Ronda Rousey: "'Cyborg' can't beat me, even on drugs"
UFC bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey was asked to talk about former Strikeforce featherweight queen Cris "Cyborg" Justino again, recently. The "Rowdy" one gave her usual (and quite believable) refrain of, "I'm here. She's the one who asked out of the UFC," but the champ also gave a more detailed skill and psychological analysis of her would-be opponent to members of the Brazilian press corps.
Conventional wisdom holds that Rousey, the grappling specialist, would have an advantage over the larger Justino if she could get a hold of her and wrest her to the ground. Of course, Rousey agrees.
"If you remember when ['Cyborg'] fought Gina [Carano], she pulled her into mount two different times. Those are very grievous technical mistakes," Rousey said.
"The mistakes that she makes technically are absolutely terrible and basic. The only reason why she gets away with it is because of her strength."
However, Rousey doesn't concede a strength advantage to the physically bigger Brazilian. "People don’t realize how strong I actually am," she went on.
"Ask the girls that I’ve fought. They weren’t expecting this. Because I don’t look like it, it doesn’t mean I don’t have it."
The Olympic Judoka also didn't concede the striking area to the kickboxing specialist "Cyborg." Rousey doesn't believe that Justino has one-strike KO power, and that she wouldn't be able to out-pace the grappler.
"She doesn’t have any feeling in her punches, she pushes her punches," Rousey claimed.
"She can’t knock people out with one punch, she just overwhelms them. My pace, nobody can overwhelm me. And the way that she is on the ground, it’s absolute horrendous. And her distance is absolute horrendous. The only thing that she has is pace and power, and I have pace, precision and power."
Lastly, Rousey spoke on Justino's steroid use. "Cyborg" has tested positive for steroid use in the past, and of course claims that is all in the past. Rousey doesn't believe that Justino has given up using banned performance-enhancing drugs, but also explained why she isn't daunted by that notion.
"The reason why people dope is because they lack self-confidence," Rousey reasoned.
"The reason why she was using steroids is because that girl does not believe that the best that she has is good enough, and that will always be there in her mind. And you know what, she’s right. The best that she has isn’t good enough, even on drugs."
What do you think of Rousey's perceived psychological edge over someone like Justino? Let us know in the comments section.
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