Ronda Rousey came to Las Vegas with a lot of hype and didn't disappoint as she quickly slapped on her signature move, the armbar on Sarah D'Alelio. The fight was stopped quickly, but Rousey didn't get to celebrate much.
The 25-second victory was marred by controversy because referee Steve Mazzagatti seemed to panic and stop the fight without seeing or hearing an actual tap from D'Alelio.
"When I originally went for the submission I felt the elbow go out, I really cranked on it and I turned to the referee and said, 'she said tap.' I don't think she could use her other arm. I was just trying to be respectful to her," Rousey told Showtime announcer Mauro Ranallo.
D'Alelio told her corner that she didn't tap. She repeated the same thing to Ranallo. She admitted she simply groaned in pain, but never tapped or verbally gave up.
Rousey may have talked the ref into the stoppage, but only because of what she heard from officials before the fight.
"When I first went for the submission, I cranked on it. I heard it pop. I let go," Rousey said. "She said something. In the locker room, they said anything verbal they'll count it as a verbal forfeit."
Even with the odd finish, Rousey moves to 3-0 and was impressive. She's making the transition to MMA from the world of Judo where she was a two-time Olympian. With the use her grappling, throws and a nasty transition into that armbar, Rousey, 24, stormed through five previous opponents in less than three minutes.
The other Roy Jones loses bloody battle to Derrick Mehmen
The first fight of the televised card also left the audience walking away thinking 'what if?' Roy Jones, a 6-foot-4 light heavyweight, destroyed Derrick Mehmen for the first three minutes of the fight, but possessed no takedown defense. Even as Mehmen's eye closed and he spurted blood from a huge gash over that eye for 10-plus minutes, Jones couldn't get off his back and lost via unanimous decision.
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