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Ronda Rousey vs. Sara McMann to headline UFC 170

UFC women's bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey's next title defense will come on February 22 when she faces No. 4 ranked Sara McMann in Las Vegas.

By Trent Reinsmith
Esther Lin for MMAFighting.com

Ronda Rousey retained her UFC women's bantamweight title on Saturday with a third round armbar submission victory over Miesha Tate in the co-main event of UFC 168. Her next title defense will come on February 22, when she faces Sara McMann in the main event of UFC 170.

News of the short break between fights came at the UFC 168 post-fight press conference, with UFC president Dana White announcing that Rousey would face the No. 4 ranked McMann at that upcoming fight card.

On Saturday, Rousey moved her professional record to 8-0, with all of those victories coming via armbar submission. Also of note, the victory over Tate was the first time that Rousey was taken out of the first round by an opponent. Her win came at the 58-second mark of Round 3.

McMann, also undefeated as a professional at 7-0, has not fought since earning a first round TKO victory over Shelia Gaff at UFC 159. McMann was slated to face Sarah Kaufman in August, but she withdrew from that fight for undisclosed reasons.

Rousey spoke about her already set title defense against McMann at the press conference, "Dana actually approached me about this before this fight (versus Tate), and I wanted to stay focused on this one, but I had taken such a long time off that I feel like I want to fight again soon. I don't want to sit on the shelf. I'm in the best shape of my life now, so I think it would be the perfect time to go back to back. I'm still hungry, and this is what I love to do. So, hopefully I'll have another good show for you guys very soon."

The winner of Rousey versus McMann will likely face No. 1 ranked Cat Zingano. As White said of Zingano, "She goes back into training in March, and hopefully stay healthy and we can do that fight."

Zingano is currently on the mend following knee surgery.

UFC 170 will take place at the Mandalay Bay Events Center. The co-main event of the evening will be a light heavyweight contest between Rashad Evans and Daniel Cormier.

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