At 28 years old, 5’7” and weighing in at 135 pounds, Ronda Rousey is the undefeated Women’s Bantamweight champion in the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). Having only spent less than 30 minutes in the octagon over the duration of her UFC career, Rousey has quickly ended all of her 12 matches in an average of under a minute. Usually forcing her opponent to tap out with an armbar and, of course, with the occasional TKO. It was inevitable that the question would eventually come up: When will Ronda Rousey fight a man? It seems that everyone, including Rousey, believes she is more than capable of taking on a male UFC fighter and winning. They also believe that fighter could be none other than the best of the best himself, Floyd Mayweather.
Mayweather has been referred to by some as “The world’s most dangerous man,” both in and out of the world of boxing. He has won multiple world titles, as well as Fighter of the Year, but has also faced multiple accounts of domestic violence. When asked about Rousey in the past, he has claimed he did not know who she was. Whether or not that was true, that fact definitely changed at the July ESPY awards, where Rousey won both Best Female Athlete and Fighter of the Year, beating out Mayweather for the award.
Upon receiving the trophy, she called out Mayweather, saying, “I wonder how Floyd feels being beat by a woman for once. I’d like to see him pretend not knowing who I am now.” Since then, the UFC has been buzzing with talk of putting the two in the ring together, and what the outcome would be if they did.
Several figureheads of Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) have given their opinion on whether or not they believe Rousey would have a shot against Mayweather. Dana White himself, the president of the UFC, claimed, “Ronda would grab on to him and ragdoll him,” referring to the fact that Rousey is far more experienced in MMA than Mayweather, and is skilled in much more than just boxing, giving her a strong advantage. Brian Michelino, a renowned MMA coach in Long Island, also expressed the same belief that no matter how long Floyd trained in ground work he’d never be able to get to Rousey’s level, stating, “He’s not going to make it up.”
The praises surrounding Rousey’s MMA skills are rightly earned. The ESPY awards were not the first time she had won. Rousey also holds an Olympic gold medal in judo, explaining why her groundwork is what usually wins her the fight in 30 seconds or less. Of course, her boxing skills are nothing to be toyed with either; she won three of her 12 fights by TKO in the first round. If she were to fight Mayweather, he would have a small height and weight advantage, being only somewhat taller and slightly heavier than Rousey. His biggest advantage would be his reach, which is a whole four inches longer than Rousey’s; however, he is mainly a boxer with little MMA training, and is really only an expert at throwing punches. As Michelino also pointed out, “In an MMA fight I’m pretty confident that she would mess him up, especially since Floyd Mayweather does not have any grappling experience.” As soon as Mayweather were to throw a punch, it’s a safe bet that Rousey would be able to grab it and take him to the ground where she has the greatest advantage. Rousey’s grappling expertise, combined with her better than average boxing skills, would be the perfect recipe for winning if the two did end up in the ring together.
There is always the issue that arises in debates such as this, that the physical anatomy of men and women are simply different, which is true, most of the time. This issue of the sometimes drastic differences in the physical structure of a man versus a woman in the UFC was brought up in September of 2014, when Rousey turned down the challenge to fight transgender fighter Fallon Fox. Rousey concluded in an interview with Fox Sports that, when it comes to fighting trans women, she feels it is a “case-by-case scenario,” explaining that, “If you go through puberty as a man it’s not something you can reverse.” Her opinion was that Fox, being so much stronger and built larger than her fellow female fighters, due to her male physicality, has an unfortunate unfair advantage. This is a valid point that I believe goes for all fighters -- that if one opponent is significantly stronger or larger than the other, there is no reason they should be competing. It is simply unfair and dangerous.
Men and women are just naturally built differently; a man and a woman being put in a ring to fight when one is significantly stronger than the other could be very dangerous. But if a woman such as Ronda Rousey is the same height, same weight, and can hit just as hard as a male opponent, she should not be held back from her shot at being the best of the best simply because of her gender. If they have the same stats and are just as strong as those they want to compete against, everyone deserves a fair chance. If they can win the same award, they can fight the same fight. I believe Rousey versus Mayweather would be an ultimately fair, and downright incredible, match to watch.
