For the first time in the history of the UFC not only did two women fight inside the octagon, they headlined an event. UFC 157 featured the first ever UFC woman's bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey defending the title against Liz Carmouche in the main event of the night.
UFC 157 aired Saturday night live on pay per view from Honda Center in Anaheim, California.
Ronda Rousey came into the fight with a 6-0 record in MMA and has became one of the sports fastest rising stars. Rousey's opponent, Liz Carmouche, came to cage with a 7-2 record. This fight was historic in the sense that it was the first women's fight in the world's biggest MMA promotion the UFC. This fight will open the door other women competitors to forge their paths to UFC.
The UFC needed this fight to be exciting; Rousey and Carmouche did not disappoint. Rousey came out aggressive but eventually found herself in a bit of trouble when Carmouche took her back. Carmoushe was close to sinking in a rear naked choke but to Rousey's credit she was able to shake Carmouche off. Soon after, Rousey moved to side control and went for the armbar. Carmouche did everything she could to defend but eventually Rousey secured it and Carmouche submitted at the 4:49 mark of the first round.
Following the fight Rousey spoke to Joe Rogan about overcoming the attempted choke from Carmouche. "That was pretty tight, that neck crank, and I was very happy to get out of it. She had the choke across my mouth and the angle pushed my mouth-guard out of my mouth. Her forearm was pushing against my teeth and that can’t have been any more fun for her than it was for me."
The win was Rousey's seventh consecutive armbar submission win and ninth overall if you throw in three amateur fights which she also won by armbar. Rousey has yet to be taken to the second round.
This could not have been a better showing of talent in the women's division. Earlier this week, Dana White confirmed that they have a total of ten woman under contract and are looking add at least five more to the UFC woman's bantamweight division.
To close out her post-fight interview, Rousey left these words for potential challengers to her title, "There is nothing that can hide you from me."
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