...OH, ONE MORE THING - PLEASE BOOKMARK US & VISIT DAILY!
By: Jason Amadi, MMATorch Columnist
Ronda Rousey is one of the few legitimate stars in mixed martial arts today. This year she's proven that she can pop a television rating as easily as she can pop an arm, and outside the cage, she's about as good at garnering mainstream media attention as anyone the sport has ever seen.
The talent, technique, and star power of the "Rowdy" one are all UFC caliber, and really, if this were two years ago there wouldn't be any question as to whether or not she deserved to grace the Octagon. In fact, the question now isn't even if women deserve to be featured in the UFC based on merit; the question now is whether or not the UFC, in its current state, can even support women's MMA.
The UFC currently features eight weight classes with roughly 338 fighters. That's considerably more fighters than Zuffa would consider ideal, and the roster is going to get a lot bigger before it gets smaller.
First of all, for Ronda Rousey - or anyone else in Strikeforce - to even be considered for a move to the UFC, Strikeforce would have to be dead. If we're operating under that assumption, you'd also have to assume that the UFC would pick up most of the big name talent from Strikeforce in order to bolster their own roster and keep top fighters out of Bellator and off of Spike TV.
The whole bloated roster issue may not sound like a huge problem, but you could make the argument that because of it, virtually no one at featherweight or bantamweight have connected with the audience in the two years that the UFC has been promoting those divisions. The same goes for the new flyweight division as well. Pay-per-view numbers certainly support that idea as it relates to featherweights and bantamweights. The loud boos for the last two major flyweight fights featured on UFC cards don't exactly inspire hope for them, either.
A big part of the reason these new weight classes have been so poorly received by fans is that all the fighters are virtually unknown. Because these divisions are new, most of the fighters don't have the name recognition to justify main card spots. As a result we've seen them toil in relative obscurity until they're called upon to headline pay-per-views that are destined to fail.
Michael McDonald, one of the top contenders in the bantamweight division, has only been on the main card of one UFC event. The same goes for Erik Koch, who was set to headline UFC 149 and 153 with Jose Aldo earlier this year. Ricardo Lamas, who is also in title contention at 145, has never even been featured on a UFC main card.
Ronda Rousey competing in the UFC will pay dividends. She can certainly move the needle on television, and if the Cyborg fight ever materializes, it could potentially bring a lot of interest to a pay-per-view. However, introducing a new weight class (potentially two, if Cyborg actually gets signed as well) to the UFC's already maxed out roster doesn't really do them any favors and would just put main card slots at even more of a premium.
No woman outside of Rousey would have the platform to get over, and the addition of a fourth poorly promoted (although talented) weight class is the last thing the UFC needs.
Feel free to follow me on Twitter @JasonAmadi and direct your "Ask the Torch" questions to askmmatorch@gmail.com
Jamie Penick, editor-in-chief
(mmatorcheditor@gmail.com)
STAFF COLUMNISTS: Shawn Ennis - Jason Amadi
Frank Hyden - Rich Hansen
Chris Park - Matt Pelkey
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