When the biggest rising star in the UFC, Conor McGregor, said he had no interest fighting at UFC 193 in Melbourne in November, fans were left understandably disappointed.
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Enter the UFC's biggest, star, women's bantamweight champion, "Rowdy" Ronda Rousey.
In a UFC media conference ahead of UFC 190 on Sunday, where the undefeated Rousey will defend her belt against undefeated Brazilian slugger Bethe Correia in Rio de Janerio, Rousey gave the strongest indication yet that she may well be if not the headlining act, then definitely the co-main event, in Melbourne on November 14.
The line-up for the Melbourne event has been the subject of speculation for months now, with the UFC as yet unwilling to reveal their plans, but Rousey, with her mainstream appeal – she has starred in The Expendables 4, Furious 7 and the Entourage movie in the last two years – is widely seen as a strong candidate for the card.
For her money, Rousey seems enthusiastic about coming to Australia in any capacity.
"Australia and New Zealand are the two places I really want to go to that I haven't been to yet," the champion said.
"If I can't come there to fight, I would still want to come there just to visit, if I could.
"Any reason that I could come up with, I would go. But first thing's first, I'm going to beat Bethe and then we're going to plan the next step."
While Rousey stopped short of a firm commitment to fight on the card, she said she was "definitely a chance" to be featured in the biggest MMA fight card Australia has ever seen.
"I wouldn't be surprised if they asked me on the mic right after I've got done beating the crap out of Bethe if I want to go fight in Australia, nothing would surprise me now."
Rousey's enthusiastic endorsement of Australia comes just days after her arch-rival, Meisha Tate, was officially ordained as the number one contender after a stunning display of newly-found punching power in her defeat of Jessica Eye at UFC Chicago.
Tate and Rousey have met twice before. In 2012, Rousey submitted Tate via armbar with just three seconds left in the first round to claim the Strikeforce women's bantamweight title.
They met again in 2013 for the UFC title and while Tate lasted longer than any challenger to date, once again the result was the same, a loss via armbar in the third round.
Rousey controversially refused to shake Tate's hand after the fight, and while a third fight would essentially be the dead rubber of the trilogy, there is little doubt a third fight would pull big numbers, especially with Rousey's patented trash-talk inserted into the mix.
While the timing might be a bit close, Rousey has previously shown a willingness to fight anyone, anywhere, at any time, provided she survives her encounter with Correia relatively unscathed.
After dispatching Tate in December 2013, she backed up her performance less than two months later with a technical knockout win over Sara McMann.
Rousey, who has a perfect professional MMA record of 11-0 to go with a bronze medal in Judo claimed at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games said a match-up with Tate in Australia held no fears considering she is fighting Correia in her own backyard this weekend.
"If I'm willing to fight a girl in her home town where she has the home field advantage then obviously I'd have no problem going to Australia, which is not just neutral territory but absolutely gorgeous neutral territory."
