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By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief
UFC Women's Bantamweight Champion Ronda Rousey expects her next fight to come at UFC 182 on Jan. 3, and she's expecting it to come against Cat Zingano. After that, she's eying Bethe Correia as the fight that makes sense to her.
Of course, as Correia hasn't yet beaten anyone in the top 10, her status as contender is dubious at best. However, Rousey doesn't think that it necessarily plays against her. Beyond that, Rousey's interested in taking that fight on Correia's turf.
"I don't know why you would say [Correia] hasn't earned it," Rousey said after Saturday's UFC Fight Night 51 event in Brazil (via MMAJunkie.com). "That's the exact thing people said about me. I wasn't ranked at 135 lbs. when I won the world title. People said that I didn't deserve it. I see a girl that's undefeated, and I see one of the best athletes in the world, and I see somebody that has not only fought and beat my friends, but she was a little bit disrespectful about it. And while I felt that was extremely intelligent of her, that doesn't mean I'm going to let her get away with it. So I'm like, 'Yes, you got my attention. I do want to fight you, but that's not going to work out very well for you.'"
"I would love to defend my belt [in Brazil]. I think it would be the perfect place to fight Bethe, actually. Sometime in the middle of the year or next year or something like that. I try not to look too far ahead. I'm going to beat whoever is in front of me, hopefully Jan. 3. That's what I'm hoping for. Then after that, I would be honored to come back to Brazil and win here again."
Penick's Analysis: If Rousey's willing to head down to Brazil, the UFC will absolutely make that fight by next summer. Correia just has to do her part and beat the next person they put in front of her. If Rousey beats presumably Cat Zingano in January, a fight with Correia in Brazil is the sensible move, again provided Correia picks up another win, which would preferably come against a top ten opponent.
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Jamie Penick, editor-in-chief
(mmatorcheditor@gmail.com)
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