You don’t have to like Ronda Rousey.
In fact, feel free to despise the 26-year-old Californian if you’re so inclined.
Pick at her performance on a heavily-edited reality TV series and bemoan the "real mean" approach she’s embraced when it comes to discussing her feelings about her upcoming opponent and chief rival, Miesha Tate.
There is no question that Rousey has the potential to rub some people the wrong way, but don’t let your feelings about her cloud the way you view her as a talent, because on skills, performance, and pedigree, there might not be a more dominant force in the UFC today.
Rousey’s prodigious climb to the pinnacle of the sport tends to get obscured in talks of her late night TV appearances advocating for sex before a fight and photos of her on the set of one of the two major action movie franchises (The Expendables 3 and Fast 7) she’s joined in the last year.
The focus gravitates to the juicier, more TMZ and traffic-friendly narratives like her awkward interview with Jon Anik opposite Tate at last month’s TUF 18 Finale, which took place shortly after she learned of her co-star Paul Walker’s tragic death and after three members of the team she passionately coached on The Ultimate Fighter suffered defeats.
But as Rousey prepares to take to the Octagon for the second time and defend her title against Tate in the co-main event of this weekend’s final UFC event of the year, why not focus on the elements that actually carried her from promising newcomer to undisputed UFC women’s bantamweight champion in less than two years.
Looking at her resume without the usual identifiers, here’s what you get:
• Two-time Olympian
• Bronze Medal in Judo (2008)
• 3-0 as an amateur
• 7-0 as a professional
• All 10 victories coming by submission inside the first round
• World champion within a year of turning pro
• Two successful title defences
Give those credentials to a male fighter, and we’re discussing their place in the pantheon of all-time greats, preparing to etch their likeness into the MMA Mt. Rushmore. We still should be, even though the fighter is Rousey.
Simply put, the polarizing face of women’s MMA doesn’t get the credit or respect she deserves.
While we tend to trip over ourselves discussing the collegiate wrestling careers and Olympic achievements of her male counterparts ad nauseum, Rousey’s tremendous international resume and unmatched success since transitioning to the cage often gets shuffled to the background in favour of fixating on her "bad attitude" and positioning as "the female Diaz Brother."
We don’t talk enough about exactly what it means to submit seven consecutive professional fighters with the same move in less than five minutes or how those seven opponents include two former champions and a two-time title challenger, and that combined, the group is 65-24 in their careers.
Think about that for a minute.
Outside of their respective losses to Rousey, the seven athletes she has shared the cage with are 65-17, good for a win percentage of 79.2 percent, so it’s not as if the 26-year-old force of nature was running through ‘has-beens’ on her way to the top.
The first opponent of her career was 7-1 at the time they squared off, and no one she has faced sports a record below .500. How many of her male contemporaries can say the same?
And we might not have seen the best of Rousey just yet.
While countless fighters hone their skills and develop their weaponry on the regional circuit against lesser competition, the driven champion is adding to her arsenal between challenges from the best in the world, and still has – believe it or not – a ton of room to improve.
She’s still tight with her hands, working from technique and repetition rather than feel and a natural fluidity that only comes with finding your comfort zone. But she’s working on it, and it’s only a matter of time before the gifted athlete adds precision striking and knockout power to her repertoire.
Even though they know exactly where Rousey wants to take the fight and what she intends to do, no one has been able to stop her from executing her game plan thus far. Imagine how difficult it will be to beat her when the other facets of her game catch up to her otherworldly ground game.
And here’s the thing: if we’re not careful, Rousey will be gone before she gets the recognition and respect she deserves.
Hollywood has already come calling, and while she’s committed to the sport at the present time, there are only a few logical fights remaining for her going forward. Once she’s exhausted those options – fights with Cat Zingano, Sara McMann, and Alexis Davis – what is there keeping the Olympic medalist and potential action star tethered to the Octagon?
Rousey has already talked about having a finite amount of time left in her career – framing her pursuit of the sport as a four-year Olympic cycle – and while she hasn’t come out and set a date for her departure, the clock is ticking.
Which is why instead of fixating on the fluff – the drama, the personality traits, and our personal opinions about her approach and attitude – we need to shift our attention to her prowess in the cage, and appreciate her greatness before it’s too late.
Ronda Rousey is a force of nature; one of the very best this great sport has to offer. She has been doing things in the cage no other fighter at this level is doing, and watching her compete is watching a transcendent talent perform at the highest level.
Dislike her if you will.
Hate her if you must.
But you have to respect the UFC women’s bantamweight champion, because she’s one of the best in the business, regardless of how little it’s mentioned.
