Rousey vs. McMann

This is the official discussion thread for Rousey vs. McMann. Let's see what you've got.

Wrestling doesn't "beat" Judo as much as the fact that not wearing a Gi or a Shirt makes Judo significantly worse. Seriously, ever go against a Judoka in the gym take that fighting shirt off. 

It seems to many people that wrestling is the end all be all of mma. Like if your a wrestler and your opponent isnt, the wrestler has the win in the bag. And a lot of times that does happen. But high level judo is underrated. Yeah we have seen an olympion judoka like Rick Hawn, Hiroshi Izumi, Satoshi Ishii and a few others. And even though their judo was a high level in competition, it never transistioned over to mma in devastating fashion. So far Rousey has been the only one to do it. Although i think Karo had what it took to eventually be champion if he didnt fall apart mentally and suffer injuries.

Its the same way we have seen 4x all american and 3x national NCAA champion jake rosholt come to mma and completely flop. He just couldnt transfer those dominant wrestling skills into mma. So i wouldnt say wrestling is better than judo in mma. Because it all depends on the person and if they can bring those high level skills into the cage and use them more effectivley than their opponent.

The reason Ronda is more successful than the other judoka is because it's the womens division. Womens mma is fairly new compared to mens mma. Most of the women that are in mma have only been working on submissions for only a few years. Ronda has done judo since she was 11. That's a lot more experience with submission grappling. It's very similar to when Royce Gracie started fighting. No one had as much expeirence with submissions as he did, so he was able to dominate.

* Edited at 12.30.2013, 3:36 PM ET *

I basically spoke in ignorance on the whole Olympic medals issue when I compared Judo and Wrestling. 

I just can't really picture McMann doing much to Ronda besides getting a few TDs and falling into an Armbar. 

Alexis Davis will dethrone Ronda

^ahhhh no

^^ Great GIF Choice Yoss . love little britain

lol! they're awesome :)

* Edited at 12.31.2013, 5:40 AM ET *

I think what makes Rousey so good is the fact that she's adjusted seamlessly into a no-gi sport.

Now that I think about it, I think she's going to beat McMann with ease because Rousey was excellent off of her back which is surprising for a judoka. I don't think McMann's going to be able to do anything to Rousey except pummel her on the feet.

Sara can beat Ronda on the feet. I have no doubt about that. The difference between Sara and anyone Ronda has fought in the past is the wrestling ability of Sara. Miesha kept going for takedowns but she wasn't fully committed to them and Ronda was able to throw her a few times. That won't happen with Sara. 

The difference will be Sara's ability to mix up strikes and takedowns and keep Ronda guessing on what's coming next. I think Sara will drop Ronda with a big punch and then jump on a submission.

Joe Rogan: Ronda Rousey is just a fantastic striker.

LuL

I feel like McMann would want to do anything but....Take Rousey down. 

Do you think her striking is that good that she can afford not to? I don't think so, I think that if she doesn't believe her grappling is superior she shouldn't even take the fight since that's her largest weapon by far.

She kinda also said it herself ... she said that she saw holes that could be exploited in Ronda's game in her fight vs. Miesha and that if they were striking holes there would be nothing she could do about it but since they're grappling holes they're relevant to her.

I think that an Olympic silver medalist believes in her grappling enough not to shy away from using it, not just because of the level of her grappling but also due to the fact that to even become an Olympian silver medalist you have to be "that kind of person" with that kind of confidence.

EDIT::: Here's the quote:

"Both girls did some things very well. Both girls obviously made mistakes, like every fight you ever see...There's no time that any of us go out there and don't reveal something. Even if Miesha couldn't exploit it, she revealed it. If it were somebody that were making minute technical errors in striking, I would have a harder time exploiting it considering my background. But when people make a grappling error, I'm in a great position."

Sounds to me like she's gonna take her down ;)

* Edited at 01.01.2014, 6:12 AM ET *

If rhonda does win, who else is there for her to fight?

You still have Cat Zingano and winner of Davis/Eye in the mix. I think the UFC is gonna **** up and make Zingano fight the winner of Davis/Eye when they shouldn't. Why run out of contenders. The winner of Rousey/McMann should fight Cat Zingano, the winner of Eye/Davis should fight for the belt next.

Do you think of any of them has a punchers chance, though?

Anyone has a punchers chance. Anyone can land a punch, it takes skill to land a combo. @rappinpapsoda

* Edited at 01.01.2014, 7:18 PM ET *

Unlike anybody else that has faced Rousey so far, McMann will be just as on the offensive to do damage in the fight as Rousey will. It really depends on who imposes their will on who first. Like many other MMA fights, when it comes to Judo vs. Wrestling, it's all about who controls the fight from the gate. From what I've seen in MMA so far, it's always a toss up when it comes to Judo practitioner vs. wrestler. Most of the time, the grappling cancels each other out if both are two equally accomplished grapplers, and the fight ends up taking place mostly on the feet, then it comes down to who actually has the better striking.

A few examples I can think of is Jeff Monson vs. Daniel Cormier, Karo Parysian vs. Diego Sanchez, Big Nog vs. Frank Mir I, Randy Couture vs. Big Nog, Dan Henderson vs. Fedor, and BJ Penn vs. Caol Uno are just a few that come to mind. I think it will be no different when it comes to Rousey vs. McMann. Whoever is better on the feet, has better cardio, is more well-rounded in other facets of MMA other than the grappling area, and prepares and executes the better gameplan more effectively will win obviously win the fight.

Because Rousey and McMann are Olympic caliber grapplers, it could end up being a grappling chess match like that of Nick Diaz vs. Karo Parysian, Big Nog vs. Fabricio Werdum, Jake Shields vs. Jason Mayhem Miller, and/or Nate Diaz vs. Hermes Franca. It could be a stand-up war that mirrors that of The Korean Zombie vs. Leonard Garcia I, Gilbert Melendez vs. Josh Thomson (any of those fights), Gilbert Melendez vs. Diego Sanchez, Forrest Griffin vs. Stefan Bonnar I, and/or Frankie Edgar vs. Gray Maynard II, or it would just be a snoozer like Jake Shields vs. GSP (almost any Jake Shields fight really), Josh Koscheck vs. Diego Sanchez, or Tito Ortiz vs. Rashad Evans I.

No matter which way it plays out, or who wins, I'm just hoping for an entertaining fight. After watching Rousey's last fight, I think that Rousey is more well-rounded and has more ways to win or finish the fight than McMann, but McMann might have the cardio edge. Unlike Tate, McMann is not going to be disheartened right away and go into survival mode just because the fight isn't going her way right off the bat, so the longer the fight goes on, it could start to play more in McMann's favor, and because McMann has such a solid wrestling base, Rousey won't be able to flip McMann off of her or turn sweeps like she did on Tate. If McMann completes a takedown in the later rounds of the fight, it will be easier for her to maintain top position. Rousey has the finish the fight inside the first 3 rounds.  

I think a lot of people have wanted to see this fight, two undefeated Olympians with essentially the same amount of wins. I don't think Rousey will be beaten by a wrestler though. Miesha Tate did show some of Rousey's weakness in the standup, why she didn't try to capitalize more on the striking and instead tried shooting for the takedown and bring the fight to Rousey on the ground is beyond me. McMann is a wrestler and somewhere on the ground she is gonna get caught, but she may have the defense skills to be the first person to make Rousey have her first decision win but that is yet to be seen 5 rounds of submission defense is pretty much exhausting and almost impossible.