Flashback Friday Fights (Part 2): Rousey vs. Carmouche

Simply because of the significance of the date in MMA history, we bring you a second dose of #FBFF with the first ever female main event in UFC history. “Rowdy” Ronda Rousey took the octagon for UFC 157 against Liz Carmouche on Feb. 23, 2013, at the Honda Center for the first ever UFC women’s title fight.

Rousey had been the reigning Strikeforce (purchased by UFC) Women’s Bantamweight champion until she became the first female signed to the UFC where she was promoted as the champion in the promotion’s first female division.

MMA: UFC 157-Rousey vs Carmouche
Liz Carmouche attempts a rear-naked choke on Ronda Rousey. Photo by Sherdog.

Though Ronda had already began her reign of dominance (riding a six-fight win streak), and continued here with a first round armbar, she did not walk away from this adversity-filled scrap without some serious harm.

Carmouche pressed Rousey and was able to get her back. She attempted to lock in the rear-naked choke, but Ronda was able to tuck her chin just enough. While Rousey escaped the choke, she did not escape a broken jaw.

Despite the comprised position and sustained injury, “Rowdy” was able to persevere and reverse the tides by successfully securing an armbar on Carmouche. The fight was stopped 4:49 into the first round.

Ronda Rousey vs Liz Carmouche
Rousey (seated) begins to secure armbar on Carmouche (lying). Photo by The MMA Corner.

This was only the beginning for Rousey’s UFC journey. She went on to successfully defend her UFC title five more consecutive times.

ronda-promo
Rousey poses with her championship belt. Photo by Muscle and Fitness.

Though her hype may have fizzled following the devastating back-to-back knockout losses she suffered at the hands of Holly Holm and Amanda Nunes, we should never forget just how dominant she once was.

 

Hell, maybe if she goes back to her Judo roots, we may see a comeback. It’s an outside shot based on her recent signing to the WWE, but I’m holding on to that Lloyd Christmas, “So you’re saying there’s a chance.”

To show just how much I appreciate Ronda Rousey, I will leave you with one last photo, you know, just because…

ronda-rousey
Ronda Rousey melts millions of fans worldwide with her iconic Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition shoot. Photo by Sports Illustrated.

-Jordan Kurtz AKA Kurtzy F is a founding member of Comments From The Peanut Gallery.

Advertisement

Leave a Reply

Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in:

WordPress.com Logo

You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. Log Out /  Change )

Facebook photo

You are commenting using your Facebook account. Log Out /  Change )

Connecting to %s