There were no surprises when Strikeforce Bantamweight champion, Ronda Rousey took the arm of Sarah Kaufman forcing the Canadian to tap after just 54 seconds of the first round, which notched up Rousey’s sixth first round submission finish from 6 professional fights.
The questions must be asked, who will Rousey fight next?
Immediately following the fight Rousey called out former Strikeforce Featherweight champion, Cris Cyborg who is currently serving a 12 month suspension after testing positive for an anabolic steroid following a first round stoppage win over Hiroko Yamanaka in December of 2011.
“I need to send out a challenge to Ms. Cyborg,” Rousey said post fight. “People want to see you have the first fair fight of your life. I’m the champ now. The champ doesn’t go to you. You go to the champ. Come down to 135 and let’s settle this.”
Cyborg is allowed to return to the cage in 2013, which is good timing for a fight with Rousey, but would Cyborg be able to cut the extra weight in order to make Bantamweight with Rousey stating she wants it at 135lbs?
“I dont owe Cyborg anything,” exclaimed Rousey. “She needs to fight me, more than I need to fight her.”
“That’s the fight we have on our radar,” said Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker. “When it will happen is unknown, but we will start having that conversation when Cyborg returns from suspension.”
“Once we get the fight together, it will break all television and gate records,” stated Coker.
Another opponent that may be looked at for Rousey is Gina Carano. Carano last fought in 2009 which was a loss to Cyborg. She has been busy chasing her dreams in Hollywood in recent years, so if she is to return to the Strikeforce cage a tune up fight would be a better option then being thrown in the deep end against Rousey.
“If I was to pick which one I would actually want to beat up, I would want to beat up Cris Cyborg the most,” Rousey said in the lead up to her fight with Kaufman. “Whereas I would want just want a win over Gina. She’s a cool chick. I have so much respect for her.”
Coker was unable to commit to a Miesha Tate vs Ronda Rousey rematch, but the former champion didn’t feel like she had done enough to earn another title shot.
“I don’t feel my performance was contention worthy,” said Tate. “I’m not going to ask for a rematch, I’d like a few more fights, I need a better performance then that.”
Personally I feel that a fight with Cyborg makes sense and will be one of the biggest female MMA fights of all time, but Rousey may have to meet her at 140lbs to make it happen.
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