Ronda Rousey could potentially beat undefeated world champion boxer Floyd Mayweather Jr. in a matchup, UFC commentator Joe Rogan said this week.
The issue came up during a roundtable discussion on ESPN 2's "SportsNation" this week as the panel talked about
Mayweather's pursuit of Manny Pacquiao, The Los Angeles Times reported. During the talk, Rogan was asked about who would win a matchup between Mayweather, a five-division welterweight and middleweight champion, and Rousey, UFC women's champ.
"It's all about how much time Floyd has to prepare, because he will really have to work on his takedown defense. That would be the big thing," Rogan said. "If Ronda got a clinch on him, it's not just about worrying about being taken down to the ground, it's worrying about knees to the body. It is worrying about her manipulating his body in ways that he doesn’t understand."
Rogan conceded, though, that if Mayweather trained and pursued to sharpen his mixed martial arts skills, he might be able to turn that around.
"He's a fantastic athlete," the commentator said. "You can teach a guy like that anything. He can learn gymnastics if you him enough time. If he would dedicate himself to a really great trainer and really work on his defensive and get out of the clinch, because if you're in the clinch with [Rousey] you're going flying."
While some on the talk show disagreed that Mayweather would lose to Rousey, Rogan said Rousey would be able to exploit Mayweather's lack of knowledge about mixed martial arts to win the hypothetical match.
"It's too hard to avoid the clinch," Rogan said. "If you watch a Floyd Mayweather fight, they very rarely end in a one-punch knockout. He has brittle hands. His hands break. You are talking about small gloves where hands are going to break even easier. She keeps her chin tucked, hands high and gets a hold of you. There is going to be a lot of things she is doing that he doesn't understand."
Rousey is set to defend her women's bantamweight title against Alexis Davis at UFC 175 in
Las Vegas on July 5, according to MMAFighting.com.
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