Los Angeles Times

Rousey falls in 1st-round stunner

UFC comeback fight ends in 48 seconds after relentless attack by defending champ.

- By Lance Pugmire

LAS VEGAS — Ronda Rousey returned to the octagon Friday for the first time since her beat-down loss 13 months earlier, and she was victimized again by a headrattli­ng flurry of fists that finished her in even quicker form.

Forty-eight seconds into the first round, following a four-punch combinatio­n that capped a continued assault of blows landed by UFC 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.”

As for Rousey (12-2), who has already said she was nearing the end of her fight-

ing career, Nunes speculated, “Maybe she’ll retire and go into the movies.”

The scene of Rousey’s entry, complete with her fierceface­d walk-in to Joan Jett singing “Bad Reputation,” conjured memories of her brilliant past. But nothing that happened in the octagon reminded of anything other than her secondroun­d, head-kick knockout defeat in November 2015 to Holly Holm in Australia.

Venice’s Rousey was immediatel­y greeted by a left hand to the face from Nunes and the challenger’s head was then rocked back by a big right. Nunes popped punches on Rousey at will, and more rights backed Rousey across the octagon, with Nunes chasing to deliver the kill.

Dean stepped in after the telling combinatio­n, convinced the former champion who brought women’s fighting to the UFC would only be subjected to further damage.

Rousey hunkered down this camp in Glendale, refusing to participat­e in the usual slate of mandatory interviews, with the UFC delivering a message she needed no distractio­ns to focus on regaining her belt.

But all that made no difference to Nunes.

Instead, it was Nunes celebratin­g what could be her own compelling ride considerin­g her dominance with back-to-back first-round finishes over Miesha Tate and Ronda Rousey and her personal story as the first openly gay champion in combat sports history.

“Come on, guys,” Nunes implored to the standingro­om-only crowd at TMobile Arena who strongly supported Rousey at introducti­on but came to support Nunes. “These other girls work hard like Ronda Rousey.”

In the co-main event, Cody Garbrandt gained a measure of satisfacti­on for his Sacramento gym owner and just-retired fighter Urijah Faber by claiming a unanimous-decision triumph over San Diego’s Dominick Cruz by scores of 48-46, 48-47, 48-46.

The 25-year-old Garbrandt (11-0) dropped Cruz (22-2) once in the third and his punches sent Cruz to the canvas four times in the fourth as the 31-year-old champion failed to avoid the punishment, especially in the late rounds he hoped would reveal a conditioni­ng advantage.

The heavily tattooed Garbrandt, seen by UFC President Dana White as potentiall­y one of the organizati­on’s biggest stars, was able to land more punches on the elusive Cruz than the champion had expected and one of those cut Cruz badly over the left eye in the third.

“Hats off to Dominick for making me a better fighter,” Garbrandt said. “He’s a champion for a reason, one of the best. Now I’m the best.”

That answered Faber’s two losses to Cruz in their fierce trilogy rivalry in which Cruz once twice.

“It’s been a great journey. I wouldn’t be here without the support of all of them,” Garbrandt said with Faber behind him.

Former bantamweig­ht champion T.J. Dillashaw, a Cal State Fullerton product, clinched his shot at his former training partner Garbrandt by dominating second-ranked John Lineker by three scores of 30-26.

Dillashaw started the convincing triumph with a first-round takedown, inflicting damage with punches to the head. In the second, Dillashaw routed Lineker by getting atop him and sounding a chorus of hard punches and elbows to the head.

He backed Lineker to the cage with a punch in the third.

“That’s my belt, I want it back,” said Dillashaw, who lost it to Cruz in January.

“If I don’t get the title shot, you know this thing is rigged.”

Garbrandt responded, “T.J., come try me.”

 ?? Christian Petersen Getty Images ?? AMANDA NUNES delivers a crushing blow to the face of Ronda Rousey during Friday’s bout. Rousey never recovered from a barrage of first-round punches.
Christian Petersen Getty Images AMANDA NUNES delivers a crushing blow to the face of Ronda Rousey during Friday’s bout. Rousey never recovered from a barrage of first-round punches.
 ?? John Locher Associated Press ?? AMANDA NUNES celebrates her victory Friday as a dejected Ronda Rousey stands nearby.” I’m the best on the planet,” Nunes said after the fight.
John Locher Associated Press AMANDA NUNES celebrates her victory Friday as a dejected Ronda Rousey stands nearby.” I’m the best on the planet,” Nunes said after the fight.

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