There was a time in the not-too-distant past when Olympic bronze medalist, Ronda Rousey, was the UFC bantamweight champion with an undefeated record and a spot in the promotion’s pound-for-pound rankings.
It was enough to bring Joe Rogan to tears.
The division eventually caught up to Rousey and back-to-back knockout losses against Holly Holm and Amanda Nunes sent “Rowdy” into retirement. That hasn’t stopped Rousey from declaring herself “the greatest fighter who ever lived.”
UFC strawweight, Vanessa Demopoulos, remains unconvinced.
“Ronda gets her ass kicked,” Demopoulos told MMA News about today’s crop of UFC fighters. “She never had the striking skills to be able to stand up with the girls that are in there now. I feel like the division has just grown so much. All of the girls are so well-rounded. You see grapplers who are now strikers. Look at me, I’m a striker now apparently, right?”
Demopoulos (11-5) is just a few days removed from her Emily Ducote win at UFC Vegas 92.
“You have judo athletes that are coming there and they’re showing off striking. You have strikers who are coming in there and submitting people now in the UFC. Everybody is well-rounded,” Demopoulos continued. “I feel like Ronda came in there at the perfect time for the perfect storm, to be able to have a very niche skillset, to be able to just dominate the way that she did. But her walking into the UFC today, it’s a different animal. It’s a different animal than it was when she was there.”
Rousey, now 37, has not competed since her UFC 207 loss back in late 2016.
There’s no question “Rowdy” is one of the most popular fighters of all time and a trailblazer for women’s mixed martial arts (MMA). But her UFC record has not aged well and her sour attitude towards the industry that made her rich continues to irk some of her fellow fighters.
Demopoulos is expected to make her Octagon return at some point later this year.