Who doesn’t love some good old Olympian-on-Olympian violence?
As the Sochi Winter Games draw to a close, sports fans received some bonus Olympic action at UFC 170, where 2008 judo bronze medalist Ronda Rousey put her UFC women’s bantamweight title on the line against 2004 wrestling silver medalist Sara McMann.
It also presented an interesting contrast in grappling styles. The takedowns and overall defense of a wrestler against the throws, trips and submissions of a judoka. In that way, the matchup is a throwback to MMA‘s early days, when competitors brought contrasting specialties into the cage to determine whose style reigned supreme.
It all combines to provide the air of something you’d find painted on an ancient vase. But the combat arts didn’t begin with the main event.
In the evening’s co-main event, yet another Olympian, world-class wrestler Daniel Cormier, took on a late injury replacement in ex-coffee shop employee Patrick Cummins. During fight week, Cummins did everything he could to get in Cormier’s head, but it wasn’t enough to budge the betting lines, which had Cormier has a massive favorite to win his light heavyweight debut.
You can punch up the final stat lines anytime, anywhere. But the basic facts only reveal so much. Here are the real winners and losers from across the card at UFC 170.