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Ronda Rousey riled for Bethe Correia, statement fight

By The Sports Xchange

Ronda Rousey didn't need much extra motivation to defend her UFC women's bantamweight title against undefeated Bethe Correia on Saturday night. But Correia sure gave her something to chew on anyway.

The Venice, Calif., resident has a clique of fighter friends referred to as "The Four Horsewomen," a play on the famous "Four Horsemen" pro wrestling clique of the 1980s.

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Correia (9-0) has defeated two of the three -- Shayna Baszler and Jessamyn Duke (the third, judoka Marina Shafir, does not compete in the UFC) -- and has mocked and taunted her way into a title shot, which goes down in the main event of UFC 190 in Rio de Janeiro.

While that's standard fight hype, Correia crossed the line in an interview when she made a reference to Rousey and suicide. Rousey's father, Ron, died of suicide when Rousey was eight years old.

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Correia went on to claim the quote was mistranslated from Portuguese to English, but Rousey isn't buying it.

"I can't have girls taking the same approach as Bethe," Rousey said. "So I have to beat this girl so thoroughly that there's not future girls who pick on my family in order to get a quicker title shot. Pick on me all you want, but leave them out of it. That's what I really want to accomplish."

In case there was any doubting the seriousness of Rousey's words, she wore hand wraps with the phrase "My lovely father" written in Sharpie to Wednesday's open workouts.

"I don't believe her at all," Rousey said. "How could you know that many more obscure facts about my life and not know about that? I don't know if I'm more insulted by what she said or by her phony attempt to save face, because she never even apologized.

Rousey's whose stature as the UFC's most mainstream face only increased when she recently won ESPY awards for best fighter and best female athlete, has been greeted by massive throngs of fans in Brazil, suggesting she'll actually be the crowd favorite in Brazil against a Brazilian fighter.

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Her Octagon accomplishments have already become legendary in the mixed martial arts world. A judo bronze medalist at the 2008 Olympics, Rousey (11-0) has lorded over women's MMA's marquee weight class since defeating Miesha Tate for what was then the Strikeforce title in 2012.

After the belt became the UFC title in 2013, Rousey's star power has grown through her dominance. Ten of Rousey's 11 career wins have come in the first round. Nine have come through submission by way of an armbar. She defeated Alexis Davis last summer in 16 seconds, then topped herself at UFC 184, when she needed just 14 seconds to armbar Cat Zingano, setting a UFC record for quickest submission.

Rousey's draw is an offshoot of the sort of appeal that Mike Tyson had during his 1980s prime. Fans know Rousey is heads-and-tails above the class, and want to see how quickly she can dispense of her most recent foe.

"I get really mixed feedback," Rousey said of her quick fights. 'It's 50/50 where people tell me "can you break your own record and can you do it faster or can you make it longer?' And so I think that fans and people are aware that they're watching history. And even if it's a short fight, it's a historic short fight."

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She's a plus-1700 favorite over Correia on Saturday, which, if the numbers hold, will make Correia the biggest underdog ever in a UFC title fight. Correia is a power puncher, and her best bet if she's going to pull off the upset is will be trying to keep the fight on the feet and goading Rousey into a brawl, something that's proven easier said than done.

"Ronda's game has failed because she always does the same thing, go to the ground," Correia said through an interpreter. "I don't care if I'm the underdog, my goal is to retire undefeated."

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