Pride legend Mark Coleman has had a rough few weeks, following a nasty infection and hip surgery, Coleman’s longtime friend Wes Sims took up a gofundme account to seek the help of his fans to fund his hospital bills. But, while on the mend Coleman took some time out to talk all things UFC with Submission Radio. When the topic of Ronda Rousey was brought up, Mark Coleman was full of praise for the women’s bantamweight champion.
“Ronda Rousey, that’s a name that just stands out. If she continues this pace for a little bit longer, this is a lady [that’s] going to be considered the greatest female athlete in the history of sports, and what she’s done is truly amazing, and at this point you don’t want to say that someone is unbeatable, but she certainly almost looks unbeatable at this point. She could obviously get maybe caught or something like that, but she’s just an incredible athlete and you’re going to need a lot more Ronda Rouseys to carry the woman’s MMA. You’re going to more stars to stand out and take centre stage for the woman’s MMA to grow, but right now she’s carrying woman’s MMA and a lot of woman should be happy with her because she put them on the map and she made it a real legit sport; and yes I feel these girls are very talented. They know a hell of a lot more than I did back when I was fighting, and they’re highly skilled athletes and they deserve to be in there, and I’m glad they are in there.”
While Coleman is full of praise for Rousey’s achievement in the women’s bantamweight division, he has responded to speculation on how Rousey would fair against the UFC’s male bantamweight fighters:
“I’m going to have to say firmly that I don’t see Ronda Rousey beating the number one ranked man in her weight class. I guess it maybe depends on how far down the rankings you go and depends on who the opponent is going to be. I would assume it would have to be definitely a way lesser ranked man and somebody maybe not even ranked, because I think she would have her hands full with any of these guys that are ranked in the top 10, 20, maybe even higher. She’s great, but I just see that there’s a difference between the men and a woman, and I think she would have her hands full. “
Coleman’s comments come after UFC commentator Joe Rogan, recently stated that he believes that Ronda Rousey would beat 50% of the male fighters at her weight. A statement which drew almost universal criticism from the likes of Ian McCall and Mark Munoz.
Transcription taken from Submission Radio
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