Rousey leaves UFC belt at judo school in Brazil

UFC women's bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey fulfilled a promise she made ahead of UFC 190, as she left her title belt in Brazil.

Ahead of her title defense against Bethe Correia, Rousey promised that she will leave her title belt in Brazil – but not in the way that Correia wants. And indeed, it only took Rousey 34 seconds to knock out Correia and defend her title.

Rousey is now fulfilling her promise, as MMA Fighting reported that she will leave her belt at the judo school of Flavio Canto in Rio De Janeiro.



This is the second time that Rousey has given Canto's school a gift. In March 2015, she donated $30,000 to the school to help needy children learn the sport.

Ahead of UFC 190, Rousey explained her decision to leave her belt in Brazil.

"Bethe did have one thing right. She said that the Brazilian people deserve to have the belt left here. So I've decided that after I win it, I'm going to make sure that when I have the belt, I don't take it home with me," she said.

"I'm going to give it and make sure that it stays some place in Brazil as my gift."

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

Rousey's coach welcomes trilogy bout vs. Tate

The coach of UFC women's bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey is open to a trilogy fight against top contender Miesha Tate, claiming that "Rowdy" was not at her peak form during their first two fights.

Rousey has beaten Tate twice already. In March 2012, she submitted Tate via armbar in the first round to take the Strikeforce women's bantamweight championship. In their December 2013 rematch at UFC 168, Tate lasted until the third round before getting submitted, again via armbar.

To date, Tate remains the only fighter who has gotten past the first round against Rousey. She has also won four consecutive matches since her loss at UFC 168, including a unanimous decision against Jessica Eye last weekend that propelled her back to title contention.

"I think she does deserve the title shot again," said Rousey's trainer, Edmond Tarverdyan, in an interview with MMA Fighting. "And we're ready."

"I like that fight. I do like that fight, because she's still talking crap a little bit and she thinks making it into the third round with Ronda, she thinks she can do better now and go for a decision or something like that," he added.

"She's mistaken, and we'll be ready for that fight."

Rousey still has to take care of Bethe Correia, against whom she is defending the UFC women's bantamweight belt this weekend in Brazil, but the champion is confident of victory and is already looking forward to fighting Tate again.

"Here's pretty much the plan. I'm going to beat up Bethe, then I'm going to take a couple of weeks to rest, and then I'm going to beat up Miesha, and then I'm going to go like Thailand, or wherever we decide to film, and prep for like a month, and then start filming for like eight to 10 weeks, and then go beat up the next chick," Rousey told Fox Sports in an interview ahead of UFC 190.

Tarverdyan said that if and when Rousey fights Tate again, he is going to make sure that the champion is in her best form.

According to the trainer, Rousey was sick ahead of her first fight with Tate, and did only 40 days of hard training for their rematch.

"She's just a lucky girl because of that. This time, it's going to be a totally different fight," Tarverdyan said. "Ronda's improvement is just going to be too much. This girl (Tate) is gonna get hurt in there."

"She's not gonna know where she is. This time, she's not gonna know where she is, for sure," he added.

"I'm going to make sure that Miesha Tate gets really punished and knows what she's getting into. It's not gonna be good for her career. She's gonna get a lot of damage, and I'm gonna make sure it's not healthy for her career," Tarverdyan also said.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com