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Mixed martial arts fighter Ronda Rousey's star power grows with each month
Ronda Rousey flipped her script but kept the timing the same Saturday night.
Using her newly developed punching power instead of her famed armbar, Rousey knocked out challenger Bethe Correia 34 seconds into their Ultimate Fighting Championship bantamweight title bout in Brazil.
Rousey (12-0) has now won 11 of her 12 fights in the first round, and she has ended her last four in 34 seconds, 14 seconds, 16 seconds and 66 seconds.
Rousey kept the fight a stand-up battle and first hurt Correia significantly with a big right hand, followed by a hard left punch to the face. She then landed a knee to the body, then finished Correia with a short right hand to the temple.
Correia (9-1) slumped to the mat, unresponsive, as referee John McCarthy signaled the bout was over.
“I planned not to force it … she went for the clinch, and couldn’t … I guess you can’t doubt my hands anymore,”Rousey said in the octagon afterward.
Correia entered to the roars of her countrymen in Rio de Janeiro, fiercely striding to the octagon while wearing the Brazilian flag like a cape behind her.
But her performance couldn’t match that apparent rage, and she briefly tumbled backward while struggling to find Rousey and avoid a fight on the mat with the 2008 Olympic judo bronze medalist.
Rousey expressed outrage when Correia said she hoped the champion wouldn’t commit suicide if she lost, talk Rousey thought went below the belt considering her father committed suicide.
In the co-main event, light-heavyweight Antonio Rogerio Nogueira blasted former champion Mauricio “Shogun” Rua with a slew of wicked left-handed punches late in the first round, wobbling Rua.
But Rua rallied in the second by keeping Nogueira backed to the canvas for most of the round, then whipped in some body kicks in the third. Nogueira sought a deciding chokehold in the third, but Rua slipped away.
Judges gave Rua (23-10) a 29-28 unanimous-decision victory on all three scorecards. It was a rematch of a classic 2005 fight won by Rua by decision.
“I did feel that punch, was a bit groggy for a while, but I just had to recuperate,” Rua said in the octagon afterward. “I won. I got the victory.”
Earlier, Stefan Struve, 27, underlined his return from heart trouble by severely dimming the future of Nogueira’s brother, former UFC heavyweight champion Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira.
Struve, the tallest fighter in the UFC at 6-foot-11, avoided the 39-year-old Nogueira’s submission attempts and relied on his massive reach advantage to subject Nogueira to big rights and hurtful jabs en route to the unanimous decision.
Brazil’s Claudia Gadelha, the No. 1 contender in the women’s strawweight division, showed the wide divide that exists between her and No. 15 Jessica Aguilar by repeatedly landing punches and left kicks to the head in the first round, leaving Aguilar’s nose bloodied. The punishment continued until judges awarded Gadelha (13-1) a victory by unanimous decision without one lost round.
