Ronda Rousey Didn't Fix Her Own Fight and the UFC Has No Problem Making Belts Appear and Disappear

Ronda Rousey latest fight was fixed according to a guy involved with professional wrestling. What’s his source? His imagination. Certainly not the part of his brain that uses common sense. Definitely the part of his brain that wants attention. And one of my colleagues, a wide-eyed wrestling fan, gave him that attention.

You know, sometimes I wish the Brock Lesnar era of mixed martial arts history never happened. Do fighters sometime exaggerate confrontations to help sell a fight? Yeah. Does the script end when the real fighting begins? Yes. Sure, some low-level fighter could throw a fight to make a quick buck, but the idea that the sports biggest star would allow herself to be knocked unconscious so that… Well, I’m not really sure. For those who missed it, here’s the dumbest hot take on Rousey’s loss yet:

"You do not want your champion sitting home or making a movie, ‘Roadhouse 2’ or whatever Rousey’s going to do, or whatever Rousey’s going to do, or just needs a personal break, which she’s earned. This girl’s earned it. But you don’t want that person sitting home for five, six, seven months with that championship. IT’S BAD FOR BUSINESS! TAKE THE BELT OFF HER!”"

There is just so much in that tiny portion of a paragraph. Fighters regularly take off that much time between fights because fighting is a very violent, dangerous thing. Bodies and brains need to recover. Training camps must be held. Fighters taking 3 or 4 or more fights a year is the exception and not the rule. Especially at the highest level.

And the idea that the UFC wouldn’t want Rousey filming movies in between fights is absurd. All it does is raise her and the UFC’s profile. And the final part – “TAKE THE BELT OFF HER!” If you ever needed proof this guy doesn’t know what the eff he’s talking about, here’s a brief history of some UFC titles.

Dominick Cruz was named UFC bantamweight champion in a WEC event in 2010. He then defended that title twice in 2011 before facing a series of injuries. Cruz held his belt without actually defending it until January 2014 when the UFC finally stripped him of his title and turned the interim belt that had been held by Renan Barão since July 2012 into the “real” belt.

Jose Aldo, the UFC’s featherweight champion since the division was first introduced in 2011, was injured before a title fight against company favorite Conor McGregor earlier this year. Aldo had defended his title in October 2014. When he had to pull out of his July 2015 fight against McGregor, the UFC immediately replaced Aldo with Chad Mendes and made it an interim title fight. McGregor won and has now been carrying around a false belt for 4 whole months. Aldo and McGregor will unite the belts next month.

Georges St. Pierre, one of the biggest stars in the history of mixed martial arts, walked away from the UFC welterweight title in November 2013 after nearly 6-years at the top. Four months later, the UFC held a welterweight title fight. Before that, GSP was injured late in 2011 so the UFC created an interim title. St. Pierre returned in November 2012 and “united” the titles.

Jon Jones, the former UFC light heavyweight champion, was the undisputed baddest man on the planet for the better part of four years. On January 3, 2015, he beat Daniel Cormier in his 8th straight title defense. On January 6th, he entered rehab. On April 27th he was involved in a hit-and-run. On April 28th, he was stripped of his title. Less than a month later, Daniel Cormier became the new LHW champion. Jon Jones will fight for the title again sometime next year.

Since 2002, the UFC heavyweight championship has changed waists 15 times. Three people have been stripped of the belt – twice for positive drug tests, once for inactivity due to injuries. There have been five interim champions. There was even a situation where Randy Couture defended his title at UFC 74 (August 2007) and then had a contract dispute with the UFC and declined a title fight. Antônio Rodrigo Nogueira beat Tim Sylvia for an interim title at UFC 81 (February 2008). Couture “finally” came back to fight Brock Lesnar at UFC 91 (November 2008). Lesnar’s two title defenses came against interim champions in June 2009 and July 2010.

Before all of that, Royce Gracie won a single-night tournament at UFC 1 in 1993. In 1997, facing pressure from state athletic commissions, they started using weight classes. Those weight classes evolved. The UFC added more weight classes. Then they added female fighters. Eventually, they’ll add other divisions for both men and women.

The point is, the UFC machine rolls on no matter what. If they need a championship to promote a fight, they make one up. New weight classes. Interim titles. That belt that Rousey just lost? The UFC gave it to her at a press conference in December 2012 without her ever having fought in the promotion. Watch!

If they like you enough, they will literally give you a belt like it’s a watch at a retirement party. Ronda Rousey was planning on disappearing until UFC 200 which is scheduled for July 2, 2016. If you think the UFC needed to drum up interest in the women’s featherweight title between now and what will be one of the biggest tent pole events in fight sports history, you’re a freaking idiot. Or you’re just trolling for attention / pageviews / listeners.

The only person that will make more money in the longterm by throwing a fight to Holly Holm is Holly Holm. The odds that Holm retains the belt for an extended period of time and becomes a huge mulit-faceted star like Rousey is low. It’s low for every mixed martial artist because of the uncertainty. Anyone can win at any moment. That’s what makes the sport so great and so frustrating. Sure, the Rousey – Holm rematch will be huge, but that’s likely the glass ceiling.

Rousey’s mystique took a big hit even if she wins the title back in her next fight. Floyd Mayweather has proven that winning is recession-proof. People again and again pay to watch perfection (a “flop” for Mayweawther is 4x what UFC 191 sold) no matter how uninteresting the actual fights are. What happens when you lose? Ask Gina Carano. That’s the template for Rousey’s post MMA career now. Win a fight, get cast in a big budget movie? That’s profitable. Gina Carano is just another working actress at this point. Her two projects in 2015? “Direct-to-VOD.”

If every MMA fan in America shows up to the box office to see Road House: Rousey Edition, that doesn’t exactly make for a big weekend at the box office. Unless she gained a big cinematic following after her two lines in Furious 7. Remember the Entourage movie? She was in that. Apparently. I have yet to meet anyone who has seen it.

Rousey stood to lose everything by losing that fight. What if in the process of “the work” Rousey had her jaw broken or blown out a knee? UFC 200 would have immediately been off the table. How quickly could the movie offers dry up? Not to mention the fact that once a fighter gets knocked out, it seems they’re more susceptible to a knockout each time after that. What if Holly Holm gets lucky and knocks her out again? Straight-to-VOD. And here’s the trailer…