Outside of supernatural intervention, Ronda Rousey will record her sixth UFC title defense Saturday when she demolishes Bethe Correia at UFC 190 in Rio de Janeiro.
Such is the perception heading into this weekend's bantamweight title fight.
Rousey is an absurd 17-1 betting favorite over Correia. The figure implies a win probability of 95 percent. Some might consider that too low.
The matchup is so lopsided, no one has as much as blinked at Rousey (11-0) as she has sworn to prolong Correia's suffering, rather than finish the fight quickly. Willingly extend the fight, if you will. Earlier this year, Correia made a tasteless remark pertaining to suicide and Rousey took it personally. Her father took his own life when she was 8 years old.
"I'm not purposefully going to not finish her," said Rousey, on her strategy for Correia. "But I can still drag it out to make the finish more thorough."
Rousey says her mother, AnnMaria De Mars, wasn't keen on the idea of her prolonging a cage fight -- but Rousey has made a "promise" she won't take any damage.
That doesn't sound like like the sort of promise one should be able to make in this sport, but in the case of Rousey -- who has finished her past three challengers in a combined 96 seconds -- it's hard not to take her at her word. It's hard not to believe that she has the capability of finishing Correia exactly how and when she prefers.
Where is the intrigue in that type of fight? Rousey, 28, says it's in witnessing history. The UFC's biggest mainstream star is asked frequently whether she thinks her unequaled dominance in the sport is a potentially bad thing, that might eventually turn away potential consumers.
Coming off a UFC record 14-second title win against Cat Zingano in February (and staring at a third fight against Miesha Tate later this year), Rousey admits she doesn't know. What she does know is fans should want to watch her.
"I get really mixed feedback [on that], it's 50-50," Rousey said. "People ask, 'Can you break your own record? Can you do it faster?' Or it's, 'Can you make it longer?' I think people are aware they are watching history. Even if it's a short fight, it's a historic fight. If you were around back when [boxing heavyweight champion] Mike Tyson was in his prime, knocking people out right away, and you couldn't tell your friends you saw it because you decided you had better thing to do, you would feel like an idiot.
"What people are seeing is the absolute peak of the athletic woman's potential and that is always worth the money."
Somewhere in the shadow Rousey casts lies Correia (9-0), an undefeated challenger with a compelling backstory -- but who is more than likely nowhere near ready to give Rousey a challenge.
Correia, 32, lives and trains in Natal, Brazil. She is a former accountant who started training MMA in 2011 as a way to lose weight. She instantly fell in love with the sport and accepted a pro bout with less than one year of training.
She quit her job to pursue MMA full time, which didn't go over well with her family or spouse. They couldn't understand why she would leave a profession, which she had attained a five-year degree for, in order to pursue women's MMA (which wasn't in the UFC at that time). Eventually, Correia and her husband of four years divorced. The primary reason, she says, was her decision to chase the MMA dream.
It's likely not everyone will learn about Correia's background. Her 15 minutes of fame aren't expected to last 15 minutes. The longest any Rousey fight has lasted is just under 11.
And while we're on the subject of time, that's really what Rousey has going for her most. While Correia got into the sport four years ago to lose weight, Rousey's history in combat sports is well-documented. Her mother, the first American to win a judo world championship, had her defending impromptu armbars at an early age. Rousey is a two-time U.S. Olympian in judo, with a bronze medal from 2008. She's essentially been training to be a professional athlete her entire life.
"It sucks and it's embarrassing, but it doesn't represent what I'm capable of. It's something that can smash you or something you can learn from and I think I've learned a lot about myself from it." Cat Zingano, on her 14-second loss to Ronda Rousey at UFC 184
"When I was 12, my judo coach and I were being coached by his dad at training camp and we had to pull ourselves across the mat for 30 laps," Rousey said. "Pulling ourselves on arms and stomach. It burned all the skin off our elbows. We were all bleeding from our knees. One of my friends threw up. At the end of the day, we had trained for like six hours -- and we were 12-year-olds! I've been doing that kind of gnarly stuff for so long.
"I've had so many thousands of experiences this girl could never possibly have between when she decided MMA was cool until now. She'll never catch up."
All of this equates to somewhat of an unfair fight Saturday. Really, looking back, none of Rousey's fights have looked fair, but that hasn't mattered. Her last appearance at UFC 184 in Los Angeles produced an announced gate of $2.675 million and reportedly drew the largest pay-per-view number of her career in an event she has headlined.
The truth is, there is only one competitive fight that exists for Rousey and that's a matchup against former Strikeforce featherweight champion Cris "Cyborg" Justino.
Until that fight happens, intrigue in the UFC champ's fights is left to wondering whether Rousey might play with her food Saturday or attempt to set a new record for finish time. Given how popular she has become, that might be enough.