Friday, July 31

Bethe Correia's Mom Offers Her Own Fight Advice: Break Rousey's Jaw

Apparently, Ronda Rousey isn't the only one with a fight fan for a mother.

Bethe Correia, Rousey's opponent in the main event of UFC 190, said her mom, Tiana, recently had some pretty hard-nosed advice for her daughter, according to a report from Guilherme Cruz of MMA Fighting:

My mother told me...‘Please, finish this fight in 10 seconds. Knock her out, break her jaw.' It’s a mom thing. No mom wants to see a daughter get beat up, get hurt, and Ronda’s mom thinks about it. It’s easier to go for a takedown and lock an armbar, you don’t get hurt. My mom wants me to go there, throw the first punch, Ronda goes down, and I go back to her arms. It’s normal.

Correia made the comments Thursday at a media event in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, where the two will fight Saturday for Rousey's women's bantamweight title.

Famously, Rousey's mother, AnnMaria De Mars, likes to get involved in her daughter's strategizing—and sometimes even backs up Ronda during public trash-talk sessions.

De Mars was a high-level judoka in her own right, and she introduced the sport to Rousey, who went on to win an Olympic bronze medal in the discipline.

Ronda recently told reporters during a media conference call that her mom was unhappy with Rousey's plan to prolong the bout in order to punish Correia for, interestingly enough, comments Correia made about Rousey's family in an interview with Portuguese-language website Combate (h/t MMA Fighting). It seems De Mars would rather Rousey finish the fight as soon as possible. Said Rousey of her mom's opinion, per Brent Brookhouse of MMA Junkie:

"She chewed me out. She wants me to end it as quick as possible still. I promised her that I’m going to be fine. I’m not going to take any damage. If it goes any longer, it’s just because I’m punishing her more."

No matter how long it lasts, Rousey (11-0) is a massive favorite to successfully defend her title against Correia (9-0). 

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com

Thursday, July 30

Things Get Heated at Ronda Rousey and Bethe Correia Media Staredown

Most would agree that Cat Zingano, Miesha Tate and Sara McMann were Ronda Rousey’s most dangerous opponents on paper. However, a sleeping giant could lie inside of Bethe Correia, who is slated to challenge Rousey for the women’s bantamweight title at UFC 190 on Saturday.

The undefeated Brazilian contender is swelling with confidence a few days out from the biggest fight of her career. She enters this fight as a huge underdog to Rousey, who is easily one of the top pound-for-pound fighters in the world—male or female.  

Despite the long odds, Correia is completely unfazed by the champ.

Some have stood strong in front of Rousey, while others have stood stoically. But we have never seen a contender get in Rousey’s face the way Correia did at the media staredown on Thursday.

To be fair, Rousey wasn't fazed either. The champ had the look of a stone-cold killer when posing for the media.

There have been some reservations about Correia’s chances on Saturday due to her lackluster resume as a bantamweight contender. She has yet to defeat a top-10 opponent in the division, and there really wasn’t anything spectacular about the three wins in the UFC that earned her the title shot. Furthermore, all of her UFC opponents have a combined UFC record of 1-7.

In his “Killing the Queen” piece, Fightland’s Jack Slack was brutally honest when breaking down Correia’s chances of defeating Rousey: "Is Bethe Correia the one to pull it off? Almost definitely not. ... She doesn't have one-punch finishing power—largely because she leans way forward at the waist and punches like she's paddling a kayak—and the active footwork she would need to avoid Rousey's linear charges has so far not shown itself."

You wouldn’t figure Correia to be an underdog when looking at her demeanor heading into UFC 190. That kind of confidence has to come from somewhere. Five other women have tried and failed to knock Rousey from her bantamweight throne.

Perhaps Correia really does have what it takes to pull off the unthinkable on Saturday.  

 

Jordy McElroy is a featured columnist for Bleacher Report. He also is the MMA writer for FanRag Sports and co-founder of The MMA Bros.

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com

Ronda Rousey: I'm Not a 'Do-Nothing B---H'

It's Ronda Rousey week on the Internet. That means everything she says and does is a possible talking point. And anything anyone famous says about her is potential fodder, too. 

Last night, the UFC released Episode 2 of UFC 190 Embedded. The embedded series is a fairly popular video blog series that the UFC puts out in the lead-up to a big fight card. It follows the fighters around as they gear up for Saturday night's festivities. 

Rousey always seems to have something fresh to throw into the fold.

This time, she drops a term of hers that she uses for the kind of woman her mom raised her to not be—she calls it a 'do nothing b---h,' or a 'DNB.' It is a label she has for the kinda "chick" (her words, not ours) who tries to be pretty and be taken care of by somebody else. 

Whatever you think of Rousey and her moxie, she's never been one to pull her punches. Some may even laud Rousey for setting a good example for other women to follow. She'll certainly never be mistaken for a Stepford wife. 

Rousey goes on to talk about her body being considered masculine by some. She finds the notion hilarious and says that just because her body was built for a purpose other than "f--king' millionaires" doesn't make it masculine. "I think it's femininely bad ass as f--k," she exclaims. 

Rousey fights in Brazil this weekend at UFC 190 versus Brazil's own Bethe Correia. From the looks of it, though, Rousey may have more support than any Brazilian competing on the card. 

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com

Anthony Johnson Now Slated to Fight Jimi Manuwa at UFC 191

Those scratching their heads at the odd pairing of Anthony Johnson and Jan Blachowicz at UFC 191 can stop worrying because the UFC has apparently had a change of heart.

According to a report from ESPN’s Brett Okamoto, Blachowicz has been pulled from the fight, and Johnson will now face top-10 light heavyweight fighter Jimi Manuwa on the September 5 Las Vegas fight card.

There hasn’t been any official word from the UFC of why the bout was changed, but Okamoto is reporting that Blachowicz is expected to remain in the UFC 191 lineup.

Johnson had his nine-fight win streak snapped in May by Daniel Cormier in a bout for the vacant light heavyweight title.

He had Cormier in trouble early in the first round when he dropped the former Olympian with a massive overhand right, but Cormier’s tenacious wrestling and suffocating top control kept him in the fight.

Johnson was taken apart piece by piece in a grinding effort, before succumbing to a rear naked choke in the third round. Since the loss, Johnson has made serious adjustments to his training camp.

When speaking with MMAFighting’s Shaun Al-Shatti, he said he is now working with Neil Melanson, a longtime grappling coach who has worked with Randy Couture, Dominick Cruz and Michael Chandler.  

Manuwa will enter this fight coming off a unanimous decision win over Blachowicz in April. The 35-year-old UK star has shown plenty of promise during his three-year UFC tenure. His only loss came to current No. 1 contender Alexander Gustafsson.

UFC 191 features the flyweight championship rematch between Demetrious Johnson and John Dodson. A heavyweight tilt between former champions Andrei Arlovski and Frank Mir is also expected to be on the card.

 

Jordy McElroy is a featured columnist for Bleacher Report. He also is the MMA writer for FanRag Sports and co-founder of The MMA Bros.

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com

Rousey vs. Correia: Career Stats, Highlights for Both Fighters Ahead of UFC 190

Someone's "0" has to go in the main event of UFC 190 in Brazil. Undefeated women's bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey (11-0) will defend her title against Brazilian striker and undefeated challenger Bethe Correia (9-0). Here's a look at the tale of the tape.

By most accounts, Rousey is going to have her way with Correia. Beyond the fact that Rousey is the bigger, more athletic and more skilled fighter, Correia has also made Rousey angry with controversial comments about suicide.

Rousey, whose father took his own life, took offense to the comments, and she has promised to try to humiliate Correia. Correia claims she didn't know about Rousey's family history and apologized when she was made aware in the video below from USA Today:

In this video interview with Ariel Helwani of MMA Fighting, Rousey rejected the apology:

In the Octagon, we've got a compelling but potentially one-sided main event on the way. Here's how the two women compare stylistically and statistically.

 

Striking

The stand-up game was once viewed as a weakness for Rousey, but she has worked diligently to make herself a weapon on her feet. She stopped Sara McMann with a knee to the midsection and also displayed some solid striking against Alexis Davis.

Rousey lands 3.66 strikes per minute in her fights. That's decent, but two factors likely drag down those numbers: Her average fight time is only 2:39, and her judo and submission skills still anchor her game. To put it plainly, she's an even better striker than the numbers indicate.

Defensively, Rousey could be a little better. Her striking defense is just 53 percent. The thing that makes her so difficult to beat—even with flawed striking defense—is that there are few, if any, 135-pound fighters with enough power to make her pay for taking their shots.

Correia is on par with Rousey as a striker, but her lack of length and power will make it tough to gain an advantage in stand-up exchanges. In her career, she's landed 6.07 strikes per minute and defended 66 percent of the attacks.

She's clearly a volume striker, but Rousey's dominance may not give Correia an opportunity to do damage with cumulative punishment.

Advantage: Slightly in Rousey's favor.

 

Grappling

This category is a total wipeout, as it would be with Rousey pitted against any opponent in the world. Nine of her 11 wins have come by submission, and quite honestly, all of them could have been via armbar had she wanted to end the Davis and McMann fights in that manner.

She has a 72 percent takedown accuracy, and her 60 percent takedown defense is irrelevant. No one wants to take Rousey to the mat. If she's down, it's probably because she wanted to be there.

Correia does have an excellent takedown defense percentage at 80 percent, but she's never faced Rousey. That's like a pitcher having an ERA under 2.00 in the minor leagues. It looks nice, but it doesn't matter much until the hurler faces major league hitters.

Correia is about to be called up to The Show, and Rousey is Mike Trout.

Advantage: Rousey in a landslide.

 

Finishing

Here's another area in which Rousey can't be compared to any other fighter—let alone someone in her division. She has finished every opponent she's ever faced, and only one has made it out of the first round.

Correia's fights almost always go the distance. She's a grinder. The Brazilian has no wins by submission and only two TKO victories.

Advantage: Rousey.

 

Intangibles

No one in professional sports has an aura quite like the one Rousey carries right now. She appears to have supreme confidence, and we all know her competency level is through the roof. That said, she's never really been in a war.

She's only had to face adversity one time in her professional MMA career. That came in her first UFC fight against Liz Carmouche, who took Rousey's back and looked to be working on a rear-naked choke. Carmouche lacked experience, though, and thus she couldn't lock it in. She would later succumb to the dreaded armbar.

That brings up this question: How would Rousey respond if she truly got rocked from a punch? Could Correia be the one to put her to the test?

She seems to have the right mentality heading into this fight. Then again, every one of Rousey's victims has talked a good game before having her arms wrenched, torso kneed and face punched in. Until we see differently, Rousey owns all of the intangibles.

Advantage: Rousey.

 

Who Wins?

Correia is the next victim in line. She's tough, but if you're considering betting on her, you'd be better off giving that money to your favorite charity—since you're in the giving mood.

It would be a great story if Correia won, but she won't. Rousey will dominate, and the quest for a legitimate challenger will continue.

 

Fight stats courtesy of FightMetric.com.

Follow Brian Mazique on Twitter.

Follow <span class=

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com