Jessica Eye sees a big difference between testosterone and estrogen and men and women.
And in an MMA setting, not even a women’s champion as great as Ronda Rousey could overcome those odds.
The man vs. woman talk has reached uncomfortable levels, following UFC commentator Joe Rogan’s comments during an interview with ESPN's Dan LeBatard, regarding Rousey’s ability to defeat “50 percent” of the fighters currently competing in the UFC men’s bantamweight division.
Rousey aggrandized those comments during an appearance on ESPN's SportsCenter, per MMAFighting.com's Marc Raimondi, by theoretically claiming she could beat 100 percent of the male fighters at bantamweight.
However, she later began prefacing her comments by denouncing any setting that would condone a man hitting a woman.
Eye, who is arguably the top contender in the women’s bantamweight division, isn’t optimistic about Rousey’s chances in hanging with male flyweights, let alone UFC bantamweights, as per MMAFighting.com's David St. Martin (h/t Rick Lee):
They’re men. Come on. Let’s not screw up what we know already. Men have testosterone. I go with these 125ers and these guys are fast. If they really wanted to put it on me, they would put it on us. I think they are kind of losing sight of what we already know and that’s that they’re men.
They have testosterone. We're women. We have estrogen. There's that difference. If guys want to put it on us and beat us up they can. Come on now. Who we kidding?
Rousey may not compete against men, but she is currently ranked alongside the best male fighters in the world in the official UFC pound-for-pound rankings. In the UFC 184 post-fight press conference, UFC President Dana White even compared her to the female version of “Iron” Mike Tyson, following her 14-second submission win over Cat Zingano on Feb. 28.
While the Tyson comparison is up in the air, Eye admitted she didn’t feel comfortable with women being ranked in the same category as men, per St. Martin.
“I don’t think the women should be in the pound-for-pound [rankings]. I really don’t. I think we should be in our own division, pound-for-pound.”
Eye and undefeated Brazilian contender Bethe Correia are front-runners in the UFC women’s bantamweight title picture. White, Rousey and Eye are expected to attend the South by Southwest festival held in Austin, Texas this weekend.
Some alone time with the UFC president and champion could open the doors to a potential title bout negotiation.
Jordy McElroy is a Featured Columnist for Bleacher Report. He is also the MMA writer for Rocktagon and FanRag Sports.
