Lefko on MMA: A-Rous-ing interest

Ronda Rousey became the new Strikeforce women’s bantamweight champion, Sarah Kaufman stamped herself as the No. 1 contender and women’s mixed martial arts has an opportunity to go forward at a pivotal time for the sport following Saturday’s main event in Columbus, Ohio.

The market is there for the ladies to push their sport and Rousey just might be the messiah.

Were it not for the fact that Rousey talked her way into a title fight that many people felt she was undeserving because she hadn’t paid her dues with only four fights in the featherweight division — albeit all by armbar in the first round — she would have been fighting in a slow and pedantic step-by-step process.

By talking up her own talents and trashing women’s bantamweight champion Miesha Tate, Rousey created a spark that turned into a brushfire. She would not be silenced in her bold attempts to be matched against the best, bypassing the normal protocols and procedures to get there.

She proved a point that professional fighting is as much, if not more, a business than a sport, and that sometimes maximizing opportunity for the greater benefit of all means some will suffer. Inasmuch as Kaufman, the onetime Strikeforce bantamweight champion, felt that she legitimately deserved to have another shot at the title and Tate agreed, Rousey offered something more compelling that put her at the front of the line.

Quite simply, she was the new face and craved a chance to show it.

And whoever made the gutsy call to push Rousey for the title shot was surely taking a chance if she bombed after all she had done leading up to it. She promoted with skill, savvy and determination.

Indeed, when she was asked by Strikeforce backstage interviewer Heidi Androl before the fight if she had a Plan B other than using an armbar submission, she replied: “Of course there is, but I’m not telling you.” Her looks could have killed in that one moment alone.

The fight had underlying tones of a beauty pageant as much as a skill of athleticism.

“It’s not just looks that can kill,” was a tagline used to sell this match. “Beauty is an alloy and a powerful force, but sometimes looks are deceiving.”

Footage was shot of the two fighters individually walking down a curved stairway in elegant evening wear that made them look as if they were models showcasing a line of haute couture. When was the last time you saw two male fighters portrayed in $3,000 suits as part of a buildup to a bout? This was an opportunity to flaunt something that could appeal to a male audience beyond just the core that is regularly drawn to MMA, the kind of thing that is needed to cross over into mainstream sports or entertainment.

In today’s multi-media world with so many platforms, this might have been unique in the way it was produced and the many ways Rousey used social media to promote herself and the fight.Tate needed Rowdy Ronda — as she has billed herself, borrowing from professional wrestler Rowdy Roddy Piper — to create the hype that clearly would not have been there with Kaufman.

That is not an indictment against Kaufman; it’s merely a statement that Rousey brought a different energy, enthusiasm and presence. Rousey had a game plan that far exceeded simply going into the cage, trying to break one of Tate’s arms. She wanted to break Tate’s spirit, too, or at least get into her head.

And she quite possibly did, because it was Tate who leaned into Rousey’s forehead at the weigh-ins and then accused her challenger of headbutting and suggesting she should be fined. The closer the two came to the actual fight, the more the anger percolated. This was a war in the making.

Whether Tate knew it or not, she was going to be in for the fight of her life. Her opponent had been moulded by her mother, Anna, who has a doctorate in education psychology. Her mother had become the first American to win a world judo championship, and her daughter inherited those skills en route to becoming the first American to win a medal at the Olympics.

And following her father’s death when she was only eight, Rousey had been on a mission to one day become a world champion. Her father had told her it would happen someday, although tragically he would not live to see it and she wouldn’t be able to share it with him. Everything about Rousey suggests her life story will one day be made into a movie. It is that compelling.

Rousey had a game face that was apparent from the moment she entered the building, and her steely gaze never changed. Tate was the proud champion with the belt draped over one of her shoulders and she displayed a confident smile. When the two had pre-decided they would not touch gloves before the fight, the anger had been ratcheted up to the highest level.

While Tate came out swinging to test Rousey’s ability to take a punch against a tougher opponent, Rousey stood up to the onslaught. Rousey won the fight because she forced her opponent into a submission, which had largely been predicted in an online poll, doing what she did in her other fights, just taking longer to do it.

It ended at 4:27 — slightly more than twice the entire time to win her previous four professional fights. It might have happened sooner, but Tate resisted for as long as she could, displaying the heart of a champion.

And now Rousey will have a chance to defend her belt against Kaufman, who combined with Alexis Davis to put on a show for the ages earlier in the card, producing solid strikes with arms, knees and fists that left them bloodied — and that was before the first round had even expired.

Kaufman, her face showing the marks from her scrap two hours before against Davis, sat by cageside, watching the Rousey/Tate match, knowing that unless the two produced a similar showdown that would automatically produce a rematch, she would receive the title shot that Rousey had taken away.

Whether the Rousey/Kaufman can be a main event or packaged as a co-main event with a men’s title fight is something that will have to be decided. Collectively, it could produce a hell of a card, although individually Rousey may be enough of a phenom to headline and allow Strikeforce to spread out its title fights.

The fact the card coincided in Columbus with the Arnold Sports Festival, which is the largest annual gathering in America for bodybuilding, fitness and MMA shows, provided the perfect backdrop for Rousey’s arrival as a star. There is a huge upside for a fighter who has the looks, the athletic talent and the speaking skills to get women’s MMA into places that would otherwise wouldn’t be possible. She is a marketer’s dream.

She was compared as the female version of Brock Lesnar, who was given the big push by the WWE and then the UFC. But she might be even better in terms of what she can do in and out of the cage.