/cdn.vox-cdn.com/imported_assets/904651/method_get_s_ronda-rousey-03-31-11-15-10-6-679.jpg)
Ronda Rousey has definitely been living up to her "Rowdy" moniker in recent days, ruffling some feathers in the Strikeforce women's division.
After winning her fourth professional mixed martial arts fight in as many tries back on Nov. 18 at Strikeforce Challengers: "Britt vs. Sayers" (while snapping Julia Budd's limb in the process with a sickening armbar), Rousey believes she deserves the next title fight against the current women's Strikeforce bantamweight champion, Miesha Tate.
In her four professional bouts and three amateur bouts prior, Rousey has barely broke a sweat as she has finished all seven of her opponents via armbar submission and all under a minute.
Can you blame her for wanting to up the stakes and level of competition?
On the other hand, if you ask Miesha Tate, the current women's Strikeforce bantamweight champion and Alexis Davis, another Strikeforce 135-pound contender; Rousey hasn't earned a title shot yet. Rousey has yet to compete in the bantamweight division as she calls the 145-pound weight class home.
While campaigning to get a title shot, Rousey has not been making any friends, nor is she trying to.
Now it seems that the entire female division is gunning for her.
Speaking to Ariel Helwani on the MMA Hour, Tate and Rousey got a little bit testy with one another as both made their claims as to who deserves the next title shot:
Tate says if she gets matched up with Rousey, it won't be pretty:
‘What happens when she gets a failed arm bar and someone ends up on top pounding her face in? Is she going to tap out or quit? We don't know. We haven't seen that yet. I think it's kind of silly to put her in with me because that's what I'm going to do. I'm going to take it to her. A lot of people are underestimating me. That's fine. That always seems to be the case. Make no mistake; if Ronda is my next fight, I'm going to come in with a vengeance you've never seen before, because to be quite honest, it's probably going to piss me off."
Let's not forget about Sarah Kaufman, who many believe she is the rightful number one contender. Tate has no problems with a fight against Sarah, in fact, she wants a rematch with Sarah before any other fight:
"I want my rematch against Sarah Kaufman and I think there is a story to be built off of there. You don't always have to have to attractive women you know? It's nothing against Sarah, but I feel like I work my butt off and I want that rematch and I want to avenge a loss. You know Cyborg is one of the most popular women fighters ever and she's not a beauty queen but it's because of her style of fighting, there are different ways to market different women and different ways to market every fight and I don't consider ours to be so special."
Rousey on the other hand disagrees:
"Sarah Kaufman kind of gives boring interviews, she's not a supermodel and the way she fights, she doesn't finish matches in extraordinary fashion. It's just kind of being realistic. I'm sorry that I have to say things bluntly and offend some people. I just want there to be a highly marketable, exciting women's title fight, and I want to be part of that because I feel like I could do a really good job, and you could, too. I think the two of us could do a better job of that than you and Sarah Kaufman. I really feel 100-percent that a fight between her and me needs to happen. It'll be great for women's MMA. It'll be the first highly anticipated fight in women's MMA for a long time ... We need to capitalize on the opportunity while we still have it. I don't want to risk her losing the title and us not being able to fight each other for the title."
Tate believes Rousey "Rowdy" attitude stems from her aspirations of trying to follow in the footsteps on none other than the master fight promoter, Chael Sonnen:
"I think its working because she's pretty. If you weren't pretty, it wouldn't matter what you said or didn't say. That's why you're getting this attention. I don't know, I guess I personally like more of a humble approach. You can say you want to be the Chael Sonnen of women's MMA, and Chael gets a lot of press and everything like that, too, but no one likes him."
Rousey's response:
"Yeah, but he makes a lot of money and he gets a lot of title shots, too, doesn't he?"
Lurking on the sidelines is Alexa Davis, who tells MMAWeekly.com that maybe they need to focus on training instead of talking:
"I've been watching a bit, back and forth, I haven't quite seen it all. I'm busy training in the gym, maybe these girls should be working out and getting ready for their next fights before they're talking all this smack about how much damage they're going to cause. I don't think she's (Rousey) really fought anybody who has been able to give her a challenge, that's had like a serious ground game She talks a lot of smack and on one side that's great, well some of the things she's said, for women's MMA. It's really got everyone's attention. But some of the things she's said, and I think she has talent in there, but has she fought anybody? Let's get to the bottom line. Does she deserve a title shot? Sure, she's doing great and the press and everybody's talking about it, but has she earned it? I don't think quite yet. Sarah Kaufman, she's right up there, she's the top contender right now. I'd like to see Ronda walk all over her, it's not going to happen when you get to that level of fighter. If I can't have Miesha Tate, obviously I'm going to want her first or Sarah Kaufman, then I'll take Ronda."
And what does the current number one contender Sarah Kaufman have to say about all this?
"I think that a fight between Miesha and I is an exciting fight and I think that it could be marketed in a very exciting way. Miesha's kind of that prettier girl and I am definitely more on the serious sporty side and I'm ready to smash Miesha's face and that can be marketed as much as me smashing Ronda's face."
Tate, Rousey, Davis, Kaufman...I have Mrs. "Cyborg" Santos on line one.
It seems as if business is picking up in women's MMA, thanks in large part to up-and-coming contenders and great back-and-forth banter between future opponents.
Tate is trying to give the rightful number one contender their due, while postponing a fight for Rousey at a future date once Rousey has developed further as a mixed marital artist with a stronger fan base.
Rousey on the other hand, believes she has done enough to get a title shot in fight that would definitely be more marketable due to good looks and great storylines.
All Alexis Davis and Sarah Kaufman want is someone to fight.
What do you say Maniacs, are you riled up for these potential matches? And has Rousey done enough in your eyes to contend for the Strikeforce bantamweight title, or is she biting off more than she can chew?
To listen to the full back and forth between Rousey and Tate, as well as Kaufman's thoughts, click here.