UFC building women’s division, Ronda Rousey trying to get exposure for women’s MMA
UFC women’s bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey will coach on the first ever mixed gender season of The Ultimate Fighter. This will be a huge landmark in the history of women’s MMA, spearheaded by the biggest draw in the women’s MMA division-Ronda Rousey.
Rousey spoke to FOXSports in a recent interview regarding her role in the growth of women’s MMA:
“I have to kind of take a lot of the work now and try to get exposure for women’s MMA,” Rousey said. “For me, taking this project is one more thing I can do so I don’t have to do all the work later and risk (over) exposure. I don’t want all this to be dependent on me.”
Rousey will be coaching opposite the winner of the Cat Zingano–Miesha Tate fight, and will be fighting either Zingano or Tate at the end of the TUF 18 season, as is tradition. Another tradition in the TUF house is drama and on-camera antics. Something that may become more apparent with a mixed gender season.
“I have no idea what’s going to happen,” White said when asked about the possibility of sexual encounters in the house. “We have never done it before. I don’t know, man. You can’t hide (from the cameras). You pretty much give up all your freedom to be in the house.”
An always game Rousey then spoke about a potential match-up with either Zingano or Tate.
“Miesha and I already have history, so that would be entertaining, then again, Cat has an undefeated record. A fight between me and Cat would be pretty awesome. How many times do two undefeated fighters face each other for a title?”
For me, Ronda Rousey is an absolute gift to the sport of MMA. She has a great attitude, foresight, raw physical abilities and she seems dedicated in furthering the possibilities for women in MMA. I am genuinely excited to see TUF 18, and the coach vs coach battle which I am praying is Rousey vs. Zingano!
