Hanley! wrote:Does this hurt Ronda's ability to draw in the future? Have the women who have beaten her gained enough popularity to off-set people losing interest in Rousey? Are people excited about the division now that it appears more competitive, or will people stop buying shows to see the women now that their biggest star is on the decline?
It hurts her drawing power, absolutely. A huge part of her popularity was because she drew casual fans in who thought she was an invincible destruction machine. The UFC hyped her up as a "once in human history athlete" and she was voted as a more dominant female athlete than the likes of Serena Williams, but now she's looked like an amateur in her past two fights she won't have that mystique and intrigue anymore.
Neither Nunes or Holm were hyped up as contenders by the UFC, so they haven't really gained much popularity by beating her. It's too early to say for Nunes to be honest, but the promo videos in the leadup to the fight were 95% Rousey, 5% Nunes - if that. I'm not exaggerating, they really didn't give a shit about Nunes and just prayed for Rousey to win. Rousey was given some real special treatment in the leadup to this fight.
As for people being more excited about the division, probably not. The division is definitely stronger than ever before now in terms of talent, but not star power. Two of Rousey's best wins were against McMann and Correia, a stay-at-home mum who doesn't train at gyms and does it over 1-2-1 Skype calls instead (McMann) and a recenty-retired accountant who got into MMA only two years beforehand to try and lose weight (Correia). Now some actual top contenders are coming through at both women's bantamweight and strawweight, whom are much better than the likes Rousey was fighting.
The belt has been passed around since Rousey lost it back in November 2015 which has hurt the star power of some of the top contenders, too - neither Holm nor Tate successfully defended it, now Holm has left the division and Tate has retired. If Nunes convincingly beats a whole bunch of contenders it may bring some excitement and drawing power back to the division.