In case any of you missed it, just over a week ago Ronda Rousey defeated a very game Cat Zingano in just 14 seconds.
It was the fastest title fight in UFC history and showed once again that the champion is on another level from every other girl on the UFC roster.
It does, however, give rise to a problem. Who out there can give Rousey a fight?
As exciting as a female wrecking ball is there is only a finite number of times people will shell out $60 to see half a minute of mayhem. Every champion needs a foil and we need an opponent who presents a genuine challenge and give rise to the first genuine super fight in the history of women’s MMA.
Enter Cristiane ‘Cyborg’ Justino.
A little back story first. Before Ronda Rousey was scything her way through the female ranks, Cyborg was the most feared female athlete on the planet. At 145 pounds she personified the relentless Muay Thai buzzsaw every fighter dreads coming up against.
Justino and Gina Carano were the first women to headline a Western MMA event from which Justino would emerge victorious via a first round TKO. Following this win, however, she suffered from the same problem now faced by Ronda: there was no one for her to fight who could challenger her.
Following a ban for steroid abuse (after her 2011 fight with Hiroko Yamanaka) she dropped off the mainstream radar, until now.
A decision seems to have been made to raise the profile of the challenger-in-waiting as she has been spoken of with increased frequency. Tellingly, Cyborg’s Invicta Title fight (which she won in 46 seconds) received a large amount of publicity and was televised live the day before Rousey made her most recent defence, subtly hyping a possible meeting between the two.
It seems as though the fight is as close to happening as it has ever been, so what is stopping it? Weight, 10 pounds of it to be precise. Justino has repeatedly said she would struggle to make it to Ronda’s 135-pound division and would prefer the bout to take place at a catch-weight.
Rousey and the UFC understandably want to stack the deck in their favour and have repeatedly said the only weight the fight can take place at is the bantamweight limit. So it looks as though the ball is in Cyborg’s court to shed some pounds to make the dream match a reality.
However, things are not always quite what they seem. It is true that Justino needs Rousey to ensure she gains the recognition (and resultant paydays) as the best female fighter on the planet, yet it is equally true that Ronda also needs Justino almost as much.
Rousey’s career has so far been equivalent to that of a Saturn V leaving Cape Canaveral, but how long will the paying public remain interested if she continues to dispatch one sub-par opponent after another when a worthy challenger waits in the wings.
A fighter’s career is a short one and if an opportunity is passed up it is very possible it will not come around again. Rousey versus Cyborg is a match which has to happen for the fans, but also for the increased exposure it will bring to the participants and the sport at large.
As the borderline hysteria which great the Paquiao versus Mayweather fight proved, everybody loves a super fight, and sometimes the wait makes the result even sweeter.
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