Ronda Rousey "most dominant athlete in the world"?

[Jakester23]

MMA feels manufactured? Interesting, most of the fights are so dynamic that I never get that feeling. Now some of the fights where a wrestler type, who holds people down "lay and pray" or where it's all grappling can get very boring to watch for sure.

The stars of MMA feel manufactured not the sport. I feel like Dana white decides who he can market the best and forces how great they are down the consumers throat.

[Gunther]

Rousey is a dominant fighter but I am not sure she can be "most" dominant until she beats Cris Cyborg.  Cyborg beat all the top female MMA fighters at the time, including Gina Carano.  Currently Cyborg fights at 1 or 2 weight classes heavier but is willing to cut down to Rousey's weight class since Rousey won't meet her at a mid-point.  Cyborg has also failed PED's tests in the past but supposedly is clean now.

Disagree. By this logic Jonny Bones couldn't be considered most dominant unless he beats Cain Velasquez, or Mayweather unless he beats Klitschko, or Rousey unless SHE beats Velasquez. In her field, against all opponents she can face, she is the most dominant athlete there is, right now.

[Jeremie Boop]

The stars of MMA feel manufactured not the sport. I feel like Dana white decides who he can market the best and forces how great they are down the consumers throat.

Ah, yeah, I can't argue with that too much. Dana White is.... meh. But, he's a promoter so he's going to push whoever he thinks is going to generate the most revenue.

[Golfingdad]

I'm not saying she's not dominant she is. I'm saying I don't feel like the most dominant athlete in the world is (or could be) an MMA fighter male or female. MMA feels manufactured to me.

As far as I'm aware, it's a given that the competition in women's MMA is lacking still because it's relatively new. It took awhile before men's MMA really took off to the point where there were deep fields of strong competitors. During that time there were men who stood out in a similar fashion as Ronda does now. I hope things get better for women's MMA because otherwise it's going to go the way of the WNBA. One example I can remember was Rich Franklin, he was so good he regularly made his opponents look bad by comparison. Then he fought Anderson Silva, who made him look so bad it was crazy. Everyone thought it was a fluke and that Franklin just didn't prepare for the fight. The second fight was no better and Franklin got a pretty severe beating if I remember right. Silva held that title for quite awhile and he basically made just about every opponent look like an amateur regardless of how good they were. During that time, I would have said he was the most dominant athlete in the world without hesitation or reservation because he made the BEST fighters look bad. I will admit, perhaps Rousey really is that good and the women she's fighting are great, but I've yet to see any women's fights that were impressive. Perhaps it's hard for me to judge because I'm so accustomed to the way men fight that it's hard to appreciate the abilities of the females.

MMA feels manufactured? Interesting, most of the fights are so dynamic that I never get that feeling. Now some of the fights where a wrestler type, who holds people down "lay and pray" or where it's all grappling can get very boring to watch for sure.

Can't really argue against (or with) any of the above, as my knowledge of MMA is very limited ... and by that, I basically mean non-existent. My arguments here are all just general.

[Jakester23]

Can't really argue against (or with) any of the above, as my knowledge of MMA is very limited ... and by that, I basically mean non-existent. :-P  My arguments here are all just general. :beer:

Well that explains why you don't know what your talking about.

[Golfingdad]

Well that explains why you don't know what your talking about.

[Jakester23]

Two things: The joke would've landed better without the "just kidding" :-P  and ... I rarely know what I'm talking about.  This is not new to this thread.  I like to blather. :beer:

That must be why I like you l. I like to argue as well.

[newtogolf]

Disagree. By this logic Jonny Bones couldn't be considered most dominant unless he beats Cain Velasquez, or Mayweather unless he beats Klitschko, or Rousey unless SHE beats Velasquez.

In her field, against all opponents she can face, she is the most dominant athlete there is, right now.

Well Bones took on the best that were in his weight division and by most accounts there were a lot of very tough competitors.  The same is not true for Rousey, I think she's great, but the UFC created the weight class for her so she could cut down for weigh in but bulk back up to her normal size on fight night which is larger than the other girls in the division but still a bit light for Cyborg.

The fighters she's fought beyond Miesha Tate were barely contenders.  If Cat Zingano didn't get tapped out in 20 seconds due to her own stupidity I might make a case for her but I think the doctors performed a lobotomy when they fixed her blown out knee given her demeanor on fight night.

I guess if we key on "dominant" then Bones "dominated" in a highly competitive weight class where as Rousey "dominates" in a relatively non-competitive weight class.   The question is do we distinguish between the different levels of dominance.

[Ernest Jones]

For a chick that absolutely kick my ass, she's pretty hot.

[Jeremie Boop]

For a chick that absolutely kick my ass, she's pretty hot.

I've never found her attractive. I've found other of the female fighters to be good looking though.

[newtogolf]

For a chick that absolutely kick my ass, she's pretty hot.

She's hot, she's smart and she's one of the top Judo fighters this country ever produced.  She'd probably have guys banging down her door (she might have, I don't know) but her mom would be the all-time mother in law from hell.

[Ernest Jones]

I would just like to present Exhibit A Exhibit B Exhibit C And, last but not least, Exhibit D Now, have I seen hotter? Yes. Have I seen hotter that can kick the shit out of me? Nope.

[Jeremie Boop]

I would just like to present Exhibit A

Exhibit B

Exhibit C

And, last but not least, Exhibit D

Now, have I seen hotter? Yes.

Have I seen hotter that can kick the shit out of me? Nope.

Not sure if you were responding to me, but I know what she looks like. I watched the entire season of TUF that she was a coach on. Many of the women competitors on that show were better looking to me than she is. As well as the other coach Miesha Tate.

And the winner of that season I think was seriously smoking hot Julianna Pena:

*I have a thing for latina women*

Then there was another season of TUF with more:

Now, not all of them are better looking, but I'd take most of them over Ronda. This, of course is all personal preference so I'm not saying you shouldn't think she's hot or whatnot, just explaining that I think there are many who are hotter. And, no offense, but I'm sure any of these women could whoop you *and me*.

[Jeremie Boop]

Just to get back on track here, there was a list of the top 50 most dominant athletes today on MSN. Going through the list I saw several that I would rank about Rousey, notably this one:

19. VALERIE ADAMS

Shot putter
Age: 30

Not only was Adams undefeated in 2014 but she has also gone 56 straight competitions without losing . She has owned women's shot put for the past decade, winning the gold medal at the last two Olympics and the past four world championships.

Now how a person that has dominated the sport of women's shot put for 10 years with 2 gold medals and 56 straight wins is below Ronda in the list just sort of blows my mind. There were other very notable people on the list, but I picked her because she's a solo competitor and for the length of time she's been at the top of her sport. Also, there can be discussion that Rousey isn't necessarily fighting the best people because there are multiple different MMA circuits whereas it's hard to question whether Adams has faced the best in the world multiple times and come out on top.

[Golfingdad]

Just to get back on track here, there was a list of the top 50 most dominant athletes today on MSN. Going through the list I saw several that I would rank about Rousey, notably this one:

19. VALERIE ADAMS

Shot putter

Age: 30

Not only was Adams undefeated in 2014 but she has also gone 56 straight competitions without losing. She has owned women's shot put for the past decade, winning the gold medal at the last two Olympics and the past four world championships.

Now how a person that has dominated the sport of women's shot put for 10 years with 2 gold medals and 56 straight wins is below Ronda in the list just sort of blows my mind. There were other very notable people on the list, but I picked her because she's a solo competitor and for the length of time she's been at the top of her sport. Also, there can be discussion that Rousey isn't necessarily fighting the best people because there are multiple different MMA circuits whereas it's hard to question whether Adams has faced the best in the world multiple times and come out on top.

This is a fair argument.  I assume that she was probably intentionally lost in the middle of the list because, well, it's shot put.  No offense to her, but I imagine that prior to this list, outside of her family and the track and field world ... nobody ever heard of her.

That's not going to sell magazines.

[Jeremie Boop]

This is a fair argument.  I assume that she was probably intentionally lost in the middle of the list because, well, it's shot put.  No offense to her, but I imagine that prior to this list, outside of her family and the track and field world ... nobody ever heard of her.

That's not going to sell magazines.

That's pretty much exactly how I imagine she got put so low on the list, because it's not a well known sport and there's no promoting force behind her. However, that calls into question the validity of the list because it shows that it's biased towards "big names" instead of actual dominance in their given sport. Which is why I don't agree with Rousey being #1.

[Golfingdad]

That's pretty much exactly how I imagine she got put so low on the list, because it's not a well known sport and there's no promoting force behind her. However, that calls into question the validity of the list because it shows that it's biased towards "big names" instead of actual dominance in their given sport. Which is why I don't agree with Rousey being #1.

Well, it's just a guy making a list in a magazine, so what "validity" did it have in the first place?  These type of subjective cross-sport rankings are mostly just for fun anyway, right?  Nobody's taking them seriously, are they?

I would give it as much clout as People's "Sexiest Man Alive" article.  I mean, I'm not even listed in the top 100, so it's OBVIOUSLY a complete farce.

[rkim291968]

There are about 60 summer & winter Olympic events, many with different categories, weight classes, etc..   Then there are numerous other sports outside of Olympics.  I didn't read the article but  I am willing to bet that the author came no way near close in investigating all the sports to pick a legitimate dominant athlete.

Yes, Mayweather has been much more dominant than Rousey.   Winning 48 times without a loss over the span of his career ... that's near impossible especially in boxing where one mistake can lead to a knock out loss.   Check out all the greatest boxer in history without a loss against 48 wins.   Besides Rocky Marciano, you are not going to find any.

Judo used to have perennial dominant player.   As a team, Chinese Table Tennis has been ultra dominant.  Lee Sang Hwa has just about won every 500m speed skating event for the last two years.   There will be plenty of other examples. I am sure Rousy is a good fighter but the world's most dominant athlete?   That literally makes me laugh at the author of the article.