Rousey Unveils Plans For Future Title Defense, Wants To Give Cyborg ‘The Beating She Deserves’

Ronda Rousey has yet to find an opponent to prove a serious threat to her UFC bantamweight title. After decimating Alexis Davis in 16 seconds at UFC 175 on July 5th, Rousey underwent maintenance surgery on her knee, as well as surgery on her hand.

Recently there has been talk of a potential superfight between Rousey and WMMA pioneer Gina Carano. The WMMA vet has attended several meetings with UFC President Dana White to negotiate a potential contract, however nothing has come out of it yet.

Rousey spoke with MMAJunkie.com about who she would like to face next, if Carano opts to not sign with the UFC.

“There’s plenty of other girls that are some of the best athletes in the world and are ready and willing to take it up. I promised Cat Zingano. I promised her, ‘One day we are going to have the title fight you deserve. I’m going to beat you, but we’re going to have it.’ So I’m still waiting for her, and I would still love to fight Bethe (Correia). I would love to fight Holly Holm that just got signed. There are so many women in the UFC right now.

“Jessica (Andrade’s) performance right now was very impressive, and so yeah, there are girls out there. I would love Gina to be one of them, but if not, good luck on her journey.”

Another prospect that has been eyeing a shot at Rowdy’s title belt is Bethe Correia, the woman who has defeated two of Rousey’s stablemates, who is unworthy of the title shot in the eyes of some.

“I don’t know why you would say (Correia) hasn’t earned it. That’s the exact thing people said about me. I wasn’t ranked at 135 when I won the world title. People said that I didn’t deserve it. I see a girl that’s undefeated, and I see one of the best athletes in the world, and I see somebody that has not only fought and beat my friends, but she was a little bit disrespectful about it. And while I felt that was extremely intelligent of her, that doesn’t mean I’m going to let her get away with it. So I’m like, ‘Yes, you got my attention. I do want to fight you, but that’s not going to work out very well for you.’”

“I would love to defend my belt (in Brazil). I think it would be the perfect place to fight Bethe, actually. Sometime in the middle of the year or next year or something like that. I try not to look too far ahead. I’m going to beat whoever is in front of me, hopefully Jan. 3. That’s what I’m hoping for. Then after that, I would be honored to come back to Brazil and win here again.”

As always when talking about potential 135 pound challengers, the talk shifted to Cris Cyborg, who has had beef with Rousey for quite some time. Cyborg will attempt to make 135 pounds for the first time in her career later this year, after claiming a drop from 145 to 135 could kill her.

“I always know that she’s been able to make the weight. She’s the one that went and told everybody that she was going to die and then ran off and is going to go make it anyway. Yeah, I think she’s going to make the weight, and I think she’s going to perform extremely well. The thing is, I’ve never gone anywhere. I’ve been waiting to fight her. She’s the one that 24 hours after they announced out-of-competition testing for the UFC, she asked to be released. I didn’t go anywhere. She’s the one that ran off.

“So yeah, go ahead. Go down to 135. Work you way over to me. You’ll get the beating that you’ve been deserving all these years. I’m jut getting better and better every day, and I think that she’s done so much against the sport when I’ve done so much to try and build it. She’s not only embarrassed herself, but she’s embarrassed her country. She’s been a terrible representative, and I can’t wait to really give her what’s been coming to her.”