Ronda Rousey def. Liz Carmouche via 1st round submission
By Dan Kendrick
Main event
Anaheim, CA (February 24, 2013)–Ronda Rousey came through as expected in defending her crown in the historical women’s debut with her trademark armbar finish against Liz Carmouche, but not without a little bit of a scare. Carmouche was able to take Rousey’s back from the feet and sink in a neck crank which turned the champion’s face purple before Rousey was able to shrug the challenger off of her back to loosen the pressure by grabbing an ankle and throwing off one of the flanks.
Carmouche threw upkicks and looked relaxed from her back, but like her predecessors, she learned the ground was the last place she wanted to be against the former judo Olympic bronze medalist. Rousey worked a tight headlock where she was able to bloody up the game challenger until she transitioned into the position that has earned her the arm souvenir of every one of her 6 professional opponents.
From there, it was just a matter of time before Rousey was able to pull out the arm from Carmouche’s defense and put the extension finish on the evening at the 4:49 mark of the opening round.
Light Heavyweights
Lyoto Machida def. Dan Henderson via split decision
“The Dragon” took a razor-thin decision over multi divisonal champion, Dan Henderson in a fight that many fans in forums are crying “robbery” about as we speak. Given the limited amount of action, Machida was able to land with a little more frequency and even was able to punctuate the first round on the scorecards in the closing seconds by putting his judo black belt to good use with a slick ankle trip that shortly put Hendo on the mat.
The vast majority of the fight was spent with Machida making sure he kept to his game instead of giving into the boo’s from the crowd by feinting, moving, and countering Hendo’s attempts to Bisping him with the H-bomb. Though not crowd pleasing, Machida positions himself to once again put himself in the position to challenge for the title he once held. He’ll now wait for the outcome of Jones vs. Sonnen to determine who he’ll take on for the light heavyweight crown.
Bantamweights
Urijah Faber def. Ivan Menjivar via 1st round submission
Urijah Faber solidified himself to still be one of the major bantamweight players by tapping out Ivan Menjivar in a rematch of their 2006 fight that Faber won by disqualification. “The California Kid” used a slick back transistion that looked like a monkey on a vine to hook up the body triangle and the eventual rear naked choke that caused Menjivar to tap while still on his feet at the 4:34 mark of the first round.
An immediate title shot/rubber match is unlikely for Faber since champion Dominick Cruz is still rehabbing his knee injury. What is possible for the former WEC Featherweight king is a rematch with interim division champ, Renan Barao. Time will tell, but tonight Faber will enjoy the very impressive victory he scored in front of his homestate crowd.
Middleweights
Court McGee def. Josh Neer via unanimous decision
Former TUF winner, Court McGee wore down gritty veteran, Josh Neer to take the unanimous nod in a 3 round grinder. McGee looked to have Neer “NEAR” being finished in the first round when he connected with a hard liver kick and nearly folded Neer in half with a follow-up left hook that he dug back into the same spot. Neer toughed it out and even came out with some resurgence in the second round, but not nearly enough to turn the tide and McGee closed out the final round strongly to punctuate his dominance in the eyes of the judges and pretty much everyone else’s, as well.
Welterweights
Robbie Lawlor def. Josh Koscheck via 1st round stoppage
Robbie Lawlor came back to the UFC with a vengeance, putting away perennial top contender, Josh Koscheck at the 3:57 mark of the first round. Koscheck wisely used his über deep wrestling pedigree to put his notoriously heavy-handed opponent on his back. Lawlor’s no spring chicken of the sport and was able to work his way back to his feet and connect with a stiff left hook that put “KO’s” on the defensive against the cage where “Ruthless” Robbie started teeing off with some badly intended bombs that prompted Herb Dean to step in and call a halt to the action.
Many including this writer felt it was somewhat premature being that “KO’s” was still defending with his legs and had his head and upper back up off of the canvas. Be that as it may, Herb Dean likely used the precautionary discretion that there was a very heavy-handed fighter dropping and connecting flush with some cruise missiles and Lawlor walks away with the victory and puts himself in a closer spot to a shot at GSP’s welterweight gold.
FX Prelims
Brendan Schaub def. Lavar Johnson via unanimous decision
Mike Chiesa def. Anton Kuivanen via 2nd round submission – rear-naked choke
Dennis Bermudez def. Matt Grice via split decision
Sam Stout def. Caros Fodor via split decision
Facebook Prelims
Kenny Robertson def. Brock Jardine via 1st round submission – kneebar
Neil Magny def. Jon Manley via unanimous decision
Nah-Shon Burrell def. Yuri Villefort via unanimous decision
ROUSEY VS CARMOUCHE FULL FIGHT by dm_51298041af788
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