UFC 190 Fact or Fiction: Can Rousey vs. Correia Be Worth the Price of Admission?

Nobody thinks Bethe Correia is going to beat Ronda Rousey on Saturday at UFC 190.

That includes oddsmakers, who’ve made her an underdog of historic proportions; the UFC, which has already gone as far as to book Rousey’s next fight; and even Brazilian MMA fans, who are shown here vocally supporting Rousey on Wednesday during open workouts in what ought to be Correia’s home turf.

In short, nobody is buying this matchup. It’s expected to be a complete wash. A cakewalk. A gimme.

Weirdly, therein lies much of the intrigue for this event. Without much else to write home about on its super-sized main card, the job of convincing UFC fans to part with the $60 pay-per-view cost largely falls to Rousey and Correia.

Luckily, the UFC women’s bantamweight champion has some ideas on how to sway them. Rousey says this won’t be another quick and easy victory for her because she plans to take her time torturing Correia for slighting her during the lead-up to this fight, relayed by the Daily Mail.

Should we believe her?

Glad you asked. Here Bleacher Report lead writers Chad Dundas (that’s me) and Jonathan Snowden try to separate fact from fiction heading into UFC 190.

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Fact or Fiction: Ronda Rousey is good to her word, takes her time painfully dispatching Bethe Correia.

Chad: Fiction. I’ve gone back and forth on this one. On one hand, Rousey is exactly the kind of human being who would delight in creating some special punishment for an opponent she felt particularly disrespected her. So it’s possible she harbors a grudge with Correia for beating up her pals and making that off-color remark that may or may not have been about Rousey’s dad.

Heck, the women’s bantamweight champion doesn’t usually even need an excuse to do what she does:

On the other hand, Rousey is a smart promoter, and this is all probably a sales pitch. She knows her recent fights were criticized for being too short to be worth the price of pay-per-view admission, so this time she’s promised fans their money’s worth. Those promises ultimately prove empty. Correia is a huge underdog here and Double R treats her as such. This fight ends in under a round.

Jonathan: Fiction. This is nothing more than an attempt to sell an athletically bankrupt fight as something worth watching. Correia, after all, engaged in competitive bouts with Rousey's teammates Shayna Baszler and Jessamyn Duke—two women with a combined UFC record of 1-5.

Buda Mendes/Zuffa LLC/Getty Images

This fight is a farce. Rousey is the better athlete, the better striker, the more imposing physical specimen and the better grappler. The more Rousey can deflect these truths with talk of putting the hurt on her opponent, the better her chance of making beaucoup bucks at the box office.

Chad: I'm glad we’re on the same page here, even though it probably bodes poorly for our enjoyment of UFC 190—a PPV scheduled for four hours and seven fights. It’s as if matchmakers knew the entree wasn’t going to be that special, so they loaded up on appetizers.

I don’t know, though. I still can’t shake the feeling Rousey might be just vindictive enough to try to pull this off. Even though I officially dubbed it “fiction,” I also wouldn’t be surprised if she makes this fight really ugly, prolonging Correia’s agony until the referee is forced to make a straight-up mercy stoppage.

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Jeff Chiu/Associated Press

Fact or Fiction: The Nogueira Brothers find opponents who belong in the cage even less than they do and turn back the clock with big wins.

Jonathan: Fact. Ten years ago, Antonio Rogerio Nogueira and his UFC 190 opponent Mauricio "Shogun" Rua put on a dazzling display at the Saitama Super Arena in Japan, wowing the fight world and redefining what high-level mixed martial arts looks like.

Thirteen years ago in the Tokyo Dome, Rogerio's brother Rodrigo conquered a giant, grabbing kickboxing champion Semmy Schilt in a triangle choke that forced the big man to quickly tap out.

Eric Jamison/Associated Press

In the spirit of frank discourse, the Nogueira brothers we'll see at the HSBC Arena in Rio de Janeiro are not those Nogueira brothers. The 39-year-old Rogerio has fought just three times in the last four years. We only wish that were true of his twin brother, a heavyweight legend who had his arm snapped by Frank Mir, among other indignities, in that time span.

Still, if there were ever a night for a glorious send-off, this is it. Rua is just as washed up as Rogerio, making it anyone's fight. Rodrigo's opponent, Stefan Struve, another European giant, is barely a year removed from having to be pulled from the card after fainting backstage at UFC 175 and exactly the kind of rising star Big Nog typically sends right back down the ladder—say "hi" to Brendan Schaub and Dave Herman on your way, Stefan.

I don't know, Chad. Call me crazy, but I kind of have a good feeling about this one.

Chad: I can tell you’re excited, Jon, and on its face, the thing you’re proposing isn’t insane. Rua is 1-4 since December 2012 and Struve is a complete unknown—we simply have no idea what to expect from him in the wake of the career-threatening heart condition that kept him out through the middle of 2013-14. That's not to mention he’s coming off back-to-back losses.

Eric Jamison/Associated Press

Odds Shark makes both Nogueiras underdogs on Saturday, but these bouts strike me as toss-ups. It’s possible one Nog stumbles to a win. But both? That’s too fantastical for me.

It kills me to say it, because I want you to be happy, but this is fiction.

Jonathan: This is what people might call a "win-win scenario." If both come out of the UFC shark tank bathed in glory, I'll be online celebrating obnoxiously in classic Snowden style. If they lose? Well, then we're one-step closer to these valiant warriors hanging up their gloves and moving on with their lives.

You know what? I can live with either outcome.

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Fact or Fiction: The Neil Magny victory tour runs off the road and the bus catches fire as Demian Maia points the detour sign right back to fight pass.

Chad: Factual statement. It feels like we’ve been alternately reminding people to calm down about Neil Magny’s seven-fight win streak and begging matchmakers to find him a Top 10 opponent for forever. As the UFC’s No. 6-ranked welterweight, Demian Maia fits the bill nicely.

Tom Olmscheid/Associated Press

He’s a little long in the tooth, sure, but the 37-year-old Brazilian comes in fresh from reminding us that Ryan LaFlare’s 11-0 record may have been mostly smoke and mirrors. And shoot, compared to Magny’s resume, LaFlare’s previous level of competition was pretty stiff.

On this night, we’ll learn Maia is no Hyun Gyu Lim, Kiichi Kunimoto or William Macario—those are the actual people Magny beat in his last three fights. I've got this one penciled in as a good old-fashioned submission victory for the former ADCC world champ.

Jonathan: World Book Encyclopedia-level fact. Truthfully, that's the best kind of fact.

Until late last year, I was like everyone else—a dude without any strong Neil Magny opinions. Then a reader sent me a tweet supporting Magny's case for fighter of the year. Unironically.

Mike Roach/Zuffa LLC/Getty Images

Chad, I found that so irksome that I cannot cheer for Mr. Magny. He could fight that dentist who shot poor Cecil the Lion and I'd be forced to sit neutrally with my hands in my lap. Neil Magny is, through no fault of his own, the most annoying fighter on the planet.

Chad: Whoa, strong take. I hope nobody ever unironically tweets you about my work status. I mean, you yourself note that none of this is Magny’s fault. All he’s done is beat eight of the 10 men UFC matchmakers have put in front of him—including the last seven in a row.

I also can’t get on board with him as a top-level fighter until I see him take on someone I’ve heard of before. But that’s just business, man—it's not personal.