Taverdyan, ability to instill that confidence in her. Taverdyan was last seen at UFC 203 yelling at Fabricio Werdum and getting front kicked as a result. Can that guy—Mr. “Worst Coach in MMA” himself—really fix the technical flaws, and obvious psychological issues in her game?
Which brings me to my next point: Amanda Nunes is terrifying…albeit for the first round (and half of the second). Funny thing, Rousey and Nunes are stylistically similar fighters in the fact that they are hyper-aggressive fighters. Nunes as the clear striking advantage by a long mile. While Ronda Rousey likes to use her striking to get within clinch range (body to body against the cage) where she will look for her ninja-judo flip to the ground. The problem is that if her last fight is any indication, Rousey doesn’t have the defensive proficiency to basically not get hit. And when you have 2 super aggressive fighters, one usually is not as good defensively as the other is offensive. Following me??
Make no question about it, this will be a serious test for Ronda. Can she win this fight? Absolutely. Maybe, she has gotten over her psychological hurdles over the past year off. Maybe, learned how to put outside distractions under a rock while she starts training. Maybe, her coach actually learns how to coach…maybe. While it would not shock me if Rousey wins, she would take a lot of damage doing so. Another interesting development: Cyborg. The Bald One (Dana White) already stated that if Rousey wins this fight, she will face Cris Cyborg.
Let’s pause here.
Cyborg would destroy Rousey. Like, she will be swimming with the fishes (shout out to all “The Godfather”…greatest movie ever). It will be “Oh, bad! Oh, bad! Oh, bad, bad, bad!” (shout out to “The Magic School Bus”). That is a story for another day, which I will analyze in detail if Rousey beats Amanda Nunes.
For your viewing pleasure…such beautiful violence:
Featured image via MMAFighting.com
