The July 5th UFC 175 card, scheduled for Las Vegas, Nevada has it’s co-main event set as women’s bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey will defend her belt against Alexis Davis. Davis has worked her record up to 3-0 in the UFC, going the distance in all three of her bouts and earning a judges decision. In a division without enough matches to develop talent, this serves as enough to earn a title shot. Where the line will be for this fight is anyone’s guess, but Rousey as an 8 to 1 favorite or more is probably where this one will up at the sportbooks.
Rousey is being used by the UFC as the main draw for what is traditionally one of their biggest weekends. Unfortunately, Rousey still does not have a foil opponent. The UFC refuses to work with Cristiane ‘Cyborg’ Santos, going so far as to talk openly about bringing back Gina Carano after 5 years away.
Davis has been good in her UFC showings, but in her opening bout she defeated an undersized Rosi Sexton, and she has not shown an ability to finish a fight. There is nothing in her performances that would make anyone think she is ready to take out Rousey.
ROusey, as we all know, has established herself as a dominant champion with finish after finish under her belt. She is in fact being used by the UFC more frequently than other title holders because she has been such an attention getter.
But this could be the fight where Rousey’s marketability comes back down to earth. Nothing would be surprising about a win in the first round by Rousey, probably by arm bar, but how long before people get tired of seeing it? Maybe they will tune in to get another dose of Rousey’s lovely personality.
The UFC will headline with the Middleweight title fight between Lyoto Machida and Chris Weidman, but if they ever really want to use Rousey as a headliner proper, they better get Cyborg under contract quick.
