Beyond The Ropes: Mikaela Mayer vs. Sandy Ryan

Beyond The Ropes: Mikaela Mayer vs. Sandy Ryan

‘When I looked at the state of women’s MMA, what I saw was that it was missing rivalries or anything theatrical about it.’ Ronda Rousey

Mikaela Mayer is no stranger to a great rivalry. In her mind, they are encouraged. Mayer needs them. Not just for commercial value, although she knows hate and toxicity sells, but also to bring something extra out of her. In many ways, she feeds off them.

Mayer and Alycia Baumgardner had something that is very rare. A once-in-a-lifetime feud. Million-dollar quotes that brought million-dollar notes. It had everything. Anger, resentment, hate, and much more. Even when it was over, it wasn’t. Unfinished business. A split-decision victory for Baumgardner in 2022. Money left on the table. They will surely do it all over again. But for now, Mikaela Mayer has unfinished business elsewhere.

Sandy Ryan had the WBO world welterweight bauble. Mayer wanted it. But it ran a little bit deeper. Ryan had started working with Kay Koroma. A long-standing member of Team Mayer. Koroma was let go. Accusations of double-dipping. Mayer wanted undivided loyalty. She also wanted Ryan. Mayer remembered what sells. There was an obvious hook. Mayer had food to play with. And play she did.

Top Rank put enough money on the table to tempt Ryan. Mayer, after suffering two devastating setbacks on UK soil to Baumgardner in 2022 and again to Natasha Jonas early in 2024, got Ryan on home soil.

Mayer played up the Koroma link. She brought receipts. She brought her patented A-game.

“Obviously, I have a bit of a mouth on me, and I like the rivalries because it leaves more of an impact. People pay more attention, and it gets their eyes turning. It gets people more excited about the fight. It makes the fight a bigger deal, and we have been made the main event on ESPN. It will be a pretty big deal,” Mayer told me before her fight with Ryan last September.

Ryan did her best to match the seemingly unrelenting verbals. But Mayer was in her element. It had gone way beyond personal. Mayer knew exactly what she was doing. The hook was in. But ‘Fight Day’ brought a little more to the party. Ryan was doused with red paint as she left her hotel to go to the arena. Accusations started to fly around. Mayer denied any involvement. Ryan seemed distraught and more when she was interviewed by Mark Kriegel when she eventually reached her place of work. It was an uncomfortable watch. An unsavoury twist to the tale. The fight was now in serious jeopardy. How could Sandy Ryan possibly fight in such circumstances?

But Ryan did decide to fight on. There must have been extreme relief all round. Especially from the Mayer camp. All the drama pre-fight soon gave way to what we got served up in that Madison Square Garden theatre. We got ten relentlessly pulsating rounds. It was simply breathtaking in its savagery. Both had their moments. But Mayer had a little bit more success. The story might have been around alleged treachery and red paint, but we shouldn’t forget the fight. An important little detail. The seed might have been planted in all the endless pre-fight drama. But it flourished in those scintillating twenty minutes. Both Ryan and Mayer deserve immense credit for what they gave us. In truth, they gave us far more than we had any right to expect. All the talk and the ballyhoo most certainly weren’t cheap in this instance. The fists more than amplified those venomous pre-fight words.

It was close. But in no way controversial. Even Ryan didn’t have too many complaints when the majority decision didn’t go her way. But next month, they get to do it all over again. The fight poster says everything. A certain narrative is being pushed. The colour of money.

“I did fight in anger, and it clearly affected my performance. But it was a great fight and did great numbers for ESPN,” Ryan said when the rematch was announced for March 29th in Las Vegas.

“It will be worse for Sandy this time, but regardless, expect another action-packed fight,” Mayer added in that same Top Rank press release. Both Mayer and Ryan are clearly expecting more of the same. So should we. The verbals have already picked up where they left off. When the punches start flying in Vegas, that will be no different. The sequel could be even better than the first chapter. It almost certainly will be.

In September, Ryan had what Mayer wanted. Now, Mayer has something that Ryan now wants back. But in simple terms, at least for now, they just need each other. It’s gone way past a fight for a sanctioning body trinket. Like what Rousey said about her sport, women’s boxing is missing great rivalries. It has one now.

Photo Credit: Mikey Williams/Top Rank