Dan Henderson’s coach not happy with Rousey’s top spot – UFC News
Dan Henderson’s strike coach Gus Pugliese is not happy with the Ultimate Fighting Championship making Strike bantamweight women titlist Ronda Rousey the current bantamweight titlist. According to Pugliese, like all others, believes Rousey should have been
the number one contender until she wins at least one fight for UFC.
Not just Pugliese, many other fighters believe Rousey should not have been the titlist. She will be debuting on UFC 157 against Liz Camouche. Instead of fighting for the title, Rousey will be defending it against Camouche.
To Puliese and others, there is no doubt about the fact that Rousey has proven herself time and again under the Strikeforce banner. However, they believe Rousey still has to prove her mettle in UFC.
“Ronda is headlining UFC 157. Here is why I have a problem with that. Ronda is the champion of Strikeforce with 6 wins in less than 2 years of a mma professional career. That's impressive regardless of who she has fought. However, she is not the UFC champion
yet,” said Pugliese.
“However, she is not the UFC champion yet. She still has to win this fight to get that belt. On the other hand, we have Hendo, who has also been the Strikeforce champion (never lost the belt), Pride champion in 2 different weight classes; he has been ranked
#1 contender for the UFC 205 lbs, and #6 by many pound for pound best fighter,” he added.
He further said that Lyoto Machida stands as one of the best fighters in the light heavyweight division yet he is not getting the chance to prove his mettle. Pugliese believes Machida should have received a title match offer, regardless of what has happened
in the past.
It should be noted here that President of the UFC Dana White offered Machida a match last year against titlist Jon Jones for UFC 152. However, Machida did not take it up believing he would need more than just three weeks. Now, it seems like Machida is not
even in the list of contenders, since Jones will now be competing against ‘The American Gangster’ Chael Sonnen at The Ultimate Fighter season 17.
Unfortunately, Pugliese and others will have to stay with the bitterness since Dana White is paying no heed to the matter.
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