Ronda Rousy knows her way around an octagon, eh?
The UFC women’s bantamweight champion was always going to be the star attraction of UFC 190, the Brazilian card that many were writing off due to the presence of legendary/over-the-hill fighters including Shogun Rua and the Nogueira brothers.
But the UFC’s return to Rio proved to be a bit of alright and was well worth staying up until the early hours of Sunday morning for.
Here are the warriors whose performances impressed us most at the HSBC Arena.
Knockout of the Night – Ronda Rousey
Is there anything she can’t do?
A lot of betslips were likely ruined by the fact that Ronda Rousey decided not to submit Bethe Correia in the main event of UFC 190.
Rather, Rowdy opted to stand with the Brazilian underdog and what a decision that proved to be because Rousey’s hands appeared to have caught up with her elite submission game.
Correia lasted just the 34 seconds with the first and only women’s bantamweight champion before she faceplanted thanks to a right straight from Rousey.
That’s a lot of power for 135 lbs.
Submission of the Night – Demian Maia
Demian Maia passed his way right into the welterweight title picture with a typically smothering grappling exhibition against the unorthodox threat posed by Neil Magny.
The ludicrous squeeze possessed by the former middleweight challenger surprised nobody more than Magny as Maia didn’t even get fully under the chin but still managed to get the tap midway through the second round.
Performance of the Night – Patrick Cummins
At the end of the first round, the image cut by Pat Cummins would have led you to believe that he had been torn to shreds over the five minutes but the NCAA Division I wrestler actually dominated proceedings with his far superior takedown abilities.
The American continued to toss opponent Rafael Cavalcante about in the second round and ought to have been strides ahead on the scorecards.
But all credit to Durkin who came out in the third looking to finish. He took Feijao down once more and dropped some ruthless elbows from guard before the referee stood in. Cummins ought to find himself in the top 10 rankings this morning.
One to Watch – Glaico Franca
One element of the event that was irking the more easily-irked fight fans was the fact that four relatively unknown fighters were plunked smack dab in the middle of the seven-fight main card with the finals of TUF Brazil 4 taking place before the co-main event.
But both fights turned out to be entertaining, particularly the lightweight contest that saw Glaico Franca submit Fernando Bruno with just 14 seconds left in the fight.
While there may have been some technical holes in his game, Franca had attempted to lock in the rear-naked choke throughout the fifteen minutes before taking the responsibilities out of the hands of the judges by sinking his forearm under Bruno’s chin late in the third to take the tournament and, at 24, there’s a lot more to come from the giant lightweight.
Congratulations to @GlaicoNego! Your #TUFBrazil lightweight winner! @UFCFightPass #Sinister2 in theaters 8.21.15 http://t.co/VCLiydzCzG
— UFC (@ufc) August 2, 2015
