UFC: Ronda Rousey wins women’s bantamweight title, makes history in UFC 157

It was a bold move from the Ultimate Fighting Championship to feature a women’s fight in the octagon. It was an even bolder move to have that fight as the main event. But as usual, UFC’s gamble paid off big time as Ronda Rousey brought the house down with another first round armbar submission win over Liz Carmouche, Saturday (Sunday, PHL time) at the Honda Center in Anaheim, California.  

Carmouche almost pulled off the upset early on as she got control of Rousey’s back, but the judo bronze medalist in the 2008 Beijing Olympics shook her off to get out of the tricky situation. 

 

Rousey then managed to take Carmouche down to the mat where she proceeded with a brutal ground and pound attack before finishing the fight with an armbar. The official time was 4:49 in the first round. 

 

With the win, Rousey raised her undefeated record to 7-0. All seven of her wins came via armbar submissions all in the first round.

 

In the undercard, Lyoto Machida defeated Dan Henderson via split decision. Two of the judges scored it 29-28 for Machida, while one of them scored it 29-28 for Henderson. The win could mean that Machida will get a shot at the UFC light heavyweight title  against the winner of the fight between Jon Jones and Chael Sonnen.

 

In the bantamweight division, Urijah Faber defeated Ivan Menjivar via a rear naked choke, at the 4:34 mark of the first round.

 

Robbie Lawler made a triumphant return to the UFC as he defeated Josh Koscheck via technical knockout in the first round. Koscheck wrestled with Lawler to start the fight but the veteran quickly turned the tables and used his dominant position to unleash a barrage of strikes, which prompted the referee to stop the fight at the 3:57 mark.

 

“I hit him very hard, the referee was right to stop it,” Lawler said after the fight. “I whacked him, man. Hard! He was doing nothing but laying down taking big shots." Lawler was last seen in the UFC back in 2004, when he lost to Evan Tanner via submission in UFC 50. - AMD, GMA News