Liz Carmouche: Why I think Ronda Rousey will defeat Gina Carano

Liz Carmouche knows Ronda Rousey well, having broken ground with her in the first ever women’s fight in the Ultimate Fighting Championship, a match that the latter would win by first-round submission. Ten years after her last professional mixed martial arts bout where she lost to Amanda Nunes, Rousey is back in action, taking on another pioneer in Gina Carano. The women square off for the first ever Most Valuable Promotions MMA event, being broadcasted on Netflix, where Carmouche will be watching.

As Carmouche prepares for her next fight in the Professional Fighters League on June 27 at PFL San Diego, she spoke with Sherdog.com and provided her predictions for MVP “Rousey vs. Carano,” hoping to see the unexpected.

“It’s funny because prior to me starting my career and getting into fighting, I was a huge Gina Carano fan, a huge [Cris Cyborg] fan, I watched both of them. So I got to see her career and then the end of her career where she retired, and now, she (Carano) is coming back. Then, of course, I got to see Ronda as we’re side-by-side parallel watch if our paths are going to cross, and they eventually do. So, actually having faced Ronda and just seeing what she’s done with her career, I think that she’s going to be the winner out of this.

“For one, just the Olympic level of tenacity that they have and being able to establish themselves in that career. I think having watched Gina, unless she’s done these crazy grappling improvements throughout her career, and just taking that time off and doing it, I think that Ronda has it. Striking wise, I feel they’re pretty well-matched, but the ground is really where Ronda just stands out and shines brighter than Carano. But again, it’s still a good fight and I hope that I’m completely wrong and they do something completely different that’s unexpected, because that’d be really cool.”