It was primarily an interview, not a fight or competition. He interviewed her for a few minutes and then she demonstrated a few throws. That's all it was and all there is to get.
I've nothing but respect for her Judo skills. She is a Olympic medalist and her signature combo has proven an extremely reliable take down method. I am underestimating her ability to pull off that combo against a bigger opponent... it requires her to move in too close, in my opinion. A 6' man will have a long reach and can connect blows before that happens. Do you really think she can just shrug off solid contact from a 200lb man? She was talking some shit on Ray Rice before. Imagine if she was on that elevator with him in a confined space, is she going to be able to get her Judo grab unchecked? Ray Rice is going to land some solid punches... I just don't think she can shrug it off and be left standing against this guy:
The size bigger the disparity, the more it starts to matter of course, but I've dominated people who were 6 inches taller or more than me and outweighed me by 50 to 100 lbs. of muscle. An asshole on the judo club I didn't get along with would invite his meathead buddies and get them to spar with me. They were able to use that strength to try to throw me around for the first few seconds, but in the end we'd end up on the ground with my arm around their necks. I'm nothing special in terms of the MMA or BJJ/ judo world and quite often had unskilled meatheads panicking and gasping like a fish out of water. Rousey is a legit grappling monster who trains with a lot of the top rated guys. There's a chance a much larger guy could blast her and knock her out, but if it goes to the ground and that guy has zero skill, he's going to go to the hospital. I think we've already seen this demonstrated with the early UFCs in the 90s when there were massive size and skill disparities. If you've followed the career of Fedor Emelianenko, he was a small heavyweight who crushed substantially larger opponents all the time until he started to lose his explosiveness from age and wear and tear late in his career. Rousey would also be able to beat lower skilled but larger opponents if she faced them. An unskilled meathead would get twisted into a pretzel by someone like Melendez or any top level fighter. The fact that she didn't demonstrates that she's clearly legit on the ground.
Failed armbar conversion = KO from kick to the head First time RR was looking sloppy, she was walking into punches to land the armbar... HH was faster and sent her spinning with solid punches to the face. Rhonda found one shot at the armbar but couldn't close and basically had no backup plan.
Ronda Rouseys comeback fight ended in 48 second KO by Amanda Nunes. She really has poor no strike game and is still 100% reliant on her signature armbar. This was obvious last fight, not sure what she spent 14 months training on... All that shit about beating Mayweather or Ray Rice is looking embarrassing now.
Rousey gets annihilated on her feet, and Nunes is probably the hardest hitter in her division. She isn't going anywhere with her current manager. She should retire if she is going to keep trying to stand with vastly superior strikers.
Rousey reminds me of one of those 7-foot NBA centers who can shoot 60% in the paint but inexplicably continuously tries to shoot outside shots way beyond their skill set, badly hurting the team and forcing the coach to bench them. Except Rousey's manager seems to be telling her she can trade with good strikers. Ronda's most recent submission victories have been in February 2015 and December 2013. She of course had some easy KO wins against outmatched opponents in recent years, so a submission wasn't needed, but my point is she isn't utilizing her greatest strength often yet is trying to strike against the most dangerous strikers in her division. When she's struggling, she should be focusing on what she does well. Her game plans have been disastrous.
IMO, most of the "fighters" in UFC are fairly low skill. They work out a lot and look the part, but that's about it. It's basically an amateur level sport that has professional level promotion and marketing.
It's not as developed as most older professional sports, but "low skill" definitely isn't accurate. Many of the people competing in MMA have competed at the highest level in other combat sports. In addition, there have been fighters from MMA who have competed in K-1 and Glory (pro kickboxing) and fared quite well.
To me, it's like the difference between NCAA and NFL football. NCAA games are entertaining, make a lot of money, and do have some highly skilled players competing. However, it's obvious that NCAA football games feature tons of mistakes and blown plays in comparison to the NFL. The overall talent level isn't nearly as high. You have players like Tim Tebow that can win the Heisman Trophy in the NCAA and then be a complete flop at the pro level because they don't have anywhere near the skills to succeed.
MMA is above the amateur/ college level sport equivalent but still has a way to go to get to where older pro sports are. The women's divisions aren't the best examples to judge MMA's progression given they're much newer, especially in the UFC. Amanda Nunes is definitely an improvement over Rousey as far as being a complete fighter if she can demonstrate good pacing and judgement in longer fights. If you see pro MMA as the equivalent in skill to NCAA sports, you're greatly underestimating how much is required to be a top competitor. The womens divisions were new to the UFC and Rousey got away with being one dimensional for awhile, but now you're seeing well rounded fighters destroy her easily just has been the case in the older divisions. You have to be very good in multiple disciplines now or you'll get crushed, and that requires development of many skills to a high level.
Average pay is $42,000 a year? Looks like they mainly churn inexperienced fighters who drop out after a few years because they can't make enough money. http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2685605-for-love-not-money-how-low-fighter-pay-is-undermining-mma