How does Ronda Rousey follow a 16-second knockout? By snagging a 14-second submission and securing the quickest finish in UFC championship history.
Rousey, the UFC’s 135lb women’s champion since the title came into existence in 2012, finished top contender Cat Zingano in a submission that will be difficult to supplant when end-of-the-year honors roll around.
At the opening bell in the main event of UFC 184, Zingano, regarded by many observers as the most serious threat yet to the 28-year-old undefeated star, shot from her corner and leapt at Rousey. This was different, and it was an adjustment she felt she needed to make because of her history as a slow starter. It was out of character, and a mistake. They tangled and twisted to the floor, where on instinct Rousey swiveled her hips, reversed Zingano, and secured the perfect position to snap the challenger’s right arm. Rousey credited the flash bang transition to her judo world champion mother, Dr. AnnMaria DeMars, who joined her youngest daughter in wrapping their arms around “Rowdy” Ronda as a starstruck Staples Center cooed.
“I know I have faster transitions than anyone because my mom taught me,” she said.
Rousey knew instantly what to do with Zingano’s endangered limb. The champion sat down and torqued her hips, extending the arm as she twisted it against the grain. Zingano said she did not want to tap, she saw a place to escape, but such was the survival instinct that Rousey inspired.
“She had my arm and I saw her leg right there and I thought to grab it and hold it,” said the 32-year-old mother of one, whose inspirational story following the suicide of her husband and Brazilian jiu-jitsu coach captured the hearts of many. “And all of a sudden I’m tapping. It was in but it wasn’t in. I want to do it again.”
Unlike Davis, who was thrown hard in the center of the octagon and punched in the face while Rousey maintained full top control for 16 seconds last July, Zingano (10-1) seemed primed for a bloody war. She was distraught afterwards knowing that, in the end, she didn’t get any kind of fight.
Rousey (11-0) has made a habit of that sort of thing. In her last three title defenses – Sara McMann, Alexis Davis and Zingano – needing a combined 96 seconds to keep her title. She walked into the cage in her home town on Saturday predicting a “fantastic” result. She walked out of it having lived up to her billing. Rousey’s victory punctuated an important weekend for women’s MMA.
After Rousey’s record-setting win, she spoke about the notion that she had cleaned out her division. She mentioned Holly Holm (7-0), who made her UFC debut in the co-main event and worked a split decision over Raquel Pennington (5-5). Rousey also mentioned the bantamweight contender Bethe “Pitbull” Correira, a 31-year-old physical specimen unbeaten in nine fights.
Rousey did not mention Cristiane “Cyborg” Justino.
The previous night, a mile and a half from Staples Center, UFC bosses Lorenzo Fertitta and Dana White sat cage-side inside the hallowed Shrine Auditorium, where Invicta FC, an all female MMA promotion, was streamed live on UFC’s online subscription network, UFC Fight Pass. They attended primarily to catch the main event featuring the Brazilian featherweight destroyer “Cyborg,” who chewed up and spit out Canada’s Charmaine Tweet in 46 seconds – three fewer than Rousey needed to armbar Tweet at 150lbs in 2011.
At the post-fight press conference, most of the questions focused on Justino’s ability and desire to cut an additional 10lbs to fight Rousey in the UFC. This is the contest, easily projected as the biggest money event in female MMA history, people want to see. And this is the weight class White told Justino she had to make in order to get a shot. After vacillating over whether or not she could maintain her health and make the bantamweight limit, the 29-year-old mauler stated she intends to try once more, teasing a “big surprise” for everyone by the end of the year.
“In my heart, I want to fight Ronda so bad,” Cyborg said. “She speaks a lot of bad things about me. Personal things. Of course I want to fight her.”
On Thursday afternoon, at the historic Millennium Biltmore Hotel in downtown LA, Justino stood on the scale and looked reasonably comfortable at 144.5lbs. Off to the side, retired light heavyweight Renato Sobral watched and wondered whether or not it was smart for Cyborg, whom he trains with, to drop more weight. Sobral held an informational flier passed out by California State Athletic Commission executive director Andy Foster entitled, The Dangers of Cutting Weight and Dehydrating. It cited a recent study that found 39% of MMA fighters were entering competition in a dehydrated state. The sheet noted that weight loss, rapid weight loss and repeated cycling of weight gain and loss causes decreased performance, hormonal imbalance, decreased nutrition, and increased injury risk among nine other “life-threatening problems.” In 2012, doctors warned Justino against making the move down. For a woman known to blow back up to 170lbs on fight night, the stress was thought to be severe.
A year earlier, Cyborg was suspended for 12 months by the California State Athletic Commission after testing positive for stanozolol, an anabolic steroid with a reputation for shedding fat and retaining lean body mass. Justino called the episode a “mistake” and has tested clean since. The genesis of much of Rousey’s criticism about the woman who ran over Gina Carano, MMA’s first poster girl, stems from this.
In February 2013, after Justino turned down an eight-fight offer from the UFC to take less money and more flexibility with Invicta, White said he was finished trying to put her in the Octagon and called her “irrelevant.” He suggested she needed to win some fights, “stay clean, stay off steroids,” get her career back on track and then they’ll talk. He also said Cyborg was running from Rousey.
“I’m never running,” responded Justino, who pushed her record to 13-1 (with the one no contest against Hiroko Yamanaka after the postive drug result) on Friday.
Cyborg said she intends to fight in July in Las Vegas at 145lbs, and then begin the process of dropping weight with her diet guru, George Lockhart. If all goes well, the UFC, despite its previous rhetoric, is reportedly looking at making the fight in late 2015 or early 2016. Winds shifted in the direction of making it happen. And gusts remain strong after the two best female fighters in MMA did what they had to do, what they usually do, dominate.
“Do I want to see Cris make that transition down to that weight class? Of course,” said Invicta FC promoter Shannon Knapp. “I think that’s a great fight. I think that’s two champions that have been incredibly dominating in their weight divisions. For me it’s like the Mayweather-Pacquiao fight. Well, guess what? That got signed so there’s a lot of hope still.”
Rousey’s ascension in the UFC is the catalyst for all this discussion, which is why Cyborg will have to play on her field. At least the first time.
