The concept of a second round is a foreign one to UFC women’s bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey.
After all, the 26-year-old superstar hasn’t needed more than five minutes to emerge victorious in any of her first six professional fights. That’s why fans can expect more of the same from Rousey in her UFC debut at UFC 157 on Saturday night.
Look for Rousey to not only win in Anaheim, Calif., but do so quickly.
Don’t get me wrong, Liz Carmouche is no slouch. She’s won her last two fights after dropping two in a row in 2011 (including her first title shot vs. Marloes Coenen). With that being said, there is little reason to expect Carmouche to survive the first round against the armbar queen.
Rousey, the top pound-for-pound women’s fighter on the planet, is an Olympic medalist in judo and one of the most lethal female fighters in mixed martial arts. She possesses the ability to end a fight in the blink of an eye with her patented armbar.
Even when her opponent knows it’s coming.
Carmouche, who is three years older than Rousey, boasts impressive knockout power. Five of her eight wins have come via knockout. She is much less likely to pull off a successful submission, which doesn’t bode well against Rousey, who is more likely to take the fight to the mat rather than keep it standing.
Rousey hasn’t become the face of women’s mixed martial arts by happenstance. Her dominance over the past 23 months has taken the sport by storm, and points to her as the favorite this weekend.
Based on what we’ve seen from both fighters in recent years, Saturday’s UFC 157 main event can only end one way—with Rousey retaining her championship via another awe-inspiring first-round ambar submission.
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