Strikeforce Women’s Bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey once again showed her dominance in the cage by defeating former champion Sarah Kaufman by submission in 54 seconds.
Rousey, who extends her MMA record to 6-0, is seemingly unbeatable at this point. Women who are looking to face Rousey in the future will need to find a way to stop the armbar.
Which raises the question, who should be the next to face Rousey for her championship?
Miesha Tate – Tate, who was defeated by Rousey in March, is coming off of an impressive win against Julie Kedzie, finishing her in the third with an armbar. Although Tate was not impressed with her own performance, the win impressed many fans including UFC president Dana White, who tweeted a picture of him and Tate after her fight.
Tate has expressed her desire to rematch Rousey for the championship on several occasions, even saying that she would like to coach against the champion on a season of “The Ultimate Fighter.”
Although Rousey has beaten her, Tate lasted nearly four and a half minutes into the first round, longer than any of Rousey’s previous opponents combined.
Christiane “Cyborg” Santos – There have been many women who have called out Rousey, the most notable being the Cyborg. Both Santos and Rousey have been vocal about facing each other, with Rousey calling out the Cyborg after she defeated Kaufman. However, Santos wants to have the fight at catchweight, which the champion has refused.
Santos was at one-time the Strikeforce Women’s Featherweight champion and viewed as the most dominant woman MMA fighter on the planet until failing a post-fight drug test at the end of 2011.
With Strikeforce dissolving the women’s 145 pound division due to lack of competition, a fight between her and Rousey would truly determine the No.1 ranked women’s MMA fighter in the world. If Cyborg can get down to 135, then the fight will surely happen.
Zolia Grugel – Perhaps the match least likely to happen on this list, Grugel is the current Bellator Women’s 115 pound champion. Although she normally fights at 115, Grugel has fought at 135 in the past.
Grugel defeated the likes of Megumi Fugii, Jessica Aguilar and Rosi Sexton. The Bellator champion has recently made outbursts against the company and a jump to Strikeforce to fight the champion would generate buzz on the internet.
Gina Carano – Before Rousey was dominating fights and gracing the covers of magazines, Carano was the face of women’s MMA. In addition to her beautiful looks, Carano had power, an impressive skill set and a killer instinct. She was until she lost to Santos in 2009.
Carano was supposed to return to action in June 2011, but was removed from the card due to unknown reasons.
Although she has transitioned into acting, coming out of retirement to fight Rousey would be a great fight for fans as well as a superfight, similar to Matt Hughes vs. Royce Gracie back in 2006.
Rousey has said she would agree to fight Carano.
If there is someone else you think should get the next title shot against Rousey, tweet me your answer to @alstover with the hashtag #RantMMA
