Pic by SHERDOG.COM -click for source- Credit: Dave Mandel
When the dust settled, a queen was crowned. Of course it wasn’t an easy ordeal for the first Women’s Bantamweight Champ inside the octagon. At one point Liz Carmouche took Ronda Rousey‘s back early in the first round and slapped on a very threatening rear naked choke, of which appeared all but locked up.
Eventually Ronda secured her signature move and forced Liz to tap via armbar, but throughout the whole process, the challenger never stopped threatening the champ.
In the way the main event was exciting, the co-main wasn’t. Lyoto Machida danced in and out with mild barrages while Dan Henderson plodded around the cage after him with his patented H-bomb at the ready. The split decision in Machida’s favor seemed apt though.
It was fun to see Robbie Lawler blast his way back to relevance in the big show after having been out of the UFC for so long, taking KO of the night without incident. Bermudez vs. Grice won fight of the night in a back and forth brawl that saw both men injured and out on their feet multiple times.
Sub of the night may have appeared difficult to choose on paper, since both Rousey and Urijah Faber locked in impressive finishes of their own. But after watching Kenny Robertson sink in a sickening knee bar, the competition for the bonus wasn’t even close.
~ Fight Results ~
Main Card
Ronda Rousey beat Liz Carmouche by submission (armbar) round 1
Lyoto Machida beat Dan Henderson by split decision
Urijah Faber beat Ivan Menjivar by submission (rear-naked choke) round 3
Court McGee beat Josh Neer by unanimous decision
Robbie Lawler beat Josh Koscheck by TKO round 1
Under Card
Brendan Schaub beat Lavar Johnson by unanimous decision
Michael Chiesa beat Anton Kuivanen by submission (rear-naked choke) round 1
Dennis Bermudez beat Matt Grice by split decision
Sam Stout beat Caros Fodor by split decision
Kenny Robertson beat Brock Jardine by submission (knee bar)
Neil Magny beat Jon Manley by unanimous decision
Nah-Shon Burrell beat Yuri Villefort by unanimous decision
~ Watch the post-fight presser in the video below ~
Both women in the main event made history in the sport of MMA and combat sports in general last night. Dana White put it best afterwards when he noted that the main stream media took this one and ran with it.
He even went as far as pointing out ESPN’s coverage of the fight and how their official twitter handle was constantly talking about the the main event, and like he said, they very rarely cover the sport, if ever.
~ Watch highlights from Rousey vs. Carmouche in the videos below ~
