UFC News & Rumors: Is Ronda Rousey Open to Facing Male Opponent in the Octagon?
Ultimate Fighting Championship women's bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey believes she can beat male opponents in a similar weight class, but she does not think she will ever be allowed to face a male foe.
Rousey, who successfully defended her title against Cat Zingano at UFC 184 in a fight that lasted for just 14 seconds, said in a recent appearance on ESPN SportsCenter that she thinks she can handle male opponents inside the UFC Octagon, where she has not been defeated in 11 appearances.
"I never say that I'm incapable of beating anybody, because I don't believe in putting limits on myself," Rousey said via Sporting News. "So I mean, I would have to say if you're just talking about what's in the realm of possibility of what's possible of who I could beat, well I could beat 100 percent of them."
However, Rousey said in a separate interview that she does not think that a fight between her and a male mixed martial artist will not come into reality.
"It's not a reality," Rousey said of facing a man inside the Octagon. "They're not gonna do anything like that. Fights are chaotic. Anything can happen. And there's no setting in which we should condone a man hitting a woman."
While she is promoting equality between men and women, Rousey pointed out that no athletic commission in the world will allow such fight to happen, while also adding that it would look like they are promoting domestic violence.
"I really just don't think that any athletic commission on Earth would ever condone something like that," Rousey said. "Fights are going to go both ways. You're going to see both people hitting each other. I don't think we should celebrate a man hitting a woman in any kind of setting."
AnnMaria De Mars, Rousey's mother who is a former judo world champion, also blasted reports suggesting that her daughter should consider facing a man in future fights. De Mars pointed out that the weight might be equal, but there are still significant differences between a man and woman of the same weight.
"Seriously, that's a stupid idea," De Mars said of pitting her daughter against a male opponent. "I'm as much a feminist as anyone but the fact is that biologically, there's a difference between men and women. Hello, duh. A woman who is 135 pounds and a man who is 135 pounds are not physically equal."
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