



While MMA circles are rampant with talk about a potential fight between UFC women’s bantamweight championship Ronda Rousey and Gina Carano, one of the division’s top contenders is perplexed by the excitement.

Liz Carmouche, a former UFC title challenger, doesn’t understand the push to make a fight that, on paper at least, should be a one-sided blowout.

“No,” Carmouche told MMAjunkie when asked if she views Rousey vs. Carano as a competitive fight. “I would be surprised if [Carano] lasted more than 10 seconds against Ronda. I think it’s something that would end pretty shortly.”

Carmouche knows a thing or two about sharing the cage with Rousey. She was one-half of the first-ever women’s UFC fight in 2013. The bout headlined UFC 157, where she suffered a first-round submission loss to “Rowdy.”

With first-hand experience against the champ, “Girl-Rilla” knows what it takes to compete in a high-profile bout against the world’s best 135-pound fighter.

Carmouche (9-4 MMA, 1-2 UFC) couldn’t even make it past the first round against Rousey (9-0 MMA, 3-0 UFC), which is exactly why she’s less-than-optimistic about the odds of Carano (7-1 MMA, 0-0 UFC) dethroning the champion after more than five years of inactivity.

“I don’t know about her training,” Carmouche said. “I know she’s participating in a lot of different films these days, and that her main focus has been Hollywood. I don’t know how her training has been in the last five years.”

Carmouche, though, knows that while the fight itself may not be competitive, the name value of Rousey and Carano together could do wonders for the UFC and women’s MMA – at least from a financial standpoint.

Still, while Carmouche would like to see the next title shot go to the division’s most deserving contender, Carmouche said that if a Rousey vs. Carano fight is made, she’d be one of the first to tune in.

“If it happens, awesome,” Carmouche said. “I’ll definitely watch the fight because I always watch the woman fight, and that includes Ronda Rousey.”

For more on the UFC’s upcoming schedule, stay tuned to the UFC Rumors section of the site.

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Check out our video with Rousey from March, in which she discusses the possibility of fighting Carano: