As rain fell outside Staples Center on Saturday night, the most dominant reign in the UFC continued inside.
Women’s bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey made UFC history by submitting No. 1 contender Cat Zingano in just 14 seconds in the main event in front of 17,654 people at UFC 184.
Rousey has now finished her past two fights in 30 seconds, her past three in 1:36.
“I can’t wait to get some hot wings right now,” Rousey said of her traditional post-fight celebratory meal.
As a heavy favorite, Rousey (11-0) was expected to feast on Zingano (9-1), but not so quickly.
Zingano, from Broomfield, Colo., charged out of her corner from the start.
The fighters fell to the canvas, with Rousey rolling over and getting Zingano’s right arm trapped with her leg. Rousey fell back and arched her hips, torquing Zingano’s arm with a straight arm lock and forcing the tapout.
The crowd had hardly enough to time to settle in their seats — at least those who chose to sit — before John McCarthy jumped in to stop the fight.
Once scheduled to have Chris Weidman defend his middleweight title against Vitor Belfort in the main event, UFC 184 wound up a monumental success with, for the first time in UFC history, women in the main and co-main events.
UFC President Dana White announced the live gate as $2,675,560, praising Rousey and Zingano for making it a night to remember.
“Everybody knew this was gonna be a bad-ass fight. One of those types of fights,” UFC President Dana White said. “No women in the history of combat sports have ever done anything remotely close to this. It’s awesome.
“Coming from a guy who said we’d never do women’s MMA, I keep getting kicked in the face with that one, but nobody could have predicted how insane this would be.”
The star power was certainly on display, from UFC champions Weidman, Jon Jones, T.J. Dillashaw and Carla Esparza to former champion Brock Lesnar to celebrities Mark Walhberg, Maria Shriver and Jada Pinkett-Smith.
Everyone was there to see Rousey, who didn’t disappoint.
Rousey said she knew, with all the talk of Zingano being a slow starter, there was a chance Zingano would rush her.
“I thought it was very possible she’d try to do the exact opposite of that, and I study my own footage a lot and nobody’s come at me right away before,” Rousey said. “I didn’t plan exactly how it went down but I was expecting it could happen.”
Immediately after the fight, a dejected Zingano remained kneeling in the ring before Rousey, who was hopping about with a wide smile, went over and knelt beside her and hugged her.
“I wanna do it again,” Zingano said in her in-ring interview before uttering several expletives, seemingly in shock at her inexplicably sudden defeat.
Rousey broke the UFC title-fight record held by Andre Arlovski, who knocked out Paul Buentello in 2005.
Few thought Rousey could improve on her 16-second knockout of Alexis Davis in July, which came after she had earned a TKO victory in 1:06 over Sara McMann one year ago.
It is her 10th finish in 11 fights, her ninth in the first round.
The 2008 Beijing Olympics bronze medalist in judo credited her pre-MMA fighting days for the acrobatic move after Zingano came at her so quickly.
“I made that on the fly to be honest,” Rousey said. “It was kind of funny, we were going toward the ground and I kind of reverted back to judo mode and I was thinking, ‘Don’t touch your back. It’s a point.’”
Zingano, meanwhile, still seemed stunned that she had not only lost, but the style in which she lost.
She struggled with her emotions when asked how she was feeling.
“She’s really good. That wouldn’t happen again, you know?” Zingano said. “I just want to know what I can do to get back in there again. Who’s No. 2? I’ll fight them. … How do I get this again?”
UFC President Dana White, standing next to Zingano, replied, “We’ll make it happen. I need fights. … Whenever you’re ready.”
Rousey, who lives in Venice and trains at Glendale Fighting Club, credited her mom, AnnMaria DeMars, after the win and speculated that Holly Holm or Bethe Correia could be a next opponent.
But first, Rousey and the UFC apparently have an agreement.
“We had a deal that she was gonna go do a movie after this fight, so when she’s done with her movie, we’ll talk,” White said.
Rousey was mum about the movie, saying she couldn’t speak about it yet.
In the co-main event, Holm made her highly anticipated UFC debut but ran into a game and battle-tested Raquel Pennington. The former boxing champion was on the right side of a split decision, but Pennington’s effort — and perhaps one questionable scorecard — had the crowd booing.
The judges scored it 29-28, 28-29, 30-27 for Holm, who got the better of the striking the first two rounds, but was far from dominant. She did, however, stuff any efforts by Pennington to take her down.
“Because of all the hype, I don’t feel like I can live up to it, you know?” Holm said. “There’s so much talk and there was a lot of nerves involved.”
Pennington picked it up in the third round, even putting Holm on the mat with a right to the jaw-neck area. In fact, many felt Pennington won the round with better standup.
Irvine’s Jake Ellenberger, out of Reign Training Center and Glendale Fighting Club, had a lot to prove against fellow veteran Josh Koscheck. After losing three straight, the former welterweight title contender said most of his work in camp was psychological, not physical.
Ellenberger’s determination and patience paid off as he sunk in a guillotine choke and kept it clamped in as Koscheck turned, getting Koscheck to tap out to a north-south choke at 4:20 of the second round.
“I was expecting him to go out, but he’s a super tough guy,” Ellenberger (30-9) said of Koscheck (19-9), who was foaming at the mouth shortly before submitting.
Los Angeles’ Alan Jouban had heard Richard Walsh talk about ending his modeling career by ruining his face, but it was Jouban’s elbow that might have taken the most damage.
A little more than two minutes into their welterweight bout, Jouban unleashed a vicious left elbow to Walsh’s right temple to topple the Australian back against the cage. Jouban threw a few more punches before referee John McCarthy jumped in at 2:19 of the opening round.
“Beat him up. Where’s John at?” Jouban (11-3) said of his reaction to hurting Walsh (8-4) and wanting the fight stopped. “I just wanted the win.”
Oxnard native Tony Ferguson got the main card started with an emphatic submission victory over lightweight veteran Gleison Tibau.
Ferguson, a Lakers fan who spoke of being excited to compete in an arena where so many greats had played, clipped Tibau (40-11) with a right to the temple. Tibau stumbled back, which led to Ferguson taking him down and going for a choke.
“Snap down city, baby,” Ferguson said of getting Tibau down. “Give me that neck.”
Ferguson (19-3), who now resides in Orange County, transitioned to Tibau’s back and went for another choke. As they rolled over, Ferguson sunk in the rear-naked choke and go Tibau to tap just 2:37 into the fight.
Performance of the Night bonuses of $50,000 each went to Rousey, Ellenberger, Ferguson and Tim Means, who fought on the prelims.
