In brief: Ronda Rousey KO’s Correia
MMA: Ronda Rousey flipped her script but kept the timing the same Saturday night.
Using her newly developed punching power instead of her famed armbar, Rousey knocked out challenger Bethe Correia 34 seconds into their Ultimate Fighting Championship bantamweight title bout in Brazil.
Rousey (12-0) has now won 11 of her 12 fights in the first round, and she has ended her last four in 34 seconds, 14 seconds, 16 seconds and 66 seconds.
Rousey kept the fight a stand-up battle and first hurt Correia significantly with a big right hand, followed by a hard left punch to the face. She then landed a knee to the body, then finished Correia with a short right hand to the temple.
Correia (9-1) slumped to the mat, unresponsive, as referee John McCarthy signaled the bout was over.
“I planned not to force it … she went for the clinch, and couldn’t … I guess you can’t doubt my hands anymore,” Rousey said in the octagon afterward.
Correia entered to the roars of her countrymen in Rio de Janeiro, fiercely striding to the octagon while wearing the Brazilian flag like a cape behind her.
But her performance couldn’t match that apparent rage, and she briefly tumbled backward while struggling to find Rousey and avoid a fight on the mat with the 2008 Olympic judo bronze medalist.
Merritt shares lead after record 61
Golf: Troy Merritt shot a tournament-record 10-under 61 for a share of the lead with Kevin Chappell after three rounds at the Quicken Loans National in Gainesville, Virginia.
Merritt moved to the top of the leaderboard even before the second-round leaders hit their first shots. He had 11 birdies and a bogey on the par-5 eighth hole.
Chappell had a 67 to join him at 14-under 199.
The challengers at the tournament midpoint included Tiger Woods, but the two-time champion and tournament host was errant off the tee early, gave back three strokes in his first 12 holes and finished with a 74 to drop into a tie for 42nd at 5 under.
• Ko shares lead in her majors debut: Jin-Young Ko, a 20-year-old South Korean with no links experience and playing in her first major championship, shot a 3-under 69 to share the lead with Taiwan’s Teresa Lu heading into the final round of the Women’s British Open at Turnberry, Scotland.
They have an 8-under total of 208.
Ko’s story is all the more remarkable considering she met her temporary caddie for the week – a locally born, 27-year-old digital advertiser named Jeff Brighton – for the first time on Tuesday. She said she is taking advice from Brighton on every stroke, and hasn’t been adapting her usual game for the links despite the wind and rain that has lashed the Ailsa course.
• Perry builds four-stroke lead at 3M Championship: Defending champion Kenny Perry had a hole-in-one and matched the 3M Championship record with an 11-under 61 to take a four-stroke lead in the Champions Tour’s event in Blaine, Minnesota.
Perry had a 14-under 130 total at TPC Twin Cities. His last 61 came at the Travelers Championship in June 2009 in the last of his 14 PGA Tour victories.
Kevin Sutherland and Scott Dunlap were tied for second. Sutherland had a 65, and Dunlap shot 67.
Former Pullman resident Kirk Triplett is six back of Perry after shooting a 68.
USOC seeks Boston replacement for 2024
Olympics: U.S. Olympic leaders have started contacting Los Angeles, San Francisco and Washington about the possibility of bidding for the 2024 Games and believe the demise of Boston’s candidacy will be “ancient history” by the time the host city is selected in 2017.
U.S. Olympic Committee chairman Larry Probst said a decision will be made by the end of August on which of three cities should replace Boston as the American contender in a race that already features four European cities.
Isner rallies to reach Atlanta Open final
Tennis: Two-time defending champion John Isner rallied to reach his 19th ATP Tour final, beating friend Denis Kudla 4-6, 6-2, 7-5 in the Atlanta Open semifinals.
Isner’s serve was once again overpowering and, after winning a rock-steady first set, the 22-year-old Kudla made too mistakes over the final two sets in Atlantic Station.
In the night semifinal, fifth-seeded Marcos Baghditis of Cyprus beat the tournament’s other big server, seventh-seeded Gilles Muller of Luxemborg 6-7 (4), 6-3, 7-6 (4) on the strength of his return game.
• Nadal sets up Hamburg Open final against Fognini: Top-seeded Rafael Nadal dismissed Andreas Seppi 6-1, 6-2 to set up a Hamburg (Germany) Open final against Fabio Fognini.
The fourth-seeded Fogini beat qualifier Lucas Pouille 6-2, 7-6 (3) after saving a set point in the second set.
Nadal is looking to extend his streak of having won at least one European clay court title every year since 2004.
• Goffin, Thiem advance to Swiss Open final: Top-seeded David Goffin of Belgium eased to a 6-4, 6-2 win against two-time champion Thomaz Bellucci of Brazil in the Swiss Open semifinals in Gstaad, Switzerland.
In today’s final, the 14th-ranked Goffin will face 24th-ranked Austiran Dominic Thiem, who defeated second-seeded Feliciano Lopez of Spain 6-3, 6-7 (5), 6-3.
Wlodarczyk extends her world record
Miscellany: Anita Wlodarczyk of Poland bettered her own hammer throw world record with a distance of 81.08 meters (266 feet) at the Kamila Skolimowska Memorial Throws Festival in Cetniewo, Poland.
After opening with a foul Saturday, Wlodarczyk became the first woman to throw beyond 80 meters when she added 1.5 meters to her own world record of 79.58 set last year at the ISTAF athletics meet in Berlin.
• Undefeated Garcia stops Malignaggi in ninth round: Undefeated Danny Garcia stopped Paulie Malignaggi in the ninth round of their welterweight boxing match at Barclays Center in New York.
Garcia improved to 31-0 with his 18th knockout. Malignaggi dropped to 33-7.
With Malignaggi against the ropes, Garcia threw a flurry of punches before referee Arthur Mercante Jr. stopped it at 2:22 of the ninth.
Garcia and Malignaggi traded shots almost immediately. But Garcia had the better of the exchanges, including opening cuts surrounding Malignaggi’s right eye.
Malignaggi landed his best punch in the seventh, a hard right to the chin that Garcia shook off.