Ronda Rousey was already widely heralded as UFC’s most dangerous woman before her bout with Alexis Davis on Saturday night from Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas, but after her decisive 16-second victory at UFC 175, she simply looked terrifying.
The armbar has been Rousey‘s instrument of destruction for the majority of her UFC career. Of her current 10-0 record, her first eight victories came on the ground via submission.
Not only that, but Rousey is no stranger to short fights, according to ESPN Stats & Info:
There’s nothing wrong with submissions—Rousey is an absolute technician on the mat—but her style was a little one-dimensional.
Just looking at Rousey‘s UFC profile, it’s easy to see where the former Olympian was able to find success. Rousey‘s fight history came by way of 78 percent submissions, 15 percent takedowns and just 7 percent striking.
Her summery is also described with the words “takedowns, submissions, explosiveness, Olympic experience.”
After her dismantling of Davis, that should change.
Yes, Rousey‘s strength will continue to be that dangerous armbar, but she’s beginning to show a better grasp of striking and beating opponents standing.
We saw the first glimpse of this in her UFC 170 bout against Sara McMann. In the then-brief Round 1 knockout, Rousey threw a total of 14 strikes that were capped off by a knee to McMann‘s body, ending the fight after just over one minute.
Looking back at her fight against McMann, Rousey also showed she could take a punch as well:
Rousey continued her striking surge on Saturday night against Davis.
In just 16 seconds, Rousey threw 14 strikes. This time, she delivered well-placed jabs to stay out of her opponent’s reach. Once she connected solidly to the side of Davis’ head, she closed in quickly and delivered a knee to the midsection, staggering Davis.
This allowed Rousey to take her opponent to the ground and pummel her with a flurry of rights until the fight was ultimately stopped.
Here’s a look at the fight’s final series, courtesy of Sports Recall:
Yet, she’s known as a submission artist.
After her fight, Rousey explained why she fared so well standing against Davis during a press conference, via Brett Okamoto of ESPN.com:
I box six days a week and grapple four days a week. I have more to catch up on striking, so I do that the most.
We had been specifically working on the long overhand right and long left hook in this training camp. Before my fight with Sara McMann, we had been training the inside knee to the body. It just seems that whatever I’m working on in training camp I have implemented effectively in the fight.
That’s a scary thought.
Not only is Rousey a completely threatening presence on the ground, but now she’s also expanding her fighting style in an effort to stand toe-to-toe against her opponents.
If Rousey was able to defeat her No. 1 contender in 16 seconds now, imagine what she’ll be capable of accomplishing with more training as a striker.
The way things look at the moment, Rousey could easily become the most complete and dominant fighter we’ve ever seen in any UFC weight class.
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