Rousey vs. Baszler is an MMA Rules match… what’s an MMA Rules match?

Brock Lesnar & Cody Rhodes weren’t the only beneficiaries of WWE’s top notch video production efforts last night (July 31) on Raw.

Heading into their extremely personal showdown at SummerSlam Saturday night in Detroit, Ronda Rousey & Shayna Baszler got a slick recap of their history in the mixed martial arts and professional wrestling businesses intercut with sit-down interview clips with both women.

It was along with that excellent piece of business that we learned what kind of match Ronda & Shayna will have on Aug. 5 at Ford Field. It’s been referred to as a “fight”, but last night we were told that what’s actually going down between the friends-turned-rivals will be an MMA Rules Match.

So… what’s an MMA Rules match? WWE’s incorporated mixed martial arts/unscripted combat sports elements into a few different match types over the past few years with concepts like the Fight Pit and Raw Undergound, but there’s been no mention of a cage or other structure. We also doubt they’ll be taking the ropes off the ring for one match in the middle of the SummerSlam card, and we hope they don’t bring in judges and break the match up into timed rounds.

But maybe it some stipulations from those will carry over. MMA Rules could just mean you have to win by submission or stoppage.

Point is, we don’t know. Will WWE smarten us up between now and Saturday? Stay tuned.

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