Rousey submits Carmouche via arm bar in first UFC women’s fight

Anaheim, CA, United States (4E Sports) – Ronda “Rowdy” Rousey successfully defended her bantamweight belt in the first-ever UFC women’s fight, using her vaunted arm bar to submit challenger Liz Carmouche late in the first round in Saturday’s UFC 157 at Honda Center.

Carmouche gave Rousey a tough challenge early in the round, putting the champion on her back and cranking hard on her head and neck, looking for an early submission.

However, Rousey survived the assault and delivered a series of punches before dropping down into side control.

She then delivered several punches to Carmouche’s face before applying the arm bar that gave her the victory at the 4:49 mark of the opening round.

“There’s no amount of press that can save these girls from me,” said Rousey, who improved her MMA record to 7-0, with all victories coming via first-round arm bar submission.

“I thought I was going to get her with the neck crank,” said Carmouche, who dropped to 8-3. “Then maybe get it under her throat. I thought I had it.”

Rousey could face the winner from the second UFC female bout between Miesha Tate (13-3) and Cat Zingano (7-0). Tate and Zingano will collide April 13 in Las Vegas.

Meanwhile, Lyoto Machida moved a step closer to regaining the UFC light heavyweight title after beating Dan Henderson via split decision.

Machida earned his 19th win in 22 fights after getting the nod of two judges via scores of 29-28. The other judge scored the bout 29-28 for Henderson, who dropped to 29-9 after losing his first fight since November 2011.

The win puts Machida in line for a title shot against current champion Jon Jones, who beat him at UFC 140.

In other fights, Urijah Faber bounced back from a decision loss to Renan Barao by submitting Ivan Menjivar via rear-naked choke in the first round of their bantamweight contest.

“That was a good, solid win over a very good opponent who a lot of hardcore fans know is one of the best in the world,” Faber said. “Of course, I want the title. I still think I will get the UFC belt.”

The win improved Faber’s record to 27-6 while Menjivar slipped to 25-10.

Meawhile, Court McGee (15-3) started his welterweight campaign on a good note, earning a unanimous decision victory over the veteran Josh Neer (33-13-1).

Robbie Lawler (20-7) marked his return to the UFC with a technical knockout win over Josh Koscheck (17-7).

The other winners were Brendan Schaub over Lavar Johnson, Michael Chiesa over Anton Kuivanen, Dennis Bermudez over Matt Grice and Sam Stout over Caros Fodor.

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