UFC 190 Rewind: Rousey KOs Correia

Published on Monday, 8/3/15, at 11:03 p.m. Eastern.

After a summer full of stacked cards that delivered an incredible amount of excitement, the Ultimate Fighting Championship was due a clunker of a show. And that’s exactly what we got Saturday night in Rio at UFC 190.

Fortunately for everyone, the main event salvaged the card to some extent.

Ronda Rousey produced another eye-opening performance with her 34-second knockout of previously unbeaten Bethe Correia. Rousey was an enormous favorite in the -1800 range. The ‘under’ (-350ish) for 1.5 rounds was also a winner. The prop bet for Rousey to win by KO was a casher. This bet was offering as generous as a +250 return on Thursday but by Saturday, most spots allowed only a +120 payout.

Rousey improved to 12-0 overall and 6-0 in the UFC, scoring a third KO in her last four fights. She’ll face Miesha Tate for the third time in her next contest, possibly in the main event at UFC 193 in Melbourne, Australia, on Nov. 15. Following Rousey’s win over Correia, Dana White remained adamant that ‘Cyborg’ can only face Rousey at 135 pounds in a potential showdown in 2016.

After another amazing performance, Rousey now enters the conversation of all-time greats, not just in MMA but also among every female athlete to ever live.

In the co-main event, Mauricio ‘Shogun’ Rua defeated ‘Little Nog’ as a -200 ‘chalk’ via unanimous decision (29-28 three times). The ‘over’ (1.5 rounds, -165) was a winner.

‘Little Nog’ appeared to get the better of the first-round exchanges, but Shogun rallied to wins Rounds 2 and 3. Both Brazilian fighters took home $50,000 bonuses for Fight of the Night honors.

Stefan Struve captured his first win in nearly three years when he took a unanimous decision (30-27 three times) over Antonio Rodrigo Nogueiras. Struve was the victor as a -180 ‘chalk.’ The ‘over’ paid a nice +130 return.
Struve’s length was the difference in the fight, but the Dutch kickboxer didn’t look that fantastic by any means. Given everything he has gone through with a heart disorder and a broken jaw, ‘Skyscraper’ can feel good about getting back into the win column.

The story of the fight, however, was the demise of the legendary former UFC heavyweight champion. The 39-year-old ‘Big Nog’ made his last career walk to the Octagon, a fact confirmed by Dana White at the post-fight presser. White indicated that Nogueira didn’t disagree.

After struggling to an 0-3-1 record in his last four fights, Antonio ‘Bigfoot’ Silva was in dire need of a win when he took on Sao Palelei. Palelei was getting the best of the fight in the opening round, but like he did in his last victory against Alistair Overeem, Silva rallied and was able to finish with a KO. Bigfoot cashed tickets for a nice +170 payout.

In the prelims headliner, Demian Maia snapped Neil Magny’s seven-fight winning streak with a second-round submission victory by way of rear-naked choke. The 37-year-old Brazilian won for the third straight time and for the sixth time in his eight fights since dropping down to the welterweight loop.

Patrick Cummins bounced back from a first-round KO loss to Ovince St. Pruex by beating Rafael Calvacante by third-round TKO. Cummins hooked up his betting supporters as a -165 favorite.

Cummins dominated the fight for the most part, using his superior wrestling to control momentum. However, this was not a one-sided affair. Calvacante landed some strong strikes and a big elbow from the bottom in the opening stanza. While trying to escape from his back in Round 2, the Brazilian landed a huge upkick nearly as effective as the one Benson Henderson used against Frankie Edgar in a lightweight title fight several years ago.

After the upkick, Cummins’ face was a disaster. Nevertheless, he was up 2-0 going to the third and final round. Once again, Cummins was able to get a takedown in Round 3 and as Cavalcante began to tire, starting executing some serious ground-and-pound elbows. The referee inexplicably allowed Calvacante to continue as he took at least five more unnecessary elbows before halting the bout.

**Octagon Nuggets**

–When Correia woke up from getting put to sleep with the right hand to the temple, Rousey told her, “Don’t cry.” In the build-up to the bout, Correia had said that she didn’t want Rousey to cry, go back to drugs or commit suicide after losing to her.

–Vitor Belfort and Dan Henderson are set to headline UFC Fight Night 78 in Sao Paulo, Brazil. This will be the third time these legendary fighters have met. In the first encounter, Hendo won a unanimous decision at PRIDE 32 in 2006. Belfort tested positive for elevated levels of testosterone after the defeat. In the second meeting at UFC FN 32 in November of 2013, Belfort got revenge by becoming the first fighter to KO Henderson with a head kick in the first round. Both fighters had TRT exemptions in the 2013 clash before TRT was banned from MMA competition. However, most feel Belfort was using more drugs at the time because his looks have changed so much since the TRT ban, while Henderson’s physique doesn’t appear to have changed much at all.

–Despite losing three of his last four fights, the UFC has signed veteran 155-pounder Danny Castillo to a four-fight contract extension. Castillo, a 35-year-old fighting out of the Alpha Male camp in Sacramento, is coming off a unanimous-decision loss to Jim Miller two weeks ago at UFC on FOX 16.

–Rousimar Palhares demonstrated why he’s the dirtiest MMA fighter ever once again Saturday night at WSOF 22. Palhares defended his welterweight title successfully against Jake Shields with a third-round kimura. However, Shields was dominating the first two rounds and was hindered by blurred vision in Round 3. Why’s that, you ask? Because Palhares attempted to gouge Shields’s eyes at least a half-dozen times while struggling from the bottom in the first 10 minutes of the bout. Referee Steve Mazzigatti inexplicably decided not to take a point away from Palhares, only pausing the fight once to warn him about the eye pokes. Palhares is expected to be stripped of his WSOF belt on Tuesday, likely setting up a title fight between Shields and he winner of Jon Fitch vs. Yushin Okami.

–It’s probably a good thing that Nick and Nate Diaz (long-time training partners with Shields) weren’t around for what happened in the main event. They had both been ejected from the arena (and banned for life from WSOF events) after getting into a brawl with lightweight contender Khabib Nurmagomedov. Check out some of the footage here.

–Shields on Palhares at the post-fight presser: “Yeah man, I want to fight the guy in the streets to be honest, ’cause I want to gouge his eyes back, I want to bite him, I want to kick him in the balls. I like actually wanna fight the guy. If I see him tonight I’m coming after him.

–UFC featherweight Cole Miller has been hospitalized for the last four days with a nasty MRSA infection.