UFC Recap : Ronda Rousey's 3 toughest opponents so far

‘The most dominant female athlete in the world’Earlier this year, Business Insider named UFC Bantamweight Champion Ronda Rousey, ‘The most dominant athlete alive,’ ahead of superstar sportsmen like Lebron James and Lionel Messi. Ronda is a trailblazer. Unstoppable in her MMA career, she has also found the time to star in big budget movies like Entourage.This Sunday, Ronda will look to extend her unbeaten record to 12-0 when she faces Bethe Correia in Brazil. Bethe is the latest in a long line of women who thought they could beat Ronda and become champion. Below, we look at 3 fighters who were Ronda’s biggest threats and what happened in their fight.

#3 Sarah Kaufman

Kaufman faced Rousey when her striking was unevolved

Its pretty incredible to think that just 3 years ago, Ronda Rousey was in Strikeforce facing Sarah Kaufman in her first Strikeforce title defense, after beating bitter rival Miesha Tate for the championship. Though Zuffa owned Strikeforce, no woman had ever competed under the UFC banner and Ronda Rousey was a name only die hards knew. She wasnt starring in any movies, she wasnt on billboards and she wasnt beating Lebron James and Lionel Messi to accolades. Nobody thought she would get this far this soon. Especially when she was matched up with Sarah Kaufman.

Sarah Kaufman is a high level striker who has a great record against grapplers. Also, this fight took place before Rondas striking evolved to the level it is right now. Owning Ws over Alexis Davis and Liz Carmouche, Sarah managed grind out decision victories against some of the best fighters in the world. She throws very good straight punches and always found a way to control the distance in a fight. Her ability to keep Ronda away from her, circle around and continuously land her shots was the key for her going in to the fight. She also had very good take down defense, successfully stuffing all of Miesha Tates takedowns en route to victory.

However, Ronda Rousey is not like other grapplers. Her Judo also gives her the ability to use takedowns,conventional wrestlers could never pull off. She came out swinging in the opening seconds and got Kaufman in a clinch against the cage very early on. After Kaufman defended the judo throw, Ronda swept her legs and forced her to the ground. Ronda passed guard into the full mount and began unleashing her ground and pound when she somersaulted into side control on the back and began fishing for Kaufmans arm. Kaufman resisted but could not get Ronda off her. Kaufman continued to be stubborn but Ronda kept rolling her back and forth, finally locking in the armbar and submitting Kaufman in under a minute.

#2 Miesha Tate

Rousey and Tate are bitter rivals

Tate is Rondas biggest rival. The two simply do not like each other. At UFC 168, Ronda and Tate squared off in a rematch, after Ronda won their first fight. If there was anyone who was going to beat Ronda, it was Miesha Tate.

In the build up to the fight, Tate seemed to have gotten under Rondas skin. There was a chance that Ronda would get too emotional and leave an opening for Tate. Then there is stylistic issues. Tates wrestling and Brazilian Jiu Jitsu neutralized Rondas biggest strengths. Tate also has the best submission defense out of all of Rondas rivals. After their first fight, Ronda said that Tate was, much more savvy on the ground than I anticipated. It was no secret that Tates game had evolved tremendously since their first meeting. So going in to UFC 168, while still the favorite, the odds werent as heavily staked in Rondas favor.

The fight is probably the best example of Rondas all-round skill. Despite being clipped a couple of times and even taken down, Ronda dominated the first round, busting Tate up and nearly submitting her. Even when Tate took her down, Ronda dominated the fight by getting Tates head in a triangle and unloading with a series of punches. She matched Tate punch for punch on the feet and threw her around with her Judo.

The second round was much of the same, Ronda ate a few shots with ease and then threw Tate wherever she pleased, wrapping her up and trying to submit her or firing away with some ground and pound. On one occasion, as Ronda tried to get Tates arm to set up the armbar, Tate pushed up and wrapped her legs around Rondas head going for a submission. Ronda showed how good her submission defense is and wriggled free in no time, going back to work on getting an armbar. Ronda would get her favored submission in but Tate managed to get herself out of it. Tate spent almost the entirety of the round on her back defending submissions and eating punches.

In the third round, Tate finally gave in. After being taken down again, she tapped to the armbar within a minute of the round. It was a dominant performance by a dominant champion against her biggest rival.

#1 Cat Zingano

Cat was undefeated heading into her fight with Ronda

Leading up to her title challenge at UFC 184, Cat Zingano was undefeated, boasting a 9-0 record. She held wins over Miesha Tate, Raquel Pennington and Amanda Nunes. Her 6 previous fights were all won by KO or submission. Zinganos biggest strength was also Rouseys biggest weakness. Stand up. Cat has heavy hands, is very powerful and keeps coming forward. Ronda Rousey has spent 50% of all her fights on the ground. She has shown weakness on her feet and although she is able to eat punches and move on, nobody she ever faced was as strong as Cat.

Cat also had great comeback ability. In her fight against Amanda Nunes, she lost the first round but came back strong to win the fight via TKO in the third. Ronda dominates fighters. If any woman even wants to have a conversation about beating her, tenaciousness and quick in game recovery along with a strong mental focus is almost a pre-requisite. Cat had all of that in spades.

Despite all the talk of a tough challenge, Ronda would break the record for quickest fight in a UFC championship bout, famously submitting Cat in 14 seconds. One of her toughest challenger and Ronda beat her quick enough to fit the entire fight in an instagram video!

Cat came out blazing, throwing a flying knee. She sold it a bit too much though and Ronda read it a mile away. Ronda stepped to the side, and grabbed Cat. Both women hit the floor in a tussle. Ronda would pull off an incredible back cartwheel and get dominant position. She pried Cats arm away and locked in her beloved armbar to win in record time.