UFC women’s bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey will fight BJJ black belt Alexis Davis on Jul. 5 at UFC 175 in Las Vegas, Nev.
Rousey is not impressed by her opponent’s BJJ pedigree and started some controversy bringing up the old BJJ vs Judo debate:
“It’s definitely an interesting new challenge,” said Rousey. “One thing that I couldn’t stand when I was just watching MMA and coming from Judo was all these people talking about how the Jiu Jitsu people would beat any Judo player. It was such a stereotype that I thought, and still think, that I could beat any girl in the world, any weight division, gi or no-gi, black belt and in any ruleset they want, in just pure Jiu Jitsu.”
As a response Gracie Mag interviewed nine female BJJ champs to comment on Rousey’s statements, and here is what BJJ world champion Michelle Nicolini had to say:
Michelle Nicolini, Seven-time world champion: “She was quite disrespectful. Not even the best Jiu-Jitsu competitors would say something like that. No one is unbeatable. I would fight her and would do my best to represent all women in Jiu-Jitsu that felt bothered with her comment. If she is that good, she should register for the Worlds. Talk is cheap when you never show up.”
Ronda was present at the 2012 IBJJF worlds and talked to the commentators.
She talks about how she was impressed by the ground work and some chokes that she hadn’t seen before, training Gi & No Gi, competing in the ADCC, training at different academies in LA etc..
Check out the video:
