When UFC legend shut down Paige VanZant-Ronda Rousey comparisons

A decade ago, Paige VanZant was regarded by many as a potential replacement for Ronda Rousey as the next great women's MMA star. However, the then reigning UFC flyweight champion Demetrious Johnson dismissed the comparisons in an interview with TMZSports.

At the time, VanZant was at the peak of her MMA success, having authored a four-fight win streak, with three of those wins taking place in the UFC. She had a marketable physical appearance and a fighter's grit. Moreover, she was young with much room for growth.

Though when asked if VanZant could, in any way, challenge Rousey, who was still the undefeated UFC women's bantamweight champion back then, Johnson laughed the suggestion off.

"F*ck no. No, absolutely not. Like I said, she has a lot of work, and she admitted it too. She's got a lot of work to do. This is... she's 21, she's still young. I mean, there are some beasts in her weight class, like Joanna Jędrzejczyk, she's an absolute beast. I told people that she's a bad woman, and I kind of predicted that she was gonna destroy Carla Esparza."

Furthermore, 'Mighty Mouse' mentioned Rose Namajunas, who went on to hand VanZant her first-ever UFC loss, as one to watch.

"Then there's also Rose [Namajunas], 'Thug Rose,' in the class. So, there's a lot of girls in that division that she's gotta get through first, to be able to be called the next [Ronda Rousey]. There's a long road she's gotta be able to do to get next to Ronda Rousey."

Check out Demetrious Johnson dismissing any comparison between Paige VanZant and Ronda Rousey (0:10):

After Johnson's TMZ Sports interview, though, VanZant and Rousey subsequently had, ironically enough, the exact same run in 2015. Both women had already scored a win in the year but thereafter scored one more win before suffering their first-ever UFC losses.

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Comparing Paige VanZant and Ronda Rousey's MMA accomplishments

Much like Anderson Silva, Ronda Rousey was an otherworldly fighter at her peak, with the UFC always in search of her heir. For 'The Spider,' it was initially Uriah Hall, and for 'Rowdy,' it was Paige VanZant, with both heirs failing to live up to the legends they were expected to emulate.

Rousey's tenure in the sport saw her go 12-2, with 12 finishes, six UFC women's bantamweight title defenses and one Strikeforce women's bantamweight title defense. VanZant, meanwhile, never won a title as a professional fighter and went 8-5.