Strikeforce

Forget about being one of the biggest female stars in MMA. With her armbar submission of Sarah Kaufman on Saturday night after just 54 seconds, Ronda Rousey proved that she is one of the biggest stars in MMA.

She's now won all six of her professional fights via her trademark armbar. Only one—the title fight against Miesha Tate—has lasted for more than a minute, though that was over before the first round concluded. For good measure, she also won all three of her amateur fights via the armbar.

She's already collecting the praises from a slew of MMA writers.

Yahoo! Sports' Kevin Iole has compared her and her meteoric rise in the sport to a young Mike Tyson dominating boxing early in his career.  

Sports Illustrated's Jeff Wagenheim has called her the most dominating fighter in the sport, more so than Anderson Silva, Jon Jones or Georges St-Pierre.

It isn't premature to compare Rousey to fighters with much longer resumes, not with how convincingly she has dominated her opponents. No, she can't yet top Silva's 16 consecutive wins, nor can she brag about dismantling the level of opponents that Jones or St-Pierre have.

But she has thoroughly destroyed whomever has lined up opposite of her.

Stardom isn't just about what you do in the Octagon. Rousey is also the consummate promoter, calling out Cristiane "Cyborg" Santos immediately after dispatching of Kaufman.

I particularly enjoyed her calling Santos "Miss Cy-Roid" and adding "People want to see you have the first fair fight of your life."

Rousey also seems to understand that she can be an ambassador for women's MMA. She appeared in ESPN the Magazine's Body Issue. She publicly blasted Kim Kardashian as a terrible role model for young girls and noted she'd like to beat her up.

She's promoted herself intelligently and made herself a household name. She has a trademark move that she can market. She's been absolutely dominant and doesn't look like she'll slow down anytime soon. And she happens to be gorgeous, which always helps.

Before you tell me I'm missing the point, ask yourself how many women would give a crap who Tom Brady was if he wasn't attractive. Like it or not, from a marketing standpoint, looks matter.

And the biggest stars are always marketable.

Rousey is a superstar. She's as big a star as MMA has today, and I dare any man or woman to say otherwise.

Hit me up on Twitter—my tweets are cracking like a Ronda Rousey armbar.

If you don’t know who Strikeforce bantamweight champion Rondo Rousey is yet, her sixth professional first-round submission win via armbar needs to wake up even the most stubborn MMA fans.

Just because she is a woman doesn’t mean she isn’t one of the toughest human beings in the world; just ask former champion Sarah Kaufman and her 53-second loss how tough Rousey really is inside the cage.

Now that Rousey has cleared through the current challengers Strikeforce lined up for her, Rousey and her title want to make a real impact on the sport.

She wants to fight the best.

Rousey was ready to issue her challenge immediately after Saturday’s fight, calling out polarizing women’s MMA figure and former featherweight champ Cristiane "Cyborg" Santos (h/t MMA Junkie):

I need to send out a challenge to Ms. Cyborg, there. People want to see you have 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

To be perfectly honest, this is as great as any trash talk we have seen in the last five years in MMA. While fans will point to Chael Sonnen and the trash talk against Anderson Silva in their fight, this is much more intense because of the feeling around the MMA world about Cyborg’s positive steroid test.

Fans forget that Cyborg is suspended for testing positive for performance-enhancing drugs and will not be eligible to return until Dec. 10, but recent comments shed doubt on that possibility of the star fighter dropping weight to meet Rousey for the title or even returning to Strikeforce.

With the UFC still living in the stone ages when it comes to women’s MMA, Strikeforce needs to realize the power that wield with the opportunity of making this fight happen.

Whatever it takes to get these two female fighting powerhouses in the same ring, it must be done.

If Cyborg and Rousey fight, the sheer hype around their battle will launch female MMA to another level. Maybe then Dana White and the UFC won’t ignore it anymore.

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Miesha Tate’s third-round armbar submission of Julie Kedzie has made her the first in line for a shot at Ronda “Rowdy” Rousey.

In Tate versus Kedzie, there were a lot of question marks following the first two rounds. Kedzie came out swinging, literally, and kept Tate at bay with some effective striking. Ultimately, she could not stay off the mat and was eventually submitted well into the third round.

Rousey destroyed Sarah Kaufman with an armbar of her own, just 54 seconds into the first-round. There was never any doubt as to who the champion and who the challenger was in San Diego.

So why does Tate, who suffered a similar fate to Rousey back in March via armbar submission, deserve another shot to reclaim her title?

Tate weighed in on her suitability for a title shot and rematch with Rousey after her performance Saturday night (via MMAWeekly.com):

At this point, I don’t feel that my performance, I mean everyone is saying it was ‘Fight of the Night’ and everything and that’s great and I’m really happy it was an entertaining bout, but I personally am not happy with my performance. I definitely don’t think it was a contention worthy performance, Tate said.

While Tate may not agree she deserves a rematch yet, there are few other options for StrikeForce to turn to in the bantamweight division. They could conceivably convince someone like Gina Carano or Cristiane “Cyborg” Santos to drop weight to fight Rousey, but it’s more likely Tate will be the next in line to try to stop Rousey’s dominant run.

What a rematch it will be, too.

Tate, who gave Rousey the longest fight of her career, has seemingly improved her already impressive grappling ground game—as displayed in her bout against Kedzie Saturday night. Will it be enough to stop the Olympic bronze judo skills of Rousey in the cage?

That is the big question of the moment.

The Rousey train looks unstoppable at the moment and it will take the best fight of her, or anyone’s career, and perhaps a little luck for Tate to avenge her loss and regain the bantamweight title.

I am a Trends and Traffic sports writer for Bleacher Report. I also cover the Cleveland Browns and the NFL exclusively for the site. Follow me on Twitter @BigHoagowski if you want breaking sports updates or want to talk sports.

Strikeforce's biggest star, Ronda Rousey, retained her title in impressive fashion once again as she took out Sarah Kaufman in just 54 seconds. Rousey did what everyone, including Kaufman, knew she would and executed her game plan to perfection.

The win kept not only Rousey's title, but also her perfect record along with another arm to add to her mantle piece. No, Rousey didn't break it off and beat Kaufman like the champion claimed she would, but the win was perhaps just as impressive.

Rousey is already the biggest star in Strikeforce and has easily become one of the five most popular MMA fighters currently in the game. That list would include guys who've worked their entire careers to become one of the sport's most talked about stars.

Rousey has done it in just six professional fights.

As popular as she is now, Rousey should be a bigger star. Despite being featured nearly every week in some form of media by websites like Bleacher Report, Rousey being in Strikeforce is a financial hindrance.

It's no secret the UFC is where the big paydays are. Not only could Rousey be making more money and receiving more attention from the media, but she would also have the label "UFC fighter."

The term is a powerful tool for marketing any fighter to a company or promotion. Even guys who've seen their careers sputter since leaving the Octagon can still call themselves "ex-UFC fighters," and it instantly earns a measure of respect.

You don't just make it to the big dance by luck. Fighters who've graced the Octagon have earned their opportunity along with some measure of respect when talking to potential sponsors, promoters and media members.

Rousey, at this moment, doesn't have that label. It would certainly help her star power grow if she were under the UFC's banner instead of Strikeforce, but the former Olympian doesn't need the UFC's brand to stay relevant.

The UFC currently doesn't have a women's MMA division, and although Dana White is warming up to the sport, it's still a long ways away from being a reality. If Rousey were someone like Gilbert Melendez or Luke Rockhold, then yes, the argument could be made that she needs the UFC to remain relevant in the grand scheme of MMA.

As of now, Strikeforce is home to the best women fighters on the planet and can offer Rousey the best situation. She will be a huge draw for the promotion despite a list of credible challengers that grows shorter by the day and could become the biggest star outside the UFC.

Of course, if the UFC decides to bring the ladies into the Octagon the question of Rousey needing the UFC will be a valid topic of discussion. But then again, when that happens Rousey will likely be pioneering that division as well.