Partial Credit: Joseph Lipnow
Ronda Rousey doesn’t get paid by the hour and she continued to show this at UFC 175. In the co-main event, Rousey required 16 seconds of the opening round to secure the win over Alexis Davis. The champ has taken most of her wins by armbar, but the last two have been from pure power.
“I box six days a week and I grapple and wrestler four days a week,” said Rousey post-fight. “I have more to catch up with on my striking.”
While Joe Rogan was interviewing Rousey after the win, the production team asked if she would headline UFC 176 on August 2.
“I’ve got knee surgery scheduled,” said Rousey. “But I’ll ask my coaches and we’ll see what they say.”
Before the pay-per-view went off the air, footage was shown of Rousey’s hand being stitched together in the back. While the hand was confirmed as not broken, those stitches may remove any chance of Rousey competing in less than four weeks.
Rousey is now in double digit wins with 10. The first eight-fights end via armbar with the last two coming from Rousey’s fists and knees.
Davis, a former Strikeforce and Invicta FC fighter, becomes 16-6. She’s now 3-1 under the UFC banner.
Chris Weidman was able to go the distance and defeat Lyoto Machida, but the middleweight champion was having a hard time remembering the 25 minute fight.
“I was just in the moment,” said Weidman post-fight. “It’s hard to think about it right now. I probably was [hurt], but I can’t remember right now. He is tough as nails and an awesome fighter.”
In the main event of UFC 175, which served as part of the July 4th weekend festivities, Weidman controlled Machida for most of the fight. Machida relied on his feet to damage the body of Weidman. The champ used elbows to cut the Brazilian open and secured over five takedowns. “The Dragon” put up a fight and wobbled Weidman on a few occasions.
Weidman won the belt by knocking out Anderson Silva last year and then beating him in the subsequent rematch. The middleweight champ is 12-0 and Machida was the first person to make him go the distance in a championship fight.
Machida is a former UFC light heavyweight champion. He’s 2-1 since dropping down to middleweight last October.
“The plan was to keep the fight standing,” said Machida post-fight. “He is a true champion and deserving of having the title.”
