In the women’s mixed martial arts world, Ronda Rousey’s training partners known as the four horsewomen have caught the attention of the MMA public worldwide. With Bethe Correia’s last victory, she really put that group on the map by taking out one of the Four Horsewoman Jessamyn Duke.
What got the public’s attention for Correia was the hand symbol she made by raising four fingers in the air after her victory over Duke and putting one of the four fingers down; this hand gesture was a sign that “I’m coming for you” to the 3 remaining Horsewomen. The rest of the group involve Shayna Baszler, Marina Shafir and current women’s UFC bantamweight Champion Ronda Rousey.
Rousey mentioned Correia’s actions by saying “It’s smart” and that girls are taking a cue by getting people interested. Correia is currently scheduled in a bout against Rousey’s fellow Horsewoman Shayna Baszler at UFC 176 in Los Angeles. This will be an opportunity for Correia to keep her unbeaten streak and take out a second member of the four horsewomen clan. However, Baszler could set an end to Correia’s 8-0 unbeaten streak and establish herself in the women’s bantamweight division.
Recently, Dana White’s commented about Christiane “Cyborg” Justino and the unlikeliness of her fighting Ronda Rousey or in the UFC anytime soon. This opens the door for Correia to make her mark as a Contender in the UFC as a proud Brazilian. She currently fights out of Natal, Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil. She made her UFC debut against Julie Kedzie and won by split decision.
Twitter fans have recently exploded Correia’s account by begging her to have Cyborg in her corner. With the recent verbal feud between Rousey and Cyborg, this would make for an interesting story at UFC 176. What may stand in the way of this idea is the fact that Cyborg currently resides in San Diego while Correia is 5,970 miles away in Brazil.
While the highly speculated path to Ronda Rousey may be clear for Bethe Correia, the path of four Horsewomen member Marina Shafir is not clear. Shafir currently fights outside the UFC at Featherweight and has won 5 fights in her amateur career, but has only won one professional bout. All of these wins have been by submission in the first round and five out of the six of them by armbar. Her fighting style and finishes are very similar to her best friend, current training partner and UFC golden girl Ronda Rousey. However, a bout with Correia would not be possible at this point. She would have to drop a weight class and most likely get some wins behind her to enter the UFC. The ideal possibility of Correia fighting all four Horsewomen would depend on the outcome of multiple fights inside and outside of the UFC to take place.
With Dana White’s recent remarks on Ronda Rousey’s pay per view numbers being low, the hype behind Correia just may be the spark that is needed to ignite the UFC women’s bantamweight division to the next level.
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