Sara McMann ready for title fight – and possibility of Ronda Rousey getting ‘under my skin’

Sara McMann is suddenly back in the MMA spotlight and ready to win the UFC women’s bantamweight title.

“I’m a professional fighter, so this is what I’ve been working toward the entire time,” she today told MMAjunkie.

The UFC announced this past weekend that McMann (8-0 MMA, 1-0 UFC) will face off with fellow Olympian and women’s bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey (8-0 MMA, 2-0 UFC) at UFC 170, which takes place Feb. 22 at Las Vegas’ Mandalay Bay Events Center.

But McMann already knew that. Prior to Rousey’s defeat of Miesha Tate at UFC 168, she was told she’d fight the winner of the grudge match, which co-headlined the pay-per-view event.

“I had a lot more action on my Twitter and Facebook and got a few text messages, but things haven’t been that much different for me,” McMann said.

McMann, an Olympic silver medalist in wrestling, has been absent from the public eye since August, when she withdrew from a fight with ex-Strikeforce champ Sarah Kaufman at UFC Fight Night 27.

“I had more important things to do,” said McMann, who declined to say why she withdrew from the fight other than to confirm she was dealing with “undisclosed personal issues,” as initially reported.

Now, the most important thing is beating Rousey, a bronze medalist in judo who notched her eighth straight armbar victory in a rematch with opposing “The Ultimate Fighter 18? coach Tate this past weekend.

“Both girls did some things very well,” McMann said of the fight. “Both girls obviously made mistakes, like every fight you ever see.”

As to what mistakes Rousey made, well, McMann isn’t in the business of telling her opponent what she needs to work on.

“There’s no time that any of us go out there and don’t reveal something,” McMann said. “Even if Miesha couldn’t exploit it, she revealed it.

“If it were somebody that were making minute technical errors in striking, I would have a harder time exploiting it considering my background. But when people make a grappling error, I’m in a great position.”

The bout marks the first time the UFC has promoted a bout between two Olympic medalists, though as of late, Rousey’s image isn’t so squeaky clean.

Despite her dominant performance in the cage, Rousey elicited boos from the UFC 168 crowd when she refused to shake her rival’s hand following a third-round submission victory. During her appearance on “TUF 18,” cameras frequently caught her muttering expletives and making obscene gestures toward Tate.

McMann didn’t watch the reality show but said she heard about the duo’s interactions.

“I know I hear from people in my gym that there was a negativity toward her with everything that went down on ‘The Ultimate Fighter,’” McMann said. “I just think that in life, I don’t care how good you are. If you treat people in certain ways, it doesn’t take long for people to say, ‘I don’t really like that.’ I think it was a matter of time.”

So as she prepares to fight Rousey, she’ll also prepare to listen to her, as well.

“I’m just going to prepare for anything that could possibly happen, something that would throw me off my game or get inside my head,” McMann said.

For the latest on UFC 170, stay tuned to the UFC Rumors section of the site.