Ronda Rousey retained her bantamweight championship and improved her record to 12-0 Saturday night at UFC 190 in what’s become typical Rousey-fight fashion: unsparing, unrelenting and under a minute.
Thirty-four seconds was all it took for “Rowdy” Rousey to knock out Brazilian challenger Bethe Correia with a stiff pair of punches to the head along the octagonal cage at UFC 190, held at the HSBC Arena in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Correia‘s record dropped to 9-1 on the night. She never really had a chance, completely overwhelmed by Rousey‘s hard, clinical striking, with her own punches doing nothing to deter Rousey‘s advances. If you didn’t have the popcorn good and ready before the opening bell, you would’ve missed it.
Here’s a look at the results from the main card at UFC 190, followed by reaction to the marquee matchups, starting with the obvious choice.
Rousey vs. Correia
The obvious comparison to Rousey ripping through her opponents like a freight train through tissue paper is 1980s, early career Mike Tyson. It’s a comparison the man himself has no trouble making, per ESPN Stats & Info:
Bleacher Report UK provided the times of Rousey‘s last five fights:
Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers was really, really happy to watch Rousey:
Grantland’s Jason Concepcion appreciated the brevity of the bout:
Fittingly, United States soccer star Alex Morgan kept her comments short and to the point:
In the midst of all the awestruck reaction to Rousey‘s epic beatdown, ESPN’s Darren Rovell wondered if she might somehow be too good for her chosen profession:
Correia‘s punishment extended beyond the fight itself. Rousey needed all of two words to deliver the best verbal barb of the night.
“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 explained at the post-fight press conference, via Fox Sports’ Damon Martin. “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 dedicated the fight to professional wrestling legend “Rowdy” Roddy Piper, per SportsCenter:
Piper passed away Friday at the age of 61.
Rousey‘s in a category unto herself at this point, an unstoppable force with no immovable object in sight. There are probably deeply unstable, radioactive isotopes with half-lives longer than Rousey fights.
Rousey took home the ESPY award for “Best Female Athlete” this year. One could have made a great case at the time for Serena Williams, who is also doing a fine job of mincing her opponents in women’s tennis. But that was pre-Correia. This latest coronation shows Rousey might be the most dominant athlete in all of sports, man or woman.
Rua vs. Nogueira
Both fighters are well past their prime, but it was still a big occasion for dedicated fight fans to see Mauricio “Shogun” Rua defeating Antonio Rogerio Nogueira for the second time in their careers with a unanimous decision victory on Saturday.
Nogueira dominated the first round, but Shogun came up with some impressive strikes in the second and third to eke out a victory.
FightMatch.com’s Ken Myers appreciated the brawler’s delight on display:
Indeed, both men came away from the bout battered and bruised, with back-and-forth striking and little grappling to break up the action. SirusXM“s Sam Roberts was impressed with Noguiera’s ability to stay upright in the face of such a beating:
SB Nation’s Luke Thomas found the action hard to watch:
After an entertaining 15 minutes of action, Todd Martin of the Los Angeles Times noted the crowd wasn’t too happy with the judges’ pick in this bout:
“The crowd boos the decision, given Rua did a lot of stalling and neutralizing late while Nogueira was looking to land shots and finish. But Rua did more damage and controlled the fight.“
Nogueria might have a bit left in the tank, but at the 39 years old he has nothing left to prove after a very successful career. With Rua picking up the win, this may be the last of Nogueira in the Octagon.
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