Ronda Rousey didn't need to armbar Bethe Correia because she chose to knock the living daylights out of her instead. Simple as that. You knew that Bethe Correia had very little chance of victory but this was all about "What cool and absurdly violent thing is Ronda Rousey going to do?" Well you got your answer. A cold-blooded massacre that took all of 34 seconds. Combination striking and lethal one-punch KO abilities have been added to her already elite skill set.
It was a long grind to get there (more on that later), but I think it was worth the wait to see Rousey make short work of another opponent. She is not MMA's Mike Tyson, she is MMA's Ronda Rousey. In a few short years, she has gone from a precocious talent to the UFC's biggest star and achieved global popularity. She is a unique figure in sports and whatever you think of her personality outside the cage, she is an unmatched talent inside of it and a pleasure to watch.
More thoughts on tonight:
PPV Main Card
- There are no compelling challenges for Ronda Rousey at 135 pounds today, tomorrow, next week, next month, or next year. Don't fool yourself. If the woman opposite Rousey is anyone except Cris Cyborg, you're watching solely because of Rousey's domination and not a shred of the feeling it could be a potentially competitive fight. Miesha Tate is getting her arm taken again in their trilogy.
- Four Horsewomen are still only 1-2 against Correia, though....
- Rousey has more KO/TKO wins (3) in the past 18 months than Bethe Correia (2) has in her entire career. Who has the KO power now? Hint: It's not the one the UFC advertised as having it.
- Mauricio Rua was in all sorts of trouble in round 1 against Antonio Rogerio Nogueira, but Shogun got the last laugh once again by battering Nogueira with heavy kicks and just being far more active and effective than Lil' Nog's boxing-centric approach. It was as tolerable and enjoyable as could possibly be given the severely declined state of both men. Says a lot though that Shogun is the #8 ranked LHW and could feasibly move up on Monday.
- This four-hour PPV experiment did not work. Theoretically, it would've worked out well using UFC 189's lineup, but this card was mostly dragging until the main event. It wasn't a strong PPV on paper and what a surprise, it didn't provide much excitement until the last two fights. The pacing of the PPV was made worse by the TUF fights getting extended previews, speaking of which....
- The TUF Brazil 4 lightweight final between Glaico Franca and Fernando Bruno flat out sucked. Franca got the win with 14 seconds left in the 3rd, and it would've been nice if the finish had come in the 2nd. Or the 1st. We will not spend any more time discussing this one.
- Reginaldo Vieira and Dileno Lopes went guillotine crazy in the TUF Brazil 4 bantamweight final, but Vieira outworked and outlanded Lopes en route to a decision victory. It was sloppy as hell, but there was some good entertainment particularly in the 1st round.
- I don't want to see Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira fight anymore. He is physically incapable of beating any top 15 heavyweight in the UFC (Struve is #15) and it's quite conceivable that Vitaly Minakov and Cheick Kongo would both beat him in Bellator. The bar was lowered substantially for Big Nog and he looked exactly like a man who is ten times his age (Nogueira is 74 years old). There is no mini-revival for Nogueira like we've seen out of Arlovski, so don't get your hopes up. I personally am not comfortable watching Big Nog in combat in 2015.
- This is no joke, Stefan Struve used his reach more effectively than in any other fight I've seen out of him. Just getting a win is a positive for him, even if it wasn't a thorough domination.
- I thought Soa Palelei was going to tear apart whatever was left of Bigfoot Silva, but of course this is the heavyweight division, so Bigfoot put in his best shift since the Mark Hunt fight and then crushed "The Hulk" with wicked uppercuts and knees in the 2nd round. In many ways, considering how round 1 ended (with Soa raining down shots on Silva), this was reminiscent of Bigfoot's win over Overeem. Make no mistake about it, this was a gigantic victory for a gigantic man.
- Jessica Aguilar is a very good fighter, but Claudia Gadelha is on another level. Aside from a few dodgy moments in the 3rd round where it looked like she was tiring and affected by the leg kicks, the Brazilian's striking was on point and her wrestling offense and defense gave Aguilar fits. I look forward to her rematch with Joanna Jedrzejczyk.
Fox Sports 1 prelims
- I said I would regret picking Neil Magny to beat Demian Maia, but I didn't want to hedge my bets so I had to stay strong and stand by my stupidity. Maia straight up schooled Magny on the ground. This was the best Maia performance since the last time he picked up a submission win, which was against Rick Story. He's still hanging around the top 10 at welterweight at 37 years old. It'll be interesting to see if the UFC books him against a major contender or keeps him in his gatekeeper role.
- For Magny, this loss also was a near flashback to that fight vs. Sergio Moraes, who submitted him before Neil went on his 7-0 stretch. I am not sure he landed a single strike in the entire fight.
- Patrick Cummins is very athletic and his grinding nature makes him a top 10-12ish light heavyweight by default. He basically can win fights this way without ever managing a firm grasp of effective top control. Despite taking some big shots by Rafael Cavalcante, he wore Feijao down and put him away with several more elbows than Mario Yamasaki should've allowed.
- Feijao is 1-3 in the UFC and if this were any other weight class, he'd probably be cut. But it's light heavyweight, so he's probably going to stick around even though he's been poor in his short time inside the Octagon. Remember when this guy KO'd Yoel Romero, stopped King Mo, and knocked Dan Henderson down? Since testing positive for steroids in his last Strikeforce fight (vs. Mike Kyle) he's looked mediocre at best.
- Warlley Alves is a physical freak. At just 24 years old and still undefeated, the TUF Brazil 3 welterweight winner looks like a strong prospect at 170 pounds. He didn't cover himself in glory when he controversially beat Alan Jouban, but he won in style this evening by submitting the tough and formidable Nordine Taleb with a wicked guillotine choke in the 2nd round.
- Iuri Alcantara just abused Leandro Issa standing, which was good because his willingness to grapple with Issa in the first half of that fight cost him the opening round. I felt that the opening of that 3rd round after Issa ended the 2nd on wobbly legs could've been better spent with an immediate blitzing attack instead of a bro-hug, but that's just me. Kudos to the judge who awarded a 10-8 3rd round in Alcantara's favor.
Fight Pass prelims
- Clint Hester turned in a borderline robotic gameplan of awkwardly mixing in strikes to set up takedowns against Vitor Miranda, and it ultimately backfired. Miranda made terrific use of a countering knee to hurt Hester and then put him on his back and finish the fight from there. Unfortunately for Hester, he seems to be an example of a guy who has great physical tools but still suffers from a largely incomplete and unpolished MMA skill set.
- The only highlight out of Hugo Viana vs. Guido Cannetti was watching Cannetti head kick and hurt Viana, only to take him down and work for control. Cannetti won the fight anyway, but that was a groan moment there because Viana looked done.