Sara McMann: 'I will always be the hardest' opponent for Ronda Rousey
When Ronda Rousey was asked in an interview back in September who her strongest opponent has been so far, her answer -- Sara McMann -- surprised some.
Rousey finished McMann by TKO with a knee to the liver in just 66 seconds at UFC 170 in February. The UFC women's bantamweight champion said she took more damage in a short time against McMann than she did against any other opponent.
McMann herself pretty much nodded her head when she heard those comments.
"I thought that anyways," McMann told FOX Sports in a recent interview. "I will always be the hardest one, because I'm the hardest one for her to control. Compared to everyone else, I have the strongest wrestling background."
There's no disputing that. McMann won the silver medal in wrestling at the 2004 Summer Olympics. She's the best wrestler in the women's bantamweight division and one of the most decorated wrestlers, man or woman, in the entire UFC. Also, McMann might be the only competitor in the weight class who can come close to Rousey from an athletic perspective -- they're both Olympians.
For all those reasons, McMann (8-1) is bent on a rematch with the undefeated Rousey (10-0), whether Rousey is the champion or not. Part of it has become personal as well. Rousey said in the spring that she didn't believe McMann was ready to be a UFC champion when they fought in February.
"I don't think she really wanted what came along with being the UFC champion," Rousey said at a media luncheon in Los Angeles before her bout with Alexis Davis at UFC 175 in July. "She did, really, zero media for the whole thing, because she felt like the media would interfere with her training. Well, the media needs to be part of her training."
McMann, 34, admittedly is not a big fan of doing interviews and people prying into her private lives. But she disagrees with Rousey's comments -- and was slightly offended by them.
"I don't want somebody else speaking about what I am or am not," McMann said. "I don't say what Ronda Rousey is and isn't, because I don't know her personally. She is not the authority for what I am and what I am not ready for."
The South Carolina resident said she understands now that promotion is part of her MMA career and she said that dawned on her from the moment she signed the bout agreement to fight Rousey for the title. McMann bristles at the notion that she did no media before the UFC 170 main event.
"I had to come to terms that that is part of my job," McMann said. "I enjoy privacy. But I know if I want to be the No. 1 girl, I have to compromise. She wasn't right in that respect. Once I accepted the title fight, I was a big girl. I put my big girl panties on."
Rousey defends her title against Cat Zingano at UFC 184 on Feb. 28 in Los Angeles and McMann believes Zingano can win. McMann and Zingano have known each other since they were teenagers in the USA wrestling program and McMann has confidence that Zingano can pull off the upset.
"I think so, yeah," McMann said. "Cat Zingano is a very tough athlete."
McMann is coming off a split decision win over Lauren Murphy in August. She has no bout set currently, but is eyeing a matchup with fellow former No. 1 contender Miesha Tate, a fight she has verbally agreed to already. A win there and maybe one other could get McMann right back in the title conversation and that's where she badly wants to be.
"I don’t feel like I'm that far," McMann said.
