By Ronda Rousey‘s standards, Saturday night’s fight against Bethe Correia was a marathon. Of course, when your previous two fights lasted a combined 30 seconds, well, a fight that makes it to the 34-second mark must feel like an eternity.
Rousey was again dominant, knocking Correia out with a right hand in a fight that had a lot of tension in the lead-up after Correia said she hoped Rousey didn’t “commit suicide” while predicting she would beat her in May. Rousey‘s father committed suicide when she was eight and, while Correia apologized for the remarks, it was clear there was a different level of animosity between the fighters than usual.
Indeed, even after dominating Correia, there was no love lost between the two.
“I said the exact same thing she was saying to me at the weigh-ins when she was screaming in my face at weigh-ins,” Rousey said at the post-fight press conference, per Fox Sports. “She was saying ‘Don’t cry.’ So I turned around to her after I knocked her out and I said ‘Don’t cry.'”
Rousey also admitted she wanted to knock out Correia in a post-fight interview.
It’s very possible it was Correia‘s strategy all along to get Rousey riled up to the point that the champion didn’t fight technically sound and came into the Octagon angry and unfocused. Indeed, Rousey came out swinging and didn’t look particularly strategic.
But it didn’t matter in the end, as Rousey reminded folks that she can brawl with anyone. Angry or focused; armbar or right hand; Rousey has plenty of tools in her arsenal to finish an opponent quickly.
It was another example of just how transcendentally dominant Rousey has become, per Alessandro Miglio of Bleacher Report:
Lionel Messi might have something to say about that, but the point stands: Rousey is, at the very least, as dominant in her sport as any other athlete is in their particular sport. And she’s at the point where she’s also garnering comparisons to some of history’s other dominant fighters, per ESPN Stats & Information:
It’s hard to imagine anyone beating Rousey this point, outside of perhaps Cris “Cyborg” Justino, though that fight won’t happen until Cyborg gets down to 135 pounds. When—or if—she does, however, it will be one heck of a fight to see.
For now, poor Miesha Tate will be getting back into the Octagon against Rousey for a third time. Rousey finished the first two fights against Tate with armbar submissions, with the second bout ending in 58 seconds.
She spoke about that matchup in her post-fight press conference.
As for the rest of the event, Maurcio “Shogun” Rua defeated Antonio Rogerio “Little Nog” Nogueira by unanimous decision, Glaico Franca beat Fernando Bruno by submission, Reginaldo Vieira won a unanimous decision over Dileno Lopes, Stefan Struve won a unanimous-decision victory over Antonio Rodrigo “Big Nog” Nogueira, Antonio “Bigfoot” Silva knocked out Soa Palelei and Claudia Gadelha beat Jessica Aguilar by unanimous decision.
But the night belonged to Rousey, which is becoming a very common theme for the fighter. Rousey has become one of the sport’s biggest superstars, and until someone actually offers her a challenge, she’ll continue to rule her sport with an iron fist.
Just ask Correia.
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