There are three guarantees in sports. Liverpool never winning the premier league, Limerick hurlers never winning an all-Ireland and Ronda Rousey laying a beating on her latest opponent. This Saturday night, at the HSBC Arena in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, the latter happened as the women’s bantamweight champion of the world defended her crown yet again at UFC 190.
This time around, it was Bethe Correia opposite Rousey in what turned out to be another ferocious and quick beating. From the very start Rousey came out swinging and whizzed past the head of Correia with a looping right hand. A couple of uppercuts were the first landed shots of the bout immediately after that as Correia backed up out of range. Rousey quickly closed that gap and tagged her with a jab but again missed with the overhand. A Correia jab was then on point as she attempted to meet fire with fire but Rousey quickly gave back what she got. Correia then tried to exit range again but this time Rousey timed her well an grabbed her head in a clinch before landing three hard uppercuts and a knee to the body. To her credit, Correia defended the Judo throw well and landed two nice right hands on Rousey but it was just a drop in the ocean for what was about to come.
On a second throw attempt, Correia slipped away and ended up back flipping towards the cage where she was met with six thunderous right hands from the champ. A clearly wobbled Correia then tried to take Rousey down but as she dropped south to catch a leg she was hit with a stabbing knee to the ribs which made her back up at a rate of knots. As Correia moved sideways, though, Rousey moved with her and landed a huge right hand which knocked her spark out on the floor. Referee John McCarthy quickly jumped in the stop the fight but Rousey already knew the job was done as she stood over the prone Brazilian. It was a devastating loss for Correia but for Rousey is was another routine title defence. Next up: Miesha Tate part 3.
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Shogun Wins
In the co-main event, a rematch 10 years in the making went down as Mauricio “Shogun” Rua took on his Brazilian counterpart Rogerio Nogueira over three rounds in the light heavyweight division. Like many rematches this had a slow, tentative start with both men feeling it out early. Shogun took the centre of the Octagon from the start and landed with two nice body kicks to open his account. Nogueira answered that back with a slick combo of strikes to the head and body but was quickly met by a big Rua right hand. As the round progressed both men looked confident and swung hard although Shogun seemed to be timing his power shots better. Late in the round, though, Nogueira landed a big left hand and rocked Shogun to his boots. As Nogueira attacked at pace it looked to be all going his way but a Shogun knee from out of nowhere drove “Lil Nog” backwards before they exchanged again as the round came to an end.
Between rounds both men looked worse for wear but it was Shogun who came out looking the better as he landed a hard leg kick before grabbing a single leg and taking it to the floor where he landed in the guard of Nogueira. Shogun took his time on the deck but did manage to pass into the half guard where he controlled the pace and landed with some point scoring shots. As Shogun tried to pass to mount, though, Nogueira was able to sweep and got back to his feet where he immediately ate a body kick from the former UFC champion. A short clinch battle followed that with Shogun having the upper hand and, after a referee’s separation, it was Shogun again who landed the cleaner strikes late in the period.
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Two hard kicks, one to the leg and one to the body, gave Shogun the upper hand early in the third before he established the clinch again. Nogueira was able to escape on his own this time but took a vicious leg kick for his trouble. A mad series of exchanges followed that with both men landing hard shots in the pocket but it was Rua who seemed to have the more gas in the engine. More leg kicks from Shogun came as the fight entered its last two minutes while one to the body also found its mark before he took Nogueira to the floor. On the way down, though, Nogueira locked on the guillotine and Shogun looked to be in trouble but he managed to escape just as the fight ended. It was a fairly easy fight to score in the end with Shogun deservedly getting the unanimous decision.
Prior to that there were a couple of heavyweight fights with Brazilian favourites on show as Antonio “Bigfoot” Silva demolished Soa Palelei with a second round KO while Stefan Struve took a decision over legend Rodrigo Nogueira in a fight nobody will be writing home about.
Gadelha Earns The Rematch
Opening up the main card was maybe the most important fight outside of the main event as Claudia Gadelha and Jessica Aguilar fought for a shot at the strawweight title. Despite it being her UFC debut, Aguilar showed absolutely no nerves early as she came out confidentially on her feet throwing nice shots and moving her feet well. Gadelha, though, wasn’t fazed by that and settled in well too. A couple of well placed knees throughout round one were real effective strikes from Gadelha but her forward moving, combination-filled attacks had her clearly winning a round which she secured with a late takedown.
It was more of the same in the second round from Gadelha as she came out swinging hard and caught Aguilar with a big shot off of either hand before viciously slamming her to the ground. On the deck Aguilar had her nose busted open by a strike but she did manage fight through it and get back to her feet. It wasn’t much better for her there, though, as Gadelha slipped her jab and overhand right past the high guard at will. Aguilar answered back well with hard a leg kick or three and even hit Gadelha with a subtle right hook but the Brazilian countered with a stiffening uppercut before another late Gadelha takedown came on the bell.
Knowing she was two rounds in arrears Aguilar came out aggressively in the third and had Gadelha backing up with a well-timed right hand and five hard leg kicks inside the opening minute. Another right hand from Aguilar landed after that but when Gadelha stuffed a takedown attempt from the American the tide changed back towards the Brazilian as her right hook and jab found a home on the increasingly bloody face of Aguilar. When many wouldn’t have, Aguilar didn’t give up and answered back well with more leg kicks and took on the clearly more powerful Gadelha striking in the pocket. Late in the round Aguilar looked to be pushing the pace even harder but the third late takedown in three rounds from Gadelha ended any hope of a finish. In the end it was a pretty straightforward unanimous decision win for Gadelha who subsequently called out strawweight champion Joanna Jedrzejczyk for a world title rematch which should be absolutely fascinating.
Maia Mauls Magny
Then topping the preliminary section of the card came arguably the most anticipated fight of the night as Brazilian favourite Demian Maia took on the unbeaten-in-seven-fights American Neil Magny. It was Maia, though, who was on top from the very start as he pushed Magny against the fence and took him down right from the off. Jiu-jitsu expert Maia quickly moved to mount and tried for a triangle but it wasn’t there as Magny defended well. Magny managed to push him to half guard briefly but Maia moved to side-control and back to the mount as he dominated the opening period. Midway through the round Maia took the back but Magny turned him around before eating some hard shots from the top. As the unrelenting Brazilian held the mount late in the round Magny looked to be safe but a quick transition to the side had Maia working on an armbar just as the klaxon ended the frame.
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Magny looked like he wanted to push Maia back with his strikes as the second began but within eight seconds he was on his back again after a slick takedown. Magny briefly attacked from the bottom but that did nothing more than give Maia openings to jump his guard and land, once again, in the mount. From there Maia controlled brilliantly and, after a series of strikes, moved to the back where Magny looked in deep, deep trouble. As Maia secured the position and tightened up Magny with a body triangle the finish looked inevitable. And that that was just the case as Maia expertly locked in the rear naked choke which brought the quick tap from a gallant Magny to end his unbelievable seven fight winning streak while Maia moves back up towards the welterweight elite.
Outside of that, the prelims were fairly uneventful but there were good finishes for Pat Cummins, Victor Miranda and Warley Alves.
CHECK OUT THE FULL RESULTS BELOW:
Ronda Rousey def. Bethe Correia via knockout – Round 1, 0:34
Mauricio Rua def. Antonio Rogerio Nogueira via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
Glaico Franca def. Fernando Bruno via submission (rear naked choke) – Round 3, 4:46
Reginaldo Vieira def. Dileno Lopes via unanimous decision (29-28, 30-27, 30-27)
Stefan Struve def. Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
Antonio Silva def. Soa Palelei via TKO – Round 2, 0:41
Claudia Gadelha def. Jessica Aguilar via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
Demian Maia def. Neil Magny via submission (rear naked choke) – Round 2, 2:52
Patrick Cummins def. Rafael Cavalcante via TKO – Round 3, 0:45
Warlley Alves def. Nordine Taleb via submission (guillotine) – Round 2, 4:11
Iuri Alcantara def. Leandro Issa via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-27)
Vitor Miranda def. Clint Hester via TKO – Round 2, 2:38
Guido Cannetti def. Hugo Viana via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
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