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Strikeforce's Coker: Rousey "CAN"T just be a marketing machine with a pretty face"

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SAN DIEGO – In one year, Ronda Rousey has taken the mixed martial arts world by the arm and given it a firm yank – literally.

The Strikeforce women's bantamweight champion already had built a quick reputation for fast finishes when she debuted with the promotion in August 2011. It took her only two armbar wins, 64 seconds and a little trash-talk to get a title shot.

Since winning the belt in March – needing less than a round to submit Miesha Tate, which was longer than her first four pro fights and three amateur fights combined – Rousey has been the sport's next big thing.

Rousey (5-0 MMA, 3-0 SF), a 2008 Olympic bronze medal winner in judo, on Saturday defends her title for the first time when she meets ex-titleholder Sarah Kaufman (15-1 MMA, 6-1 SF) on Saturday on Showtime (10 p.m. ET/PT) at Valley View Casino Center in San Diego.

Rousey has been in a fairly constant spotlight thanks to a recent Showtime "All Access" special, guest spots with Conan O'Brien and TMZ, and her "ESPN The Magazine" tastefully nude cover. And then there's her perfect record of first-round armbar submission wins.

But Thursday, Rousey was all business.

"(Kaufman) might not know it, but she should be thanking her lucky stars that MMA is properly regulated in California," Rousey said. "If I get her in an armbar, I'm going to try to rip it off and throw it at her corner. If I get her in a choke, I'm going to hold onto it until she's actually dead. And if I get a knockout, along the way I'm going to try to pound her face into the ground and she's depending on the competence of the California (State) Athletic Commission to walk out of that cage alive."

While that may seem like pre-fight hype to some, Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker said Rousey has entered a different phase of her fight preparation.

"You can't just be a marketing machine with a pretty face and think you're going to be a star," Coker said. "It's fight time now. In her mind, her whole being is now Saturday night."

Despite Rousey's threats of bodily harm to Kaufman, the Canadian seemed to take it all in stride while trying to focus on recapturing the title she held two years ago. And if Rousey has been run ragged by news media commitments, Kaufman doesn't think it will affect her.

"I have no doubt that she's trained fully for this fight, and I don't think preparation is going to be a factor for her at all," Kaufman said. "She's going to show up to fight, and she's going to try to kill me – but that's all right. At the end of the day, someone's going to walk out with the belt, and I want that person to be me."

http://mmajunkie.com/news/30236/stri...retty-face.mma

Win or lose, I have no doubt in my mind that Ronda is a fighter and not just a talker.

...Coker is right. They tried that with Gina. Carano still has skills but her sexy looks quickly took over the spotlight. Gina was dominating until she met a rapid end in her fight against Cris Cyborg. Ronda is the complete package. That's why her popularity is soaring into outerspace. Ronda is beautiful, a true olympic athleteand MMA champion. Her personality is fun, fascinating, exciting. Her intensity and competitiveness is impressive to watch, (along with her stellar body)! If Ronda wipes the floor with Sarah and twists her arm into a pretzel, defending her title, She will truly be the real deal Too bad Cris Cyborg had to juice and got banned. A fight between Rousey & Cyborg would be sick...

Well in all honesty Gina's skills weren't all that bad. She just had to fight a man woman who we now know was bulking up on roids. Ronda has the skills to deal with the top of her weightclass but could also deal Cyborg her first loss in a long time.

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Originally Posted by BrutalKO (Post 1616650)

Ronda is the complete package.

not too impressed with her stand up skills to be honest.

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Originally Posted by hellholming (Post 1616799)

not too impressed with her stand up skills to be honest.

Yeah her striking isn't that great at all.

...A Judo player isn't going to have impressive striking. It's not their bread & butter. She's working with the Diaz team and watch her hands become lethal. Nate wasn't a good striker when he stepped into the octagon, now look at his crisp hands impressively putting away Cerrone and now he's a contender. Ronda has the same mindset. I bet the next Rousey fight she will get a TKO or KO...

Well her striking in this fight was pretty good without being used to finish a fight. Kaufman really didn't have an answer to it and she was supposed to have the striking edge. But like the Diaz brothers, even though her striking will improve her prefered method will be the armbar.

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Originally Posted by BrutalKO (Post 1617052)

Never said a Judo fighter would have amazing striking but without it, how is she a complete package? :confused02:

Well she had some pretty good striking as I said this fight. Now with that and her arm bar she is a real force to be reckoned with. Though I really don't know why she keeps pushing the Cyborg fight.