Ronda Rousey is officially the women’s bantamweight champion of the UFC. She went out Saturday night and won that title over Liz Carmouche. There’s no denying that anymore.
But to get there, she had to overcome adversity and take the fight from Carmouche—the challenger certainly wasn’t giving it to her.
Realistically, until the last minute or so of the fight, very little was going right for Rousey. She’d done little more than hold positions when she got them and had a hard time imposing her will on the flailing, scrambling Carmouche.
Then, of course, there’s the fact that Carmouche spent a large chunk of the round on Rousey‘s back trying to crank her head clean off her shoulders.
Still, in all, Rousey ended it the only way she knew how: by first-round armbar.
And a pretty adventurous first round it was.
At the end of the day, though, what went right for Rousey was that she displayed grit and determination not many people knew she had. She’s been buzz-sawing women so enthusiastically that it was hard to argue she’d have the gusto to fight through when things got rough.
She did.
Not only did she not tap to a pretty unpleasant submission, she came back and finished the fight within a few minutes. She showed the world toughness, but she also showed resilience.
Great champions all have those traits. They can gut it out when they have to, dig down deep, then strike when they get their chance. Not everyone was sure Rousey could do that, and after Saturday, no one can doubt it.
There are definitely areas that need to improve for the champion as people continue to dissect her game, and the longer she’s on the top of the heap, the more people are going to be dissecting her.
But for now, Ronda Rousey is a champion, and she’s a champion because she showed will and determination at UFC 157. Everyone knew she could armbar people, but now everyone knows that there’s more to her than a single weapon and a bunch of quotes in the media.
That’s what went right for her in Anaheim.
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