Strikeforce

Readers at Bleacher Report have been up in arms about what many of you perceive as Ronda Rousey overkill. You're tired of reading article after article about the best fighter in the history of women's MMA. She beat Sarah Kaufman in less than a minute. All we heard in response were yawns.

Lines have been drawn, comparisons made to the WNBA, requests, nay, demands, for Ms. Rousey to return to her place in the kitchen. You don't care about Rousey's appearance in ESPN: The Magazine. Conan? Dozens of guests sit on his couch every week. What makes Ronda so special? Rousey may be snatching arms, but she isn't yet snatching hearts.

Ironically, this blowback has inspired yet another Rousey article, the last one from me this news cycle—I promise. And it's, in part, a mea culpa. Because you are right and we were wrong. We went too far with Rousey hype—and the numbers prove it.

Behind the curtain at a big site like Bleacher Report, we keep a close eye on the metrics that matter to us. There are any number of statistics, from page views, to click rates, to time spent on the site. We want to know what you want to read because our goal in life is to feed you. We call you "the beast" and you are ravenously hungry for the latest news and opinion about mixed martial arts.

You don't, however, care one bit about Ronda Rousey. Her headliner on Showtime over the weekend, the one we sold to you like it was the Super Bowl and the World Cup combined, was less interesting to you, the gentle reader, than UFC 150. It wasn't even particularly close. And no one cared about UFC 150, either.

Ronda Rousey isn't what you are hungry for. You've told us so in the comments and the numbers speak loud and clear as well, all singing the same song. You have to forgive us, though—we just didn't believe it.

Most of us who run the MMA section of this site live in a UFC bubble. This is what we do, all we've known for years. We talk all day to other people who love this sport just as much as we do. And too often, that skews our perspective.

In the UFC bubble, Ronda Rousey is an exceedingly big deal. She's all anyone can talk about.

Isn't she pretty?

Isn't she remarkable on the mat?

Will she be the biggest star in our entire sport?

The answers are fairly clear at this point: yes, yes, heck no.

Maybe the idea of women punching each other in the face is a bridge too far for many fans? Maybe Rousey's bombastic personality doesn't work for people who like their female stars a bit more demure? Maybe, just maybe, MMA is a real life super hero comic and fans aren't willing to buy into the idea of a female butt kicker?

I don't know why fans haven't taken to Rousey the way we thought they would. Forgive me—I've only just embraced the truth that you haven't. I'm still mourning and not quite ready for whys.

In the scheme of things, us giving you a few extra Ronda Rousey stories is no big deal for anyone. You can read them or not, and life moves on. But it's an illustrative point about the power of perception and the dangers of a closed community.

The UFC bubble is very real. And it's incredibly dangerous. When you see UFC president Dana White make rash decisions based on his immediate Twitter feedback, when you hear people in the MMA world suggest Chris Weidman is a star because he looked good on a Fuel TV card in front of just over 100,000 people, you're seeing the bubble in action.

Ronda Rousey is not a star, not yet. Rousey is a myth, her success illusory, the result of a feedback loop that deafens us to opinions outside our tight circle. Ronda Rousey is a product of the bubble. And, at Bleacher Report at least, the bubble has burst.

Miesha Tate and Julie Kedzie put on a show on Saturday. Their battle will go down as one of the best fights of 2012, and quite possibly the fight of the year.

Former Strikeforce Bantamweight Champion Tate entered looking for an impressive performance that would lead to a rematch against Rousey. Kedzie was trying to put her name back out in the forefront of the bantamweight division.

Kedzie surprised many by opening up an onslaught on Tate in the first round.

She caught Tate with a headkick where her foot connected to the face and hurt Tate. The strike seemed to catch Tate by surprise, and the subsequent strikes from Kedzie shook her confidence. The jovial demeanor from Tate was being beaten out of her by Kedzie.

When Tate recovered and tried to bring the fight to the mat with her wrestler there was Kedzie defending well. The first round went to Kedzie.

Tate was able to rebound in the second round. Kedzie continued to pepper her with shots and defend some takedowns, but the former champion had much more success in the second frame of the fight. All things looked to be even after two rounds of excitement.

Kedzie went back to work in the third round and dropped Tate with a brutal headkick. Her shin connected flush against Tate's face. It looked like the fight was about to end as Kedzie went in for the kill.

Tate proved she was tough as nails as she survived and recovered as Kedzie went to the mat looking for the finish. Then in dramatic fashion, Tate transitioned to an armbar, surprising Kedzie. With the clock ticking away she fought for the submission as Kedzie battled to avoid being tapped.

Kedzie continued to stack Tate while she tried to pry her arm off. When Kedzie was put to the mat she used her foot to keep Tate from completing the submission, but it would not last. Tate finally extended the arm and forced the tap out from Kedzie.

The fight stole the show. It was an instant classic.

Tate showed incredible resolve and heart, and Kedzie put together one of the best performances of her long career.

Seven plus months into the year and we have not seen many battles that can rival what they did at Strikeforce: Rousey vs. Kaufman. It was a special fight between two warriors.

It likely tops another fight of the year candidate that happened earlier this month. Joe Lauzon and Jamie Varner put on a great fight on the UFC on FOX card earlier in August. While it was a great fight as well, there was something special about Kedzie vs. Tate.

Showtime will be re-airing the preliminary card and showcasing the incredible fight. It marked yet another Strikeforce event where the women stole the show with a dramatic back-and-forth battle.

There are still a lot of fights left to go in 2012, but Kedzie vs. Tate will surely still be in the discussion for fight of the year. Hats off to the two fantastic fighters who left it all in the cage on Saturday.

Ronda Rousey is a star, and that is why her next fight should be inside the Octagon.

However, there appears to be a massive roadblock in the way. Strikeforce fighters cannot sign with Zuffa, the UFC parent company, even after their deal expires. UFC president Dana White said this at the UFC 149 pre-fight press conference:

"There's not a list of protected fighters – (Strikeforce women's bantamweight champ Ronda) Rousey and this one and that one," UFC president Dana White said at a pre-event press conference for UFC 149. "The reality is, and I've said this a million times, (it's) the entire Strikeforce roster."

The last time I checked, Rousey was a member of the Strikeforce roster, unfortunately.

That does not negate the fact that her next fight needs to happen in the UFC. Can Showtime Networks and Zuffa work out a deal that would allow Rousey to compete in the eight-sided cage? I believe it to be possible, because at the end of the day, it is a business.

Using Rousey on MMA's biggest stage can only help women's MMA as a whole. It will show that women's MMA has a place among the elite in the sport. As for the UFC, it gives them another star to promote.

The Strikeforce schedule seems to be complete for 2012, and the opportunity for Rousey to find a home on one of those cards seems unlikely. She is a main event-caliber star, and they are not going to waste that as a co-main event.

The list of potential contenders to her crown also is incredibly short. Strikeforce needs time to get another contender for Rousey.

If the UFC can bring Rousey over to the big show, it will be a landmark event for women's MMA, and that is the biggest reason of all to have her compete under the Zuffa banner.

From Showtime's perspective, it would be hard to let such a star like Rousey go, but it is doing her and the sport a disservice by keeping her locked up to the Strikeforce roster. If the UFC wants to commit to a women's bantamweight division, then Rousey should be afforded the opportunity to leave Strikeforce. It is the right thing to do for her and the sport.

The casual fanbase that only follows the UFC would finally be able to see what kind of monster Rousey is and just how exciting women's MMA can be.

When Rousey's face is shown on the big screen at UFC events, the crowd responds with loud ovations. At UFC 148 she received a huge welcome from the weigh-in crowd, and she was mobbed for autographs and pictures. The media hype surrounding her has already transcended, but putting her in the Octagon is the ultimate goal so the fans can see her incredible talents.

Rousey is a star in the sport, and putting that star on display inside the Octagon will have a lasting impact on the future of women's MMA. That should be the ultimate goal. Strikeforce and Showtime have a limited audience, and it has done a lot for the sport, but it is time to let Rousey go.

Allow the Zuffa machine to elevate Rousey and the sport. Her next fight needs to happen under the UFC banner.

Strikeforce: Rousey vs. Kaufman video highlights can be seen here via Showtime Sports' YouTube page, or you can click play over the video embedded in the article.

The Valley View Casino Center in San Diego played host to the night's festivities.

In the main event, Ronda Rousey took on top contender Sarah Kaufman. Rousey defended her Strikeforce bantamweight championship with another armbar victory in under a minute of action. The 25-year-old Olympic bronze medalist continues her ascent as the next star of MMA.

The quick victory marks the eighth time in nine career amateur and professional fights that she finished in under one minute.

Rousey's armbar finishes continue to astonish the MMA world.

In the co-main event of the evening, Ronaldo "Jacare" Souza ended Derek Brunson's attempt at an upset early. Jacare got the knockout victory in under a minute.

Jacare seeks a rematch with Luke Rockhold in an attempt to win the Strikeforce middleweight championship.

The first fight of the main card also ended in a knockout. Ovince St. Preux knocked T.J. Cook unconscious shortly after the third round began.

The other finish of the main card was a submission victory for Anthony Smith. The 24-year-old defeated Lumumba Sayers via triangle choke in the first frame. Sayers was coming off of a stoppage of MMA veteran Scott Smith in March.

The victory puts Smith on the map in Strikeforce as a young fighter to watch.

In between all of the exciting finishes was Tarec Saffiedine vs. Roger Bowling.

Saffiedine pulled out a 30-27 unanimous decision over his opponent. Bowling landed several strong strikes, but Saffiedine was more consistent and accurate throughout the bout. Saffiedine controlled the action and continued his quest for a shot at the Strikeforce welterweight championship.

The five-fight main card gave fans a night full of exciting action.

Video courtesy of Showtime Sports.

Ronda Rousey's 54-second beatdown of Sarah Kaufman was a glorified sparring session, exposing the lack of parity in women's MMA.

If a formidable challenger isn't able to give Rousey a good fight, these events may quickly become run of the mill.

Rousey is a great athlete, she isn't bad to look at and she has the whole female action hero persona down. Her star quality is undeniable. But ultimately, someone has to learn how to fight off a rather simple armbar.

In case you missed it, this video highlight is all you need to see:

This reminds me of the beginnings of the UFC when Royce Gracie was so far ahead of his opponents in regards to grappling. He simply outlasted his foes using his advanced grappling skills. And he made the more primitive fighters submit when they couldn't conduct themselves on the ground.

The way Rousey is running roughshod over her opponents is very similar.

I'm not eager to see Rousey lose, but I'm eager to see her challenged.

Kaufman was supposed to be a good fighter. I saw her defeat Miesha Tate, and she had only one previous loss before Rousey embarrassed her on Saturday night. She was also supposed to be ready for the armbar. If she wasn't prepared to defend anything else, Kaufman should have been ready for that.

To Rousey's credit, she did use a nice sweep to take Kaufman to the mat, as well as some decent punching. But Kaufman seemed overwhelmed from the beginning. She was touted as a solid striker, yet the judo artist was the one who landed the significant strikes.

Honestly, I didn't even see Kaufman make a solid attempt.

Rousey deserves credit for another spectacular victory, but if she doesn't get a challenge sometime soon, the spectacular will turn to the ordinary quickly.

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Ronda “Rowdy” Rousey is the face of the Strikeforce mixed martial arts fighting promotion.

Her utterly dominant performance Saturday night against challenger Sarah Kaufman is yet another loud statement by the reigning bantamweight champion. She was expected to utilize her Olympic bronze medal level judo skills to control Kaufman and wear her down.

There was no "wearing down" needed.

Instead, 54 seconds into the bout, Rousey snapped on her grueling armbar move and that was all she wrote. Kaufman had no choice but to submit.

The most impressive fact was how fast it all went down. Not even a minute into the main event.

Totally dominant.

It may not have provided an exciting, hard-fought culmination for those in attendance at the Valley View Casino Center in San Diego. However, the main event of the night went down as it should have: Rousey’s arms raised victorious.

Like Chuck Liddell, Ken Shamrock, Tito Ortiz and Randy Couture of the UFC, Rousey is in a position to take on the role of the face of the fledgling promotion. Additionally, she’s taken over for the retired Gina Carano as the face of the entire women’s MMA movement.

Rousey has become somewhat of a media sensation in the wake of her explosion onto the MMA scene. She was featured on the cover of ESPN The Magazine and made an appearance on Conan. There’s not a media opportunity that 25-year-old should or would pass up.

She’s blowing up right now and there isn’t any sign of her coming down.

The biggest problem for her career and the continued rise of Strikeforce is that there aren’t enough competent competitors to give her a decent fight. The biggest ideas out there right now circle around having fighters drop to her 135-pound weight class in order to create a significant matchup.

Rousey called out Cris "Cyborg" Santos after her win Saturday night, according to Mike Chiappetta of MMAFighting.com:

I need to send out a challenge to Miss Cyborg out there. People want to see the first fair fight of your life. I'm the champ now. The champ doesn't go to you, you go to the champ. Come down to 135 and let's settle this.

Cyborg has previously stated she wants Rousey to fight her at her weight—145 pounds.

The fight will have to wait, as Cyborg is coming off of a steroid suspension.

Until then, Rousey will continue to win the hearts and minds of the fans as the face of the promotion. We’ll see if Strikeforce can capitalize on her fame and vault itself into the mainstream as the UFC did.

Mike Hoag Jr. is a Trends and Traffic writer for Bleacher Report and also covers the Cleveland Browns and the NFL for the site. Follow him on Twitter @BigHoagowski.

Yes, it really is that simple.

Ronda Rousey is the greatest female mixed martial artist up to this point. She is head and shoulders above everyone.

There have been a lot of solid female mixed martial artists to grace rings and cages over the years, but what we are watching now with Rousey is something completely new. It is reminiscent of how the men's action progressed.

Rousey is an elite athlete with impeccable technique. She is the new breed of fighter that women's MMA needs and is in the process of getting. Her importance cannot be overstated. Because of Rousey's presence, and dominance atop the MMA world, more and more top level athletes will come to MMA.

If a case is being made by another other than Rousey to be the greatest female fighter of all-time it would be Cyborg Santos. However, Santos' resume does not hold weight when broken down.

Shayna Baszler is a 135-pounder, Hitomi Akano is an undersized bantamweight, and Jan Finney is another bantamweight who had no business chalenging Cyborg. Marloes Coenen competes well at featherweight, but the size difference was too much when they met in 2010. Cyborg has only fought two legitimate featherweights: Hiroko Yamanaka and Gina Carano.

Yamanaka got destroyed in 16 seconds. Yamanaka is an okay featherweight at best, and had way too many technical holes in her striking defense to ever be a threat to Cyborg.

Carano may be the only fighter that has matched up well physically against Cyborg. Carano even had mount against her, but wanted to stand with the Brazilian phenom. Carano is not the level of fighter that Rousey is.

Some may bring up Megumi Fujii as someone who deserves the title as the greatest female fighter ever, and it is one she held until Rousey's recent domination.

Fujii is a legend. She is phenomenal on the ground and could be riding a 27 fight undefeated streak if not for two questionable decisions in Bellator. Where the argument for her falls short is her striking ability and athleticism.

She has had numerous fights stay on the feet and Fujii has showed definite striking deficiencies. Thankfully, her ground game more than makes up for it. Rousey has not been in a fight long enough to truly show off her striking prowess, but there have been flashes of her growing technique.

And thanks to Showtime's All Access program we even got to see Rousey's boxing work with Richard Perez in Northern California. It is clear that her striking is up to par in the bantamweight division, but she simply does not need to showcase it.

A solid case can be made for Fujii based on her win total and amazing ground game, but when you watch the two perform, it is clear who is the better fighter. “MegaMegu” is beloved, but Rousey is a special talent.

A dominant run as champion has begun and shows no sign of stopping. For the foreseeable future it looks that Rousey is unstoppable. She is the greatest female fighter, pound-for-pound, ever.

It's been years since we've seen anyone like Ronda Rousey—27 years to be exact. That's when a young, relatively unknown boxer from Brooklyn, N.Y. named Mike Tyson began his meteoric rise to the World Heavyweight Championship.

The parallels are readily apparent. Only once in Tyson's first 16 professional bouts did an opponent last into the fourth round, and all of those matchups ended in a knockout. 

Rousey, meanwhile, has six fights under her belt as a pro, and in all six cases, her opponent tapped out as a result of Rousey's now-infamous armbar submission. Since she began her professional career 17 months ago, Rousey has spent a total of 459 seconds in the ring.

"The sport has never seen anything like it," writes Bleacher Report's Jonathan Snowden. "Rousey...is on a different level athletically than any of her competitors."

Similar statements were made about Tyson in the late-80s when, even at 5'10", he was the most feared competitor in the heavyweight division. Whether Rousey will ever be as awe-inspiring as Tyson was in his prime remains to be seen, but early indications are that she won't find herself on the wrong side of the ledger anytime soon.

Rousey is generally regarded as the most talented woman in MMA, and her main competition for that title—Cristiane "Cyborg" Santos, Strikeforce's 2010 Female Fighter of the Year—is currently serving a one-year suspension after testing positive for an anabolic steroid.

Rousey's fighting style hasn't completely won over the fans as of yet: MMA message boards are filled with those who refer to her quick, submission-centric bouts as "boring." While Tyson was never the recipient of that label, it can be argued that Floyd Mayweather Jr. isn't the world's most exciting boxer. Mayweather also happens to be 43-0 and the best pound-for-pound fighter on the planet today.

Regardless of fan opinion, Rousey's dominance cannot be denied. As long as she can avoid the same types of distractions that ultimately led to Tyson's downfall, she should be one of the most feared fighters on the MMA circuit for years to come.

Miesha Tate lost the Strikeforce Bantamweight Championship in March to Ronda Rousey. Entering Saturday, she knew she needed a victory to stay in the title hunt.

It was generally believed that a dominant performance from Tate would lead to a rematch with Rousey due to their bad blood, but that is not the kind of performance Tate delivered against Julie Kedzie.

It was a fantastic fight, one of the best of the year, but it was not a fight that should determine who is next for Rousey. Tate knows this as well.

At the post-fight press conference, Tate told the media that she did not deserve a title shot after her performance against Kedzie. And she is right. So, what is next for the former titleholder?

Alexis Davis jumps off the page immediately.

Davis is a top-level grappler who put on a great fight with Sarah Kaufman back in March. Now, Davis is also coming off a win after defeating Hitomi Akano at Invicta FC 2.

The fight makes sense to determine who is next for Rousey in 2013. The fight can happen later this year in Strikeforce and potentially co-main event. It is a good stylistic matchup, and if their recent performances are an indicator, it should be a great scrap too.

If the Strikeforce schedule does keep Tate off of the cards for the rest of the year, then perhaps she could be added to the third Invicta card in October.

The promotion released its 13-bout card earlier in the week, but there is plenty of time to add Tate to the bill. With the working relationship between Strikeforce and Invicta, it would make sense to keep her active and give her another win prior to challenging for the title.

Liz Carmouche, Alexis Davis or Sara McMann are all potential top-level suitors for a fight against Tate. Those premier bouts are unlikely to be wasted as a non-main event. There are plenty of other mid-level opponents for Tate if the aim is to simply showcase her talents.

If Invicta is the next landing spot for Tate, it will be a win-win situation for all involved. Having Invicta as an outlet to keep its fighters active is excellent for Strikeforce—Tate will get to remain active, and Invicta gets to promote one of the best female fighters going today.

After Saturday night's event, we know that Tate should not be challenging for the championship in 2012. She needs to tighten up her game before entering the cage against Rousey for a second time. The champion is on another level.

The good news is that there are a lot of options for the former champion.

Now it is up to Strikeforce matchmaker Sean Shelby to decide how to proceed. Will she make it on a Strikeforce card later in the year, be allowed to take a fight in Invicta or be shelved until the new year?

It remains to be seen, but I would put money on seeing Tate compete once more in 2012.