It's funny how quickly Ronda Rousey went from being the impatient line-jumper of women's MMA to its superstar messiah.

Remember where she was this time last year? Remember back when Miesha Tate was the Strikeforce women's 135-pound champ and UFC President Dana White seemed pretty certain that women would never fight inside the octagon? Back then the story was how Rousey, who'd logged only 138 seconds of cage time as a professional, had talked her way into a title fight that she didn't deserve, a fight that was "pretty ridiculous," according to former Strikeforce champ Sarah Kaufman.

Even Tate, who stood to gain a lot from the rivalry Rousey had intentionally drummed up with her, bristled at the way the trash-talking judoka had gone about grabbing such a share of the spotlight.

"I think that's why a lot of us have a problem with Ronda," Tate said just before her 2012 bout with Rousey. "I just don't think she sees the big picture. If she did, I don't believe she'd feel OK about how she's talked her way into a title fight. ... It's just very unjust, and she feels OK with it because, in my opinion, Ronda's a very selfish person. She's more concerned with what's good for Ronda than what's good for women's MMA."

The crazy part is, that was a legitimate and not at all uncommon viewpoint among female fighters just one year ago. Now look.

As you could probably tell by the screaming fans in the sold-out Honda Center in Anaheim, Calif., on Saturday night, it turns out that Rousey is actually pretty good for women's MMA. In fact, she might be the best thing to happen to it since cornrows and sports bras. If she hadn't come along, White would probably still be shaking his head at talk of a women's division. Without her, there's no way every media outlet from HBO to the Los Angeles Times would be taking time to explain exactly how an armbar works....

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