There’s no clear metric by which one can rank something like the main event of a fight card.
Even when comparing it to one that happened a few weeks ago, or the last one that was on pay-per-view, sometimes it’s harder to come up with anything more scientific than “that was better than Edgar-Aldo” or anything more eloquent than “that sucked.”
But if one were going to sit down and try to ballpark it for the UFC 157 main event, to try and decide where the first women’s fight in UFC history ranks in the main-event scheme so far for 2013, it would be pretty high up there how ever it were to be measured.
2013 has been off to a good start for the promotion, especially considering that 2012 was an unforgettable nightmare weighed down by injuries and oversaturation. Main events have largely held together, and even lower bookings on cards haven’t been as plagued by injury.
Rousey-Carmouche did nothing to derail that momentum.
The two women took to the cage and warred fervently, packing as much action and intensity into 4:49 as a fan could hope for. There were tense moments for both, a near upset for the ages, and then the finish that most people paid to see.
Haters be damned, you don’t get that from the male athletes of the UFC on a lot of nights.
In terms of trying to rank the main event of UFC 157 in comparison to those that came before it so far in 2013, it’s definitely in the top tier.
It was probably neck-and-neck with Aldo-Edgar for excitement based on the magnitude of the fight, and on in-cage performance it might have actually produced more explosiveness. In comparison to Barao/MacDonald or Johnson/Dodson, it was likely better.
The only other main event this year that might be able to compare was Vitor Belfort KO’ing Michael Bisping in Brazil, dashing the title hopes of The Count and providing another violent highlight for UFC promotional material.
Even that, though, may depend on one’s opinions of both Belfort and Bisping.
Again, it’s hard to measure something as subjective as what’s “better” when comparing something as multi-faceted as MMA. But make no mistake, the ladies are in the conversation in a big way after UFC 157, and that speaks volumes.
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