Nunes stops Rousey in 48 seconds
USA – Ronda Rousey returned to the octagon Friday for the first time since her beatdown loss 13 months earlier, and she was victimized again by a head-rattling flurry of fists that finished her in even quicker form.
Forty-eight seconds into the first round, following a fourpunch combination that capped a continued assault of blows landed by UFC women’s bantamweight champion Amanda Nunes, Rousey was counted out by technical knockout by referee Herb Dean.
“This moment is my moment,” Brazil’s Nunes (14-4) said in the octagon afterward. “Right now, I’m the champion. “I know [fans] love Ronda Rousey, but I was really ready for this fight. I knew this was going to happen. I’m the best on the planet.” Ronda Rousey announced she would take time to contemplate her future in the sport after Amanda Nunes knocked her out in 48 seconds at Friday’s UFC 207 in Las Vegas at the T-Mobile Arena. The loss to Nunes was Rousey’s second straight defeat. Holly Holm knocked her out at UFC 193 in November 2015. Rousey, 29, was once arguably the biggest star in the UFC and was a pioneer in the women’s division. She won her first 12 professional fights and her first six in the UFC, ending each either by knockout or submission. Her signature armbar finished Cat Zingano in 14 seconds, Miesha Tate on two separate occasions and Liz Carmouche in Rousey’s first UFC fight, among others. But her dominance has disappeared in her last two bouts, a fact Nunes blamed on a new strategic approach from Rousey and her coach, Edmond Tarverdyan. “He thinks she’s a boxer,” she said after the fight, per Lance Pugmire of the Los Angeles Times. “He’s put that in her head. I don’t know why he did that.” She added: “She had great judo. She could do more in this division, but [Tarverdyan’s] done this crazy [strategy] with boxing, and it’s had her go down.” And while Rousey will take time to think, Nunes doesn’t expect to see her fighting in the UFC again.
(bleacehrreport)