Ronda Rousey vs Liz Carmouche set for UFC 157 Feb. 23 in Anaheim

When I wrote about this earlier, I didn't know it would be announced today. At today's press conference in Seattle, UFC President Dana White gave Ronda Rousey her UFC Women's Championship belt and then announced that Ronda will defend the belt against Liz Carmouche on UFC 157 Feb. 23 in Anaheim. It will be the main event. So I'm already seeing a lot of "Why is Ronda Rousey headlining a PPV?" whining. I'll put it to you this way. I'm a NASCAR fan and I see the same whining about Danica Patrick. And whether you like Danica or not, she transcends auto racing and attracts eyeballs that would normally not be interested in NASCAR. It's the same thing with Ronda. She attracts fans who wouldn't normally watch MMA partially because of her looks and charisma. Of course the big difference is Ronda is already a champ and a major league badass. Liz Carmouche is a decent fighter. Her story as a former marine and and the first openly gay female fighter is interesting to some...but not me. I'm only interested in her cage performance and her two wins in Invicta did not convince me that she is a main event fighter. She has punching power but in her two Strikeforce losses, her lack of cage awareness really hurt her. It cost her a win over Marloes Coenen. She got hoodwinked. Ronda has way too many little tricks at her disposal and I don't expect Liz to last any longer than Ronda's other opponents. Ronda is relentless. You saw what Ronda did to Sarah Kaufman and Sarah beat Liz. In this video from the press conference, Ronda talks about other potential opponents who were offered this fight. One correction. Miesha Tate was not offered this fight. When asked by UFC if she would be ready to return in February, she said no. So they just dropped it and offered it to Sara McMann instead. And Sara did turn it down. And White blamed Tito Ortiz for advising Cris Cyborg to turn down the fight. He still wants her to accept it at 145. Even Cris knows that ship has sailed. As the Ronda Rousey train rolls on, it remains to be seen if any of that stuff matters. Here's the video from today's press conference.