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The crowd inside the Honda Center in Anaheim, California was electric right before the history-making main event commenced. The headlining women's bantamweight title fight at UFC 157 between Ronda Rousey and Liz Carmouche was the first-ever women's fight in UFC history. Nobody dared to question the validity of women's MMA after the UFC 157 main event.
Ronda Rousey ushered in an era of positive change in women's MMA
It was the beginning of a new era in the UFC; one where female fighters would be able to display their world-class talent on the same footing as their male counterparts as Ronda Rousey herself would go on to feature in the main and co-main events of many more UFC pay-per-views.
Ronda Rousey would enter the Octagon for the first time as the default UFC women's bantamweight champion; she was awarded the championship at a UFC on Fox: Henderson vs. Diaz pre-event press conference in 2012 before which she held the Strikeforce bantamweight title.
While Rousey received a lot of criticism for this, one certainly couldn't deny the fact that she entertained the crowd like no other fighter could and that's what Dana White wanted to cash in on as he looked for his first female champion. What was expected to be a one-sided fight in Rousey's favor turned out to be a fast paced back and forth encounter as Carmouche nearly pulled off one of the biggest upsets in MMA history.
The story of the fight
The first round opened with both ladies aggressively looking to gain the upperhand in the initial exchanges. Ronda Rousey was the aggressor, throwing punches and looking to punish Carmouche against the cage, while Carmouche returned the favor with some solid counter punches of her own. Ronda then backed Carmouche up against the cage and dragged her to the canvas.
Rousey tried to lock in her signature armbar but Carmouche smartly transitioned out of harm's way and to everyone's surprise, she took Rousey's back. Carmouche sunk in her hooks, desperately looking for the standing rear-naked choke. However, with options quickly running out, Rousey managed to avoided the choke. As Carmouche tried to force the issue, Ronda Rousey smartly pried Carmouche's left hook out from her thigh and shook her opponent off her back. Carmouche let the opportunity slip by and Ronda capitalized.
Carmouche shot for the legs, looking for a leg lock but Ronda Rousey beautifully moved out of harm's way and immediately transitioned into side control. Rousey then went on to punish Carmouche with some nasty ground-and-pound, and with her back against the wall Carmouche tried to lock in an inverted triangle choke. Ronda Rousey capitalized on the opening and mounted her and swiftly transitioned into the armbar, forcing Carmouche to tap with just 11 seconds left on the clock and successfully defending the bantamweight title on the night when women's MMA became a part of the UFC.
Relive some of the best moments from the fight below.
