Rogan: Rousey might beat 50% of male UFC bantamweights
Joe Rogan: “If you took the roster of the UFC’s bantamweights, 135 pounds, and you paired them up against Ronda Rousey, she might be able to beat 50 percent of them.”
UFC women’s bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey is beating the best women fighters in the world like this scene from the documentary Bambi vs. Godzilla:
It is thus natural to wonder how she would do vs. a male fighter.
The sports world at all levels has a shameful history where women are concerned. Women were barred from running the Boston Marathon until 1972, because of fears their uterus would collapse. Kathrine Switzer ran in 1967 under a gender ambiguous name, and her uterus did not in fact fall out, but it still took another five years. Rita Jepto’s 2:18:57 record from last year would have broken the men’s record of 2:18:58 set by Belgium’s Aurele Vandendriessche in 1963.
Unless you are an elite marathoner, Rita Jepto can beat you. But fighting is a focus of masculinity and identity in a way that running 26 miles is not, so the concept of a woman running faster than a man is easier for many to conceive than is the idea of a woman making a man nap, snap, or – gasp – tap.
UFC color commentator Joe Rogan recently spoke with ESPN’s Dan Lebatard about Ronda Rousey’s skill level, and said she would do fine against elite male fighters.
“There’s a lot of guys her size she could beat,” said Rogan as transcribed by David St. Martin for MMAfighting. “I mean, a lot. If you took the roster of the UFC’s bantamweights, 135 pounds, and you paired them up against Ronda Rousey, she might be able to beat 50 percent of them. That’s not a joke.”
“The ability to take punches is a significant difference. The structure of the face, the muscles in the neck. Women just cannot take the same kind of punches that men can. That’s the only reason why I only give Ronda a chance at beating 50 percent of the men. If she could take the kind of punches that some of these guys might possibly land it might get up to like 60 percent. She’s a truly special talent.”
Ronda Rousey is a champion, with a confidence that every great champion has to possess. She even said once she thought she would have a chance under some circumstances vs. Cain Velasquez. That seems unlikely. But the odds of her beating a top fighter in weight class, that don’t seem so unlikely at all any more.