UFC 170 has been marketed as Olympian vs. Olympian with Ronda Rousey becoming the first American woman to earn an Olympic medal in judo when she took bronze at the 2008 games. As for Sara McMann, she became the first American woman to earn a silver metal in Olympic wrestling when she medalled in the 2004 games in Athens.
For quite some time many have been saying that Sara McMann is Ronda Rousey’s biggest competition at 135 pounds and on February 22nd we will finally see how true that is.
With the fight approaching I have been doing some research into the grappling match up between Rousey and McMann. Will Rousey and McMann’s grappling nullify each other and lead to a stand up fight? Will McMann put Rousey on her back, and if so who has the advantage from Rousey’s guard? Or will McMann get thrown and swept like all of Rousey’s other opponents?
While I obviously don’t count McMann out of the fight by any means, I don’t believe she has much of a chance of beating Rousey.
This YouTube video by BJJSCOUT gives a very intricate breakdown of the grappling match up between Rousey and McMann and gives me more reason to think McMann will be another name in Rousey’s win column.