Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC)
LOS ANGELES – It used to be that Ronda Rousey needed a minute to finish her fights. Now, she’s getting two of them done in half of that time.
The most dominant fighter in the world continued her mind-boggling run of destruction Saturday, submitting previously unbeaten top contender Cat Zingano in just 14 seconds – the quickest finish in UFC championship history – in the main event of UFC 184 at Staples Center to retain her women’s bantamweight title.
Rousey blew away Alexis Davis in just 16 seconds at UFC 175 in July in what seemed to be a ridiculously easy manner. But it was done even quicker on Saturday.
Zingano raced out of her corner and threw a flying knee at Rousey. She then flung Rousey down. But Rousey, the vastly superior grappler, quickly reversed position and got on top.
She extended Zingano’s arm toward her and then turned her hips to the right, putting incredible pressure on the joint and forcing the tap.
“We expected she might come out flying,” Rousey said.
It was over so quickly, Zingano seemed stunned. She didn’t know what to say and several times uttered an expletive as she was being interviewed in the cage by UFC broadcaster Joe Rogan.
“She had my arm and I saw her leg,” Zingano said. “I thought to grab a hold of it and all of a sudden, I was tapping.”.
Cat Zingano took Ronda Rousey down right off the bat, but the champ quickly turned the tables. (USAT)
Rousey has now beaten each of the women ranked 1-5 in the bantamweight division, including Miesha Tate twice. Tate actually made it to the third round at UFC 168 in 2013, but since then Rousey needed 1:06 to stop Sara McMann, 16 seconds to dispose of Davis and only 14 seconds to end it against Zingano.
Against McMann, Davis and Zingano, fighters who entered their bouts against her with a combined record of 32-5, Rousey is 3-0 with three first-round finishes in a combined time of one minute, 36 seconds.
There is literally no one for her to fight. Tate appears to be the only opponent currently in the UFC who is even remotely competitive with her.
Former Strikeforce champion Cristiane Justino, who defeated Charmaine Tweet on an Invicta card Friday in Los Angeles, wants to come to the UFC to face Rousey, but there is question if she can make the bantamweight limit of 135.
And even if she makes it, even Justino would appear to be a long shot to beat the 2008 Olympic judo bronze medalist.
“Holly Holm is a world champion boxer and I want to test myself against that striking,” Rousey said. “And Bethe Correia is undefeated and I’d like to take that ‘0’ away from her.”
Zingano was believed to be Rousey’s biggest test, but she entered as a 9-1 underdog. It’s hard to believe that either Correia or Holm would be any better than a 20-1 underdog against Rousey.
In the co-main event, Holm, a former boxing champion, made her UFC debut a successful one, outworking Raquel Pennington to claim a split decision. Judges scored it 30-27 and 29-28 for Holm and 29-28 for Pennington.
Holm’s debut was made amid much media fanfare and its effects showed. She had a lot of pressure on her and didn’t seem to be able to relax.
“The nerves were there and because of the hype, I didn’t feel I could live up to it,” Holm said. “There was a lot of talk.”
Holm circled quite a bit and fended off numerous takedown attempts by Pennington. Holm also managed to land a number of kicks, but Pennington for the most part neutralized her hands.
