UFC 157: 'Rousey vs Carmouche'

[David]

A prick

Acting like one I should have said! I know you're not a prick, Ebb!

[wandshogun09]

Less of the pricks eh? Liz Carmouche is allergic to them.

 

Anyway, moving on. Can't link to it now but Helwani's got a load of interviews up on his Youtube channel. No Dana interview yet but Ronda, Liz, Hendo, Machida, Faber etc are up.

 

EDIT - Just watched an interview with Dana and he said they've sold more tickets for this card than they did for Cain vs JDS 1 on FOX.

[wandshogun09]

Just watched the Helwani interview with Machida, Machida said Manhoef will be in his corner for this fight. I'm assuming a meeting with Dana will be squeezed in sometime over the weekend.

 

I've now fully convinced myself that we'll be reading about Manhoef's UFC signing by Sunday/Monday. It better happen.

[Supremo]

Just got done watching the Helwani interviews. Carmouche stole the show again. She's ridiculously likable, seems incredibly appreciative of all the attention she's getting, and generally comes across as somebody it's impossible not to root for. I love Rousey, I think she's fantastic, but if Liz wins on Saturday I'm going to be over the moon for her. She's great. This promotion has been an absolute home run. I can't wait for this fight.

[The Natural]

Based on the promotion for the event especially the first two Primetime episodes (hope the final one ends it on a high), the show deserves to draw well.

 

UPDATE:

 

Ariel Helwani's Twitter: Dana: "… the co-main event features Henderson vs. Machida. The winner of that faces Jon Jones."

 

Dana White in the past has said a winner of a #1 contenders fight gets the title shot but that doesn't happen sometimes.

[wandshogun09]

Dana White in the past has said a winner of a #1 contenders fight gets the title shot but that doesn't happen sometimes.

 

Yeah, Gustafsson was meant to get the title shot if he beat Shogun. Now Dana's saying he'll get it if he beats Mousasi. Fuck knows if he actually will.

 

Don't get me wrong, the winner of Hendo vs Machida makes sense. They're bigger names than Gustafsson and both were in line for title shots last year. But maybe Dana should hold off on promising guys title shots until he's 100% sure who is actually getting one.

 

The winner of Jones/Sonnen vs the winner of Hendo/Machida won't be happening until Summer at the earliest. Gustafsson vs Mousasi is in April, so chances are, even with a win Gusty will probably have to fight again before getting a crack at the title.

[David]

Ariel Helwani's Twitter: Dana: "

[wandshogun09]

If anyone still doubts that women fighters would be good for the UFC as far as breaking into the mainstream - Dana White and Liz Carmouche were interviewed by Larry King;

 

Dana and Carmouche answer fan questions;

 

Carmouche on being a gay MMA fighter;

 

Dana on MMA's growing popularity;

 

Dana on drug use in MMA;

 

Carmouche gets Larry King in a rear naked choke;

 

Good stuff.

[jimufctna24]

I expect Machida to win on Saturday, despite Hendo being always dangerous.

 

However, I would rather he moved down to 185lbs than face Jones again. It is a waste of time for a man of his immense talent to get destroyed based on being the smaller man. I know 185lbs the Championship may be a problem with him being BFF's with Anderson, but I can dream.

 

Yes I have presumed in all this Jones will walk through Chael, I love Chael but I do not love him that much!

[wandshogun09]

Full 30 minute Dana media scrum

 

I've been working my way through Ronda Rousey's MMA career (it's not taking long). Thought I'd knock up a bit of a review.

 

 

Ronda Rousey vs Hayden Munoz

Aug 6th 2010 - Rousey's Amateur MMA Debut

 

Dr Robotnik is your referee...

 

Ronda catches the first kick attempt by Munoz. Takes her down straight into half guard, quickly transitions to mount, Munoz rolls and gives up her back and before she's even fully turned, Ronda has her arm. That's it. 23 seconds. And Munoz is down for a while, her arm is jacked up.

 

 

That was a beautiful finish. Seamless.

 

Rousey vs Munoz

 

Ronda Rousey vs Autumn Richardson

Nov 12th 2010 - Amateur MMA Fight #2

 

 

Unlike her debut which was in a cage, this one's taking place in a ring. And it's a tournament for a promotion called Tuff-N-Uff.

 

With all the talk of Ronda vs Cyborg and the question of what weight the fight would be at, I'll try to keep up with the weight these fights are at. So, if this was King Of The Ring '94 we'd hear Art Donovan ask for the 7, 895th time - "Hey, what's this girl weighing?".

 

 

Ronda is competing at 145lbs here.

 

She has the game face on for the intros. And Judo Gene is in her corner, looking ballbag wrinkly, yet still hard as fuck. Richardson fights out of Team Quest so you at least know she gets good training.

 

Ronda looks uneasy as Richardson throws a few punches but quickly gets a clinch and Judo throws her. Richardson defends pretty well for a short time but it's only a matter of time. Ronda gets the mount, drops some punches and slaps on another armbar. Richardson tries to fight it but Ronda's got a 'fuck you' look about her and gets the arm extended for the tap.

 

 

Over. 57 seconds.

 

Rousey vs Richardson

 

Mr LeBell is a happy man

 

The post fight interview is interesting, with Ronda just 2-0 as an amateur there's already talk in the interview of her goal being to "go to Strikeforce and beat up Cyborg".

 

Ronda Rousey vs Taylor Stratford

Jan 7th 2011 - Amateur MMA Fight #3

 

Tuff-N-Uff again and this is the semi finals of the 145lbs women's tournament.

 

Stratford is a 6-0 amateur here. She lands a decent straight right immediately...but Ronda gets a hold of her. Uh-oh. Takes her down, straight into side control and in one fluid motion, moves to the armbar immediately from the takedown. That was awesome. Stratford to her credit, escapes before Ronda can get a proper hold of her arm.

 

 

But her mistake is not getting straight the fuck up. She hangs around in Ronda's guard for what, 2 seconds? And that's a wrap. Ronda gets a second stab at the armbar and it's done. In 24 seconds.

 

That was about as fun a 24 second fight as you can get. Ronda moves to 3-0 as an amateur.

 

Rousey vs Stratford

 

From there, she advanced to the finals. But she wasn't fucking about with this "amateur punk stuff" (Bobby Heenan TM) anymore. She wanted to get paid and announced that she'd be turning pro for her next fight.

 

This fight...

 

Ronda Rousey vs Ediene Gomes

Mar 27th 2011 - King Of The Cage 9 - Rousey's Pro MMA Debut

 

So, Ronda's MMA debut. Coincidentally, Gomes is Cyborg's Invicta debut opponent coming up in a couple of months. Gomes was 6-1 at this point. She looks hard as nails. Look...

 

 

'Big' John is the ref here, and here we go. Ronda right away looks for the Judo hip throw again, Gomes manages to avoid it but Ronda switches shit up and winds up changing direction and taking Gomes down straight into mount. Gomes is fucked. Ronda throws a load of little punches, more to distract Gomes than actually do damage. Gomes rolls and gives up the back, and you guessed it, armbar.

 

 

Rousey vs Gomes

 

25 seconds this time. A second longer than her last fight. Standards are slipping.

 

Since losing to Rousey, Gomes has rattled of 4 straight wins.

 

Ronda Rousey vs Charmaine Tweet

Jun 17th 2011 - King Of The Cage 12

 

 

"What do these girls weigh, Macho?"

 

This fight was at a catchweight of 150lbs, Art.

 

It took place in Calgary...dramatic pause...Alberta, Canada. Some very nice shots of Ronda's arse here, sadly they're followed by some not so lovely shots of the Crimewatch looking commentators.

 

Tweet's a big girl, which is I guess the reason for the catchweight. She survives the initial grappling scramble and tries to catch Ronda coming in with counter punches. Doesn't work. Ronda with that headlock Judo throw again and once again, mount and armbar.

 

 

49 second mugging.

 

Rousey vs Tweet

 

Post fight interviewer is SHIT. And quite effeminate.

 

Ronda Rousey vs Sarah D'Alelio

Aug 12th 2011 - Strikeforce Challengers 18

 

 

Alright, business is picking up now. Strikeforce debut time. Art Donovan asks yet again -

 

 

"Hey Gorilla, what's this girl weigh?".

 

For this fight Art, she's back down at 145lbs.

 

Steve Mazzagatti is the referee. Take note for future reference. Ronda clinches and D'Alelio does a great job shaking her off. If she can do that repeatedly she could have a shot. She can't and she doesn't. Ronda grabs hold of her again and this time, instead of trying to throw D'Alelio, Ronda throws herself.

 

 

Into a flying armbar. 25 seconds and the fight is over.

 

Controversial though because D'Alelio didn't tap. The replays clearly show she didn't. Apparently Rousey thought D'Alelio quit verbally, said so to Mazzagatti and Mazzagatti just took her word for it and called it. He's shit. I have no doubt that Ronda would have got the tap anyway, D'Alelio wasn't getting out. But Mazzagatti, as usual, dropped a bollock there.

 

Rousey vs D'Alelio

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kLp-vT8uqTA

 

Ronda Rousey vs Julia Budd

Nov 18th 2011 - Strikeforce Challengers 20

 

 

Oh bloody hell, from bad to worse, we go from Mazzagatti to fucking Winslow.

 

 

Ronda eats two pretty hard right hands as she comes in for the clinch. She does get the clinch though. She gets Budd against the fence, and does a similar misdirection takedown to the one she did in the Gomes fight. Gets full mount and gets the armbar. And it's NASTY stuff to watch.

 

 

Urghhh. Dislocates Budd's elbow. 39 second arm mangling.

 

Rousey vs Budd

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zo4hyi7rssw

 

Budd's fought twice since losing to Ronda, and she won both by first round TKO.

 

Ronda Rousey vs Miesha Tate

Mar 3rd 2012 - Strikeforce: 'Tate vs Rousey'

 

 

Once more;

 

They weigh 135, Art.

 

OK, enough's been said about this fight on here. I've called it the grappling equivalent of Diaz vs Daley. Just one round of craziness. If you haven't seen it yet, do yourself a favour. This was basically the fight which put women's MMA where it is now, in the UFC. Until this fight happened Dana wasn't having it. After this fight he was in. Miesha to this point is still the only opponent to last more than one minute with Rousey. Of course, before getting her arm wrecked as well.

 

 

Rousey vs Tate

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xp82n1_mi...rt#.USblXfKVDSg

 

Ronda Rousey vs Sarah Kaufman

Aug 18th 2012 - Strikeforce: 'Rousey vs Kaufman'

 

 

Kaufman going in, might have been the biggest challenge to Ronda yet. She was certainly the most experienced fighter Ronda had faced to this point and she'd gone unbeaten in her first 12 fights.

 

Ronda threw some decent straight punches to start with. Unlike previous fights where she'd eat a few shots to get the clinch, so this shows an improvement there. She doesn't stray from her strength though. Scary how quick she tripped Kaufman and landed right in mount. From there it's armbar city.

 

 

Kaufman resists for a little bit but there's no escape. She taps at the 54 second mark.

 

Rousey vs Kaufman

 

 

It's really mental how everyone knows exactly what Ronda's going to do, yet they can do nothing to stop it. It's kind of happened before with Cro Cop dropping bodies with the left high kick, and Paul Sass winning 9 of his 13 career wins by triangle. But never has it been quite so decisive and like the opponent didn't even have a sniff of a chance, like it is with Ronda Rousey.

 

To reiterate - 9 career wins, 9 first round armbars.

[Ghostface1982]

Rouseys armbars are a thing of beauty, even down to her breaking the opponents grip by angling towards their head. Amazing.

[Evolution4life]

Really appreciate that Ronda history post wandshogun

[The Natural]

Said it before and will again, love Tate vs. Rousey. My favourite WMMA fight and a top three fight from 2012. The first Armbar Rousey applied was bad but the second one is one of the nastiest submissions I've ever seen. The third worst Armbar by Rousey was against Budd.

 

EDIT: Awesome to find UFC 157 Primetime: Rousey vs. Carmouche, Episode 3 is already up on YouTube:

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gCLJY8kvHVU

[wandshogun09]

I'd recommend watching all 9 of her fights. Should take 15-20 minutes tops. I's scary and brilliant to watch, just a different level of grappling.

 

I didn't pick up on it at the time of the fight but watching all 9 fights chronologically you can see a marked improvement in the Kaufman fight, in her striking posture and how she uses a jab to set up the clinch. In her other fights she just bullrushed and took a few shots to get the clinch. I don't think she took one punch from Kaufman.

 

On the armbars, in tracking down Ronda's early fights on Youtube, I discovered a video of Ronda on Joe Rogan's podcast from after the Budd fight. I didn't even know she'd been on there. Anyway, she was saying that in Judo you don't get long to grapple on the ground and often referees would stand you up quick, especially if your opponent is fighting on home soil. So Ronda trained specifically and extensively to slap on armbars in a split second because you only had a small window of opportunity to catch the armbar in Judo.

[Magnum Milano]

I'm only on my phone at the moment so can't check, but has anyone seen any odds for Carmouche yet? If she's 4/1 against or longer I plan to stick a few quid on her.