Ronda Rousey is hard to ignore, and it’s not just because of her good looks, witty personality or her unrestrained, very vocal opinions. It’s because of the way she has been finishing fights; 5 pro MMA wins via armbar in the first round! No female MMA fighter has ever done anything like this before, not Gina Carano and not Cristiane Santos. This…girl…is..a…finisher! And that’s why fight fans will tune in this Saturday, August 18 to watch Strikeforce: Ronda Rousey vs Sarah Kaufman broadcasting on Showtime at 10:00 PM ETPT.
Five pro MMA fighters knew Rousey’s amateur MMA record: 3 wins in a row via armbar. But yet all five fell victim to armbar! Here are 3 Reasons Why I Think Sarah Kaufman Will Be Ronda Rousey’s 9th Armbar Victim:
Speedy Transitions: Ronda possesses lightning quick transitions from striking to takedowns, takedown to submissions and from one submission technique to another.
Armbar Versatility: Ronda Rousey has a win via flying armbar and has demonstrated great skill in arm collecting from the mount position as well as the guard position.
Fear: Fear of losing to an armbar may make Kaufman panicky when put into a tricky situation. Or, she may be so focused on not losing to an armbar that she isn’t able to defend against the transition from armbar to triangle choke, omoplata, gogoplata, kimura, etc. If Kaufman loses to a submission other than an armbar, it will still be an armbar that setup the win.
To Sarah Kaufman’s credit, she is on a 3 win streak and has a nearly perfect record of 15-1 that includes 10 wins via KO. Her one loss came from Marloes Coenen…via armbar. But that was October, 2010. Kaufman is now a Brown Belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and should be Rousey’s greatest test thus far as she is a well rounded fighter with big KO abilities. Interestingly enough, Kaufman doesn’t have any submission wins. I think she should use that as an advantage and surprise Ronda Rousey with submission attempts as she won’t be expecting that and will be thrown off by it.
Ronda Rousey will be training to score takedowns that transition to submissions. She should be working on her defense as to avoid getting rocked or KO’d by Kaufman. Rousey’s stand up defense isn’t nearly as good as her offense so she needs to be careful that Sarah doesn’t exploit this too much.
Although Sarah Kaufmam is the well rounded fighter and has 3x more MMA experience, Ronda Rousey is the favorite to win. Check out the BetDSI odds on this match:
SARAH KAUFMAN +400
RONDA ROUSEY -550
