Mixed Martial Arts Queen Ronda Rousey was officially announced Thursday as the first woman signed to a UFC contract and will be in the Main Event of the UFC 157 Pay Per View Event against Liz Carmouche.
In a press conference for their UFC on Fox show in Seattle, President Dana White announced Rousey as the first UFC Women’s Bantamweight Champion and declared that the new Champ would defend her title on February 23 in the first ever All-Female Main Event in UFC history.
An excited Dana White has already begun looking forward to future fights for the “First Lady” of UFC. He told ESPN.com , “this fight (Rousey-Carmouche) will happen and I truly believe the next one will be the Cyborg fight — this fight first, then Cyborg at 135 pounds.”
Upon Rousey’s arrival to the UFC, company officials worked hard to make the first Women’s “Super Fight” with Rousey taking on former Strikeforce Women’s Featherweight Champion Cristiane “Cyborg” Santos. However, Santos turned the fight down and Carmouche was added to the UFC 157 Main Event.
“(Carmouche) wanted to fight her. Believe me, people aren’t kicking the doors down at Zuffa to fight her,” said White.
Rousey, also a bronze medalist in Judo at the 2008 Olympic games in Beijing, is 6-0 in her still-young MMA career. She has won every fight in the first round by Submission.
Carmouche, a San Diego native and Veteran of the United States Marine Corps, is 7-2 in her MMA career and will not be taken lightly by Rousey.
“I’ve got a lot of respect for Liz. She’s the only one that really stepped up and said she wanted this fight right now, and it speaks a lot to her. When the other girls come around and want to come to the big show, they know where I’m at,” Rousey told UFC.com .
This history making, UFC 157 Event will take place in the Honda Center in Anaheim, California and will be broadcast live on Pay Per View.