UFC betting online: It’s a question that the combat sports community has been bouncing around for years: Who would win in a fight between Ronda Rousey, MMA women’s GOAT and the greatest boxer of our generation, Floyd Mayweather? It’s a fight that’ll never happen, but the flames of speculation were refueled – and doused with gasoline – when Rousey took a very public jab at Mayweather after she beat the welterweight legend for Fighter of the Year at the ESPYs.
ODDSMAKERS WEIGH IN
So who would be favored in an MMA fight? Renowned MMA oddsmaker Nick Kalikas stated that he would set Mayweather as a minus-705 favorite, with Rousey as a plus+435 underdog. To put things in perspective, in Ronda’s last title fight against Bethe Correia, she was as much as a minus-1886 favorite at Bookmaker, with Correia closing at plus+1028.
So Kalikas is saying that Ronda would stand a better chance against Mayweather than a top-5 women’s bantamweight would have against her. That’s how good she is.
DO THE ODDS MAKE SENSE?
Boxing vs. MMA has always been a very polarizing topic. But what makes this even more intriguing is that this fight would pit a man against a woman. And when it comes to professional sports, there has always been a certain fascination when it becomes a question of gender. Remember when Michelle Wie wanted to play on the PGA Tour? Or what about when Mon’e Davis dominated the Little League Championships?
Let’s take a look at the physical aspect of this hypothetical fight. Rousey competes is 5’6” and competes at 135 pounds. Mayweather is 5’8” and fights in the 147-pound weight class. So no matter how ripped Rousey looks and how lean Mayweather appears, there’s no denying that Floyd is the bigger, stronger fighter. On top of that, men are just more powerful and faster than women. That’s not a sexist statement – it’s a scientific fact.
Rousey’s fans will argue that in an MMA format, skills trump size. Royce Gracie routinely dominated men 100 pounds heavier than him in the UFC’s early days. And former UFC heavyweight champion Randy Couture mopped the floor with boxing heavyweight contender James Toney when the latter stepped into the octagon. So you’re saying there’s a chance, right?
We can move forward move forward with the assumption that Rousey’s only path to victory would be to take this fight to the ground and submit Mayweather. Anyone who’s watched Rousey fight could see this happening. Her judo tosses are breathtaking and her ability to find submissions are second to none. Furthermore, many of the boxing tactics that Floyd has perfected over the years would be useless against the threat of grappling.
But Mayweather is a special athlete, blessed with amazing speed and agility. Cardio would not be a problem – this is a man who has breezed through 12-round fights for years. You would think that even if he does get taken down, he could power right back up as the much bigger fighter. And put him in paper-thin four ounce MMA gloves and he turns into a killer. All it takes is once lightning fast punch for Rousey to hit the floor unconscious.
I remember once, at a friend’s BBQ, all the girls started arm wrestling each other for fun. There was one extremely fit girl that was dominating every other girl, pinning arms like a knife through butter. That’s when the party loudly called for the weakest guy to step up – a man of 130 pounds, whose only lifting experience consisted of picking up video game controllers and 12 packs. Everyone thought she would beat him. Shamed into competing, he sat across the table of the fit girl…and promptly destroyed her. Then he destroyed her again for good measure, this time toying with her a bit.
I bring up that story because that’s how I expect a Mayweather-Rousey fight would play out. Sure, Rousey looks unbeatable when facing other women, but put her in a cage with bigger, stronger guy that happens to be a legendary athlete, and all that goes out the window. Sometimes it takes you by surprise, and you only realize in hindsight that it was never a fair fight to begin with.
MMA oddsmaker Nick Kalikas is absolutely right. Mayweather should be a heavy favorite, starting at least at minus-1000. And this is coming from one of the biggest Rousey fans there is.
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