In the first women’s match in UFC history, “Rowdy” Ronda Rousey defeated Liz “Girl-Rilla” Carmouche to defend her bantamweight title.
Both women came out swinging early in the first round. Rousey got the clinch early, taking Carmouche down and quickly going for the armbar. Carmouche got up and on Rousey’s back, nearly choking her out with a neck crank. Rousey shook her off and got back on her feet and went for the left punch. The two quickly ended up on the ground with the champion going for the ground and pound. With about 1:30 left, Rousey had 48 significant strikes to Carmouche’s 21. Carmouche went for a bottom triangle choke, but Rousey countered by going for the armbar again. Carmouche defended herself nicely, getting her arms into the rear naked choke position to defend herself. Rousey scored the armbar submission with 0:11 seconds left.
In the co-main event, Dan Henderson and Lyoto Machida faced off in the light heavyweight division. The judges scored the contest 29-28 Henderson, 29-28 Machida, and 29-28 Machida, declaring Lyoto “the Dragon” Machida the winner by split decision.
Machida landed 32 significant strikes to Henderson’s 23. Machida also landed 23 head strikes to Henderson’s eight. However, Henderson did significantly better in leg kicks, landing 17 to Machida’s two. The two have an identical body strike percentage at 89 percent, but Henderson landed 25 to Machida’s eight. Both scored one takedown.
Early in the first round, Hendo and the Dragon mainly kept their distance, opting for kicks over punches. Hendo clinched Machida with 1:54 left, but Machida quickly escaped. Machida landed a right hand with 1:05 left, but Henderson quickly came out swinging before going for a kick and another clinch. Again, Machida escaped, but Hendo went for another kick and clinch, keeping Machida locked before the Dragon managed to take him down with seconds left in the round.
Machida landed a big kick at 4:46 in round 2 and Hendo answered with an inside leg kick seconds later. Machida landed a kick to the body, causing Hendo to stumble. He followed up by landing a front kick to the face. Hendo just missed a right hand with 3:23 left. Hendo went for two leg kicks with 2:55 and 2:36 left in the round. Hendo clinched Machida with 2:10 left, and Machida drops him at 2:00, but Hendo quickly recovered. Hendo went for a couple of punches with about 0:25 seconds left, and the second round ended with a spinning kick by Machida and low leg kick by Hendo.
Round 3, Machida lands a body shot with 4:13 left. Hendo took the Dragon down with 3:43 left. Machida remained on his back, but attempted to take control over Henderson, but Hendo kept him down and continued taking shots to his ribcage. Machida finally got up at 1:50. Back on his feet, he landed a leg kick with 1:33 left. Machida landed another front kick to the face with 30 seconds left, and another kick with 23 seconds left. The round ends with Hendo going for one last punch combo.