Author: Michael David Smith

In a tremendous main event to Saturday night’s Strikeforce card, a new women’s champion has been crowned: Ronda Rousey has submitted Miesha Tate with a first-round arm bar.

Rousey is now 5-0, with all five wins by first-round arm bar. But this was a much tougher fight than her previous four. None of the previous fights lasted even 50 seconds, but this one was a back-and-forth battle that lasted most of the first round. In the end, Tate didn’t want to tap out, and she appeared to have an injured arm for her trouble.

“She was much more savvy on the ground than I anticipated,” Rousey said of Tate. “She’s good, she’s legit, but I don’t feel that bad about it.”

It was a great fight: Tate charged in swinging but Rousey grabbed hold of her and did exactly what she wanted to do, using her world-class judo to throw Tate to the ground. Rousey then went for an arm bar, and it appeared that she would win this fight the way she had won all of her previous fights, with an arm bar in the first minute.

But Tate fought it off and not only escaped but wound up in an advantageous position, taking Rousey’s back. Rousey fought that off and got back to her feet, and after a brief exchange of punches standing Rousey used a judo throw to get on top of Tate on the ground.

From there it was only a matter of time before Rousey got what she wanted, an opportunity to sink in an arm bar. Tate desperately wanted to survive and at first refused to tap, but eventually her arm bent in an ugly way, and Tate did tap. She stayed on the ground for several minutes as Rousey celebrated in the cage.

Randy Couture’s kid offered up a performance that would make the old man proud on Saturday night, as Ryan Couture earned by far the biggest victory of his mixed martial arts career with a third-round technical knockout victory over Conor Heun at Strikeforce: Tate vs. Rousey.

Couture controlled the pace of the fight for the first two rounds, and in the third he put on a clinic on the ground, transitioning into a dominant position and eventually getting on top of Heun in back mount and pounding away with punches, forcing the referee to stop the fight 2 minutes, 52 seconds into Round 3.

For Couture, who entered the fight with a 3-1 professional record, this is his first win over an experienced, well-rounded opponent and a big step forward in his career.

Couture appears to have improved as both a striker and a grappler: He was getting the better of the stand-up exchanges with Heun, and he also had some impressive submission attempts when the fight went to the ground.

It’s not realistic to expect Couture to have a career like his dad, but he deserves credit for a very good showing against Heun.

One of the reasons we love MMA is the feeling that a fight is never over. If a football game is 28-7 with a minute left in the fourth quarter we know which team is going to win. But in MMA there’s always a chance, until the fight ends.

Thiago Alves found that out the hard way on Friday night.

In a 15-minute fight that he was winning for 14 minutes, Alves found a way to lose to Martin Kampmann at UFC on FX 2. Alves had already won the first two rounds of the fight and was cruising through the third on his way to what should have been a unanimous decision victory, when he did something inexplicable: While battering Kampmann against the cage, he ducked down and went for a takedown. Kampmann saw an opening, reversed the position and put Alves in a mounted guillotine choke, forcing a stunned Alves to tap.

That was a terrible tactical mistake by Alves, but I kind of love him for it: I understand the fighters who fight safe and fight smart and are perfectly content to win a decision, but I love the fighters who do more than that, who put themselves on the line for every minute of every fight and try to finish until the final horn sounds, and Alves fought like one of those guys on Friday night.

So was it dumb for Alves to go for that takedown in the final minute of the third and final round? Yes, it was. He had the fight won and gave it away by taking a chance he didn’t need to take, reminiscent of the New York Giants fumbling a handoff when all they had to do was take a knee in The Miracle at the Meadowlands. But the day fighters stop taking chances they don’t need to take is the day MMA becomes a lot less fun. I’m glad Alves fought the way he fought.

But Kampmann is more glad. He looked as surprised as anyone after the fight, as if he knew Alves had handed him a gift-wrapped victory.

UFC on FX Notes

— If T.J. Waldburger gets with a good striking coach and really develops a good stand-up game, he’s going to be one hell of a mixed martial artist. Waldburger, who submitted Jake Hecht with a beautiful arm bar, is now 12-0 in his MMA career in fights decided by submission — but only 1-5 in fights decided by knockout or TKO. He’s purely a grappler who hasn’t developed as a striker at all, but he’s only 23 years old and has plenty of time to turn himself into a complete fighter. He’s already got a great ground game.

— Kyle Noke turned in what looked like a lousy effort in his unanimous decision loss to Andrew Craig, but there may have been some extenuating circumstances. Noke had a great opportunity to finish Craig in the first round and then completely collapsed in the second and third rounds as Craig dominated him. After the fight, however, UFC President Dana White said that Noke blew out his knee in the first round and continued to tough it out through the second and third rounds anyway.

UFC on FX Quotes

–“Obviously the guy’s got a good beard, and I’m not joking about that.”–Ray Longo, in Constantinos Philippou’s corner after the first round. Leave it to Longo to try to make his fighter chuckle between rounds, with a reference both to Court McGee’s facial hair and his ability to take a punch.

–“He’s a very, very, tough cat. I expected a war and I got it. He’s tough as hell.” — Steven Siler after beating Cole Miller. Siler and Miller expressed some ill will toward each other before the fight, but it’s funny how 15 minutes of beating the crap out of each other can make that ill will disappear. Siler previously beat Cole’s brother Micah Miller, and when asked who he’d like to fight next he said, “Hopefully not another Miller.”

–“I think my ego just wanted to be at heavyweight but athletically I need to be at light heavyweight. I’m strong, I’m fit, I’m competitive and no one is going to out-muscle me in this division.”–Anthony Perosh, after beating Nick Penner. No one thought much of Perosh when he returned to the UFC in 2010 and dropped to 0-3 inside the Octagon with a loss to Mirko Cro Cop, but since then he’s gone 3-0 with three finishes. The 39-year-old Perosh isn’t ever going to be a Top 10 light heavyweight, but give him credit for doing a lot more inside the Octagon than anyone expected.

Good Call

It’s too bad the controversial draw for Demetrious Johnson and Ian McCall overshadowed the fact that the judges had a good night on the undercard. The 29-28 unanimous decisions for Steven Siler, Andrew Craig and Constantinos Philippou were exactly right. The judging was good on this card, and it shouldn’t have been tarnished by the commission’s mistake in tabulating the Johnson-McCall scores.

Bad Call

The UFC didn’t make the first fight of the night, Shawn Jordan vs. Oli Thompson, available to watch live on Facebook or anywhere else. It did eventually air delayed on FUEL, but the UFC dropped the ball on not offering it live. It’s 2012. Sports fans expect to be able to watch all their sports live. Every UFC fight should be available live somehow, whether it’s Facebook, FUEL, FX, Fox or pay-per-view.

Stock Up

Daniel Pineda is now 2-0 in the UFC after his sensational submission victory over Mackens Semerzier. The 26-year-old Pineda submitted Pat Schilling in the first round of his UFC debut in January, meaning he’s already won twice in the Octagon in 2012, and it only took him a total of 3 minutes, 42 seconds to win both fights.

Stock Down

Nick Penner built up an 11-1 record fighting for small promotions prior to making his UFC debut against Anthony Perosh, but Penner clearly didn’t belong in the Octagon. Perosh pummeled Penner for 4 minutes, 59 seconds before the referee mercifully stopped the fight just as the horn was sounding to end the first round. It’ll be back to the regional circuit for Penner.

Fight I Want to See Next

Ian McCall vs. Demetrious Johnson. I didn’t agree with the draw — I had McCall winning 29-27, with a 10-8 third round — but I’m perfectly happy seeing these two go at it again. They put on a great show.

The controversial decision in the Ian McCall–Demetrious Johnson fight at UFC on FX 2 just got more controversial.

The fight was originally announced as a split decision victory for Johnson, which had the fans in Australia booing, as many thought McCall deserved to win. It was later reported that the scorecards had been misread and that Johnson had actually won by majority decision, as one of the judges ruled it a draw.

But it turned out that that was wrong, too: Actually, two judges ruled it a draw. It should have been ruled a majority draw, and the fighters should have had a sudden-victory round. Instead, they’ll have to rematch at a later date.

Because Johnson vs. McCall was a semifinal fight in the UFC’s flyweight tournament, the UFC actually had a plan in place for what to do in the case of a draw: There would be a fourth “sudden victory” round. But because the mistake wasn’t noticed until after the event was over, it was too late for another round. And so McCall and Johnson will have to fight again at a later date.

Craig Waller of the Department of Sport and Recreation in New South Wales, Australia, which is the commission overseeing this event, stood up at the UFC on FX 2 post-fight press conference and said the mistake was his and his alone.

In an incredible comeback, Martin Kampmann was getting beaten by Thiago Alves for 14 minutes on Friday night, only to finish the fight in the 15th and final minute of their UFC on FX 2 battle.

Kampmann won even though he was getting badly beaten, losing the first to rounds and appearing to be well on his way to losing the third. It was an outstanding comeback victory for Kampmann and a heartbreaking loss for Alves.

“Thiago got me with some good shots, I’ll be honest,” Kampmann said afterward. “He was catching me. … I was eating too many punches.”

Alves went on the attack from the very beginning: He threw heavy shots at the start of the fight before Kampmann waded in and attempted a single-leg takedown. Kampmann put Alves down for just an instant but Alves popped back up. However, Kampmann hurt Alves with a front kick to the chin and then took him down again, landed some shots on the ground and appeared to be in control.

But Alves did a nice job of maintaining his composure, getting back up to his feet after the second takedown and then taking Kampmann down and getting on top in side control, and then into full mount. Alves didn’t do a lot of damage from the top, but the dominant position was probably enough to win Alves the first round.

In the second round both fighters appeared to be more tentative and cautious as they traded strikes, but Alves was landing the harder punches and probably did enough to win the second and head into the third with a 20-18 lead.

Amazingly, he did it with less than a minute to go in the fight: Alves was battering Kampmann against the cage and had the fight all but won, but Alves ducked down for a takedown and brought Kampmann down, only to have Kampmann reverse it, wind up on top of Alves, sink in a mounted guillotine choke and force Alves to tap.

The win improves Kampmann’s record to 19-5, while Alves falls to 19-9. It’s a devastating disappointment for Alves, but a strong win for Kampmann, who said afterward that he wants a shot at UFC interim welterweight champion Carlos Condit. Kampmann is worthy of a shot at the title.

All 22 fighters stepping into the Octagon for Friday night’s UFC on FX card will first step on the scale on Thursday night for the UFC on FX 2 weigh-ins, and we’ll carry the live video here at MMAFighting.com.

In the main event, welterweights Thiago Alves and Martin Kampmann will have to make the limit of 171 pounds, a limit that Alves has at times struggled to make. The weigh-ins will also be the first time we’ll see flyweights in the UFC. Joseph Benavidez, Demetrious Johnson, Ian McCall and Yasuhiro Urushitani will all have to make 125 pounds. McCall and Urushitani have both made that weight comfortably in the past, while Benavidez and Johnson are new to the flyweight division.

The UFC on FX weigh-in starts at 10 p.m. Eastern on Thursday and the video is below.