UFC president Dana White learned that you never say never, at least when TMZ shoves a camera in your face and asks when we are going to see women in the UFC.
Instead of never, fans of the UFC were treated to the first WMMA fight in the promotion’s history on Saturday, February 23 when women’s bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey met Liz Carmouche in the main event of UFC 157.
If you know one thing about Rousey, it’s that she loves her some armbars. All six of her previous victories had come via armbar leading up to UFC 157, with all of those fights ending before the first round expired.
Make it seven for seven for the UFC champion.
Rousey needed four minutes and 49 seconds, but she was able to keep both streaks alive, forcing the tap from Carmouche.
To Carmouche’s credit, she did look to have the champion in trouble as she took Rousey’s back and slapped on a nasty-looking face crank. The face crank forced Rousey’s mouthguard out, leaving Carmouche with a set of teeth marks in her arm but little else.
The result of the main event didn’t come as a surprise to many. One fight that did shock some was the outcome of the Josh Koscheck vs. Robbie Lawler bout. Lawler, coming to the UFC from Strikeforce, had not fought in the UFC since losing to Evan Tanner in 2004. But there he was in Anaheim, back in the Octagon and facing an opponent who was ranked in the Top 10 in the UFC’s welterweight division.
Three minutes and 57 seconds after the fight started, Lawler stood as the victor, earning a TKO and “Knockout of the Night” honors for toppling Koscheck via strikes. The win launched Lawler into the Top 10 in the latest UFC rankings.
There were 12 fights on the UFC 157 card, and all fighters received some type of medical suspension, from a minimum of seven days to potentially six months of time away.
Below are the full medical suspensions for the card (via MMAJunkie.com). All seven-day suspensions are for precautionary reasons only.
Ronda Rousey: seven-day minimum suspension
Liz Carmouche: seven-day minimum suspension
Lyoto Machida: seven-day minimum suspension
Dan Henderson: six-month suspension unless cleared by physician for possible right hand fracture
Urijah Faber: seven-day minimum suspension
Ivan Menjivar: seven-day minimum suspension
Court McGee: seven-day minimum suspension
Josh Neer: six-month suspension unless cleared by physician for possible nasal fracture
Robbie Lawler: seven-day minimum suspension
Josh Koscheck: 45-day suspension, 30 days no contact; in addition, six-month suspension unless cleared by doctor for possible right rotator cuff injury
Brendan Schaub: 60-day suspension unless cleared by physician for upper lip laceration
Lavar Johnson: seven-day minimum suspension
Mike Chiesa: seven-day minimum suspension
Anton Kuivanen: seven-day minimum suspension
Dennis Bermudez: 60-day suspension unless cleared by physician for left eyebrow laceration
Matt Grice: 45-day suspension with 30 days no contact; in addition, 60-day suspension unless cleared by physician for front scalp laceration
Sam Stout: seven-day minimum suspension
Caros Fodor: seven-day minimum suspension
Kenny Robertson: seven-day minimum suspension
Brock Jardine: six-month suspension unless cleared by physician for left thigh injury
Neil Magny: seven-day minimum suspension
Jon Manley: seven-day minimum suspension
Nah-Shon Burrell: seven-day minimum suspension
Yuri Villefort: 60-day suspension unless cleared by physician
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