Rousey stops Zingano quickly
LOS ANGELES – Ronda Rousey has stopped every opponent she has faced in her meteoric mixed martial arts career, so a first-round victory is no shock for the UFC’s bantamweight champion.
Except nobody had ever finished a UFC title fight this quickly, and hardly anyone had done it with this much flair.
Rousey stopped Cat Zingano with an acrobatic armbar 14 seconds into the first round, dramatically defending her 135-pound title at UFC 184 on Saturday night.
Rousey (11-0) earned the most impressive victory of her career with jaw-dropping speed, taking out the previously unbeaten Zingano with her signature armlock from an unlikely position.
Rousey landed on her head after Zingano (9-1) charged her at the opening bell, but the champion gracefully flipped Zingano onto her back, got up and scampered into position to wrench Zingano’s arm grotesquely.
Just like that, Rousey forced the challenger to tap out, ending her fifth title defense before the sellout Staples Center crowd could process what it just witnessed.
Rousey’s last three fights have lasted a total of 96 seconds, including two bouts against previously unbeaten opponents. Her 14-second finish was a record for any UFC title bout, but she thought it only went to plan.
“We were expecting that she might come out and do something flying at me right away,” Rousey said. “That’s not usually how you land an armbar at that angle, but it works.”
Champion boxer Holly Holm made her much-hyped UFC debut with a split-decision victory over Raquel Pennington in the penultimate bout. Jake Ellenberger also earned a second-round submission of Josh Koscheck as the world’s dominant mixed martial arts promotion ended a two-year absence from Southern California, the home base of Rousey.
For the first time in UFC history, two women’s fights headlined a pay-per-view event. Middleweight champion Chris Weidman originally was slated to fight Vitor Belfort on the Los Angeles card, but when Weidman’s injury forced a postponement, the UFC promoted Rousey and Zingano to the main event without adding a major men’s bout.