UFC’s Countdown To UFC 175 is worth watching thanks solely to Ronda Rousey.
You can watch both parts of the countdown below with Chris Weidman and Lyoto Machida as the first video.
But I wanted to give my quick thoughts on the countdown. I’ll actually be at this show and before I committed to getting tickets, I was actually more interested in going to the TUF Finale instead. There were two reasons behind that and only one was financial since the UFC 175 show is at least doubly or triply more expensive. The other reason is because of BJ Penn. Penn is one of my all-time favorites and the fight between he and Edgar was more interesting to me than just about anything on the UFC 175 card.
And then Ronda was signed for this card. I had to see UFC 175. Ronda Rousey is a throwback to how the UFC used to be promoted. There were good guys and bad guys. Casual fans wanted to see the good guys win and the bad guys lose. You wanted to see Chuck beat Tito. You desperately wanted to see Randy beat Tim Sylvia. And they used their television to promote those rivalries very well.
The countdown show used to mean something. Today? It almost means nothing. If Ronda Rousey wasn’t on this countdown show saying that she could beat all the BJJ black belts in grappling competitions, I’m not sure if this would even be worth putting together as a hype show. She also said that every time she fights, she puts all of the things she’s achieved on the line.
Alexis Davis is shown holding hands with her coach (with no backstory on them at all) and wakes up early in the morning in high-waisted pajamas. Lyoto Machida is quicker than he was at 205. He’s more exciting at 185 (arguable). Chris Weidman beat Anderson Silva twice and no matter that both fights were a bit flawed, he thinks he would beat him again. He wants to be champion for a long time. Those are all the things we learn. In 2008, the UFC would’ve made this countdown special must-see. In 2014, it’s just YouTube fodder.
Thankfully, Ronda is a throwback. Or else, I’d be watching BJ Penn and Frankie Edgar face-off in the main event of a show that’s surrounded by a TUF season I didn’t even watch.