When Ronda Rousey takes on Bethe Correia Saturday night at UFC 190, Rousey is dedicating her performance for a special friend and hoping to live up to the nickname the two shared: “Rowdy.”
The odds are in her favor — literally — that she’ll live up to that nickname as Rousey defends her title against the challenger in Rio de Janerio, Brazil, as part of the mixed martial arts pay-per-view event.
It’s not as if Rousey needed more motivation going into the main event. Ronda, who is undefeated in UFC competition, is taking on a challenger that is also undefeated.
And while the two stars are colliding in the Octagon for the first time, bad blood already exists. Correia, the Brazilian fighting on her own turf against Ronda, taunted Rousey after winning two matches against Ronda’s friends, according to the Washington Post .
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Then things became even more personal as Correia alluded to the UFC star’s father’s suicide in a trash-talking incident surrounding Rousey. Although an apology was made, Ronda refused to accept the apology.
For all the trash-talking done by her opponent, Ronda is predicting that this bout will go longer than usual as Rousey has proved to make fast work of her opponents in her mixed martial arts career. According to FiveThirtyEight , only three fights have lasted slightly longer than a minute, and Ronda won her last fight in February in under 14 seconds. That win set records for fastest submission and shortest title fight in UFC history.
For Ronda, a quick win would be showing mercy to an opponent she doesn’t like, according to an interview she granted TMZ this week.
“If I beat you quickly, that’s me at my nicest and most merciful. That means you get to go home unscathed with a paycheck. If I make the fight last longer, that means I don’t like you and I want you to go home looking different than the way you walked in … and I don’t like this chick.”
Fans following the fight found out that Ronda had even more inspiration building up to the fight. After hearing of Roddy Piper’s passing on Friday, Rousey turned to her Instagram account to memorialize the famous wrestler for granting her use of his nickname.
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As far as the betting odds, Rousey started the lead up to the fight at -1400, which means you would win $100 if you bet $1,400. Those odds have changed as the fight neared, and now Ronda is a -1600 favorite to win according to Bovada’s betting website.
[Image by Matthew Stockman/Getty Images]
