In just her fifth
pro fight, Olympic bronze medalist "Rowdy" Ronda Rousey ascended to the top of
MMA's most competitive women's division Rousey used her signature armbar to submit former Strikeforce women's bantamweight champion Miesha "Takedown" Tate late in the first round on March 3 at "Strikeforce: Tate vs. Rousey" in Columbus, Ohio.
A lengthy war of words broke out between Rousey (5-0 MMA, 3-0 SF) and Tate (12-3 MMA, 5-2 SF) in the weeks leading up to the title fight. Some questioned whether Rousey would be able to back up her statements once the cage door closed, but she proved critics wrong by capturing what is arguably the most prestigious women's championship in MMA today.
Tate opened the title fight with a barrage of punches and looked to overwhelm the challenger early on. Rousey clinched and took down the champion. From side control, Rousey secured an armbar, and Tate appeared to be in all sorts of trouble. She held on and escaped and even managed to take Rousey's back after a scramble.
The momentum of the fight quickly changed as Tate looked to set up a rear-naked choke from the back. Rousey defended well, and the fighters returned to their feet. Tate was aggressive with punches again, but Rousey took her down into the scarf-hold position. She quickly moved to mount and landed punches that forced Tate to give up her back.
The opportunity was all Rousey needed, and she transitioned to another armbar. Tate refused to submit even when her elbow bent at an awkward angle. Finally, after Rousey readjusted her grip, Tate surrendered her title by tapping out at the 4:27 mark of the first one.
After the fight, Rousey was unapologetic for her actions and pre-fight trash-talking, but she spoke highly of the woman who will likely be first to challenge for her title: former champion Sarah Kaufman. Despite her limited experience, Rousey has become one of MMA's fastest-rising stars since her August 2010 debut. The 25-year-old has finished all eight of her pro and amateur opponents with armbars, and none of her fights to date has made it out of the first round.
Post-fight replays appeared to indicate that Tate's arm may have been snapped at the elbow. She has since confirmed that no bones were broken, but ligament damage is a possibility.
Kaufman wins all-Canadian clash on Strikeforce prelims
Mere hours before Tate and Rousey took to the cage for their title fight, former Strikeforce champion Sarah Kaufman (15-1 MMA, 6-1 SF) picked up a hotly contested majority-decision victory over fellow Canadian Alexis Davis (11-5 MMA, 2-1 SF) on the Strikeforce preliminary card. Kaufman won the first two rounds on the strength of her striking and survived a late rally from Davis to take the win in what was believed to be a No. 1 contender's bout.
Perhaps looking to steal the show, both fighters teed off with power punches as soon as the fight started, and they remained on their feet throughout the opening round. Davis scored with a series of uppercuts in close, but Kaufman fired back with flurries of punches that caused Davis' face to swell up. A cut opened above Davis' left eye, but the fight was allowed to continue, and the fighters continued to exchange hard kicks and punches. Davis opened a cut near Kaufman's hairline with what looked to be a standing elbow in the final minute of the round.
Davis mixed up her strikes with knees and body kicks in the second round. Kaufman retained a boxing-centered strategy and continued to mark up Davis' face, but Davis landed some nice combinations of her own. In the final round, she took down Kaufman and asserted her ground dominance by keeping the former champion pinned on the mat. Davis landed elbows throughout the round and attempted a pair of armbars, but Kaufman made it to the bell.
Despite a borderline 10-8 third round for Davis, it was not enough to steal back the fight. One judge at cageside scored the bout even at 29-29. The remaining two judges awarded the close contest to Kaufman with scores of 29-28.
Kaufman now is expected to challenge Rousey for the Strikeforce women's bantamweight championship in the unbeaten judoka's first title defense, but a target date for the fight has not yet been announced.
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