UFC 184: Rousey Subs Zingano and Sets Record, Holm Edges Pennington

On Saturday, Feb. 28, the UFC hosted UFC 184: Rousey vs. Zingano from the Staples Center in Los Angeles.

In the night’s main event, women’s bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey faced off with Cat Zingano.

The champion Rousey entered the fight undefeated through her first 10 career bouts. The former Olympic judoka had gone past the first round just once in her career. After capturing gold under the Strikeforce banner in 2012, Rousey took the UFC by storm. The 27-year-old had won all four of her bouts with the promotion, including back-to-back stoppages via strikes.

Zingano, meanwhile, returned to action for the first time in over a year at UFC 178. The Colorado fighter scored a third-round TKO win over Brazilian Amanda Nunes to secure her shot at Rousey’s belt. Zingano had previously earned a title shot with a third-round stoppage of Miesha Tate at the TUF 17 Finale, but a knee injury forced her out of the bout. Like the champion, Zingano had never tasted defeated in her nine-fight career. The 32-year-old has seen the scorecards just once in her career.

The co-main event of the evening featured the UFC debut of multiple-time boxing champion Holly Holm. Holm took on TUF 18 alum Raquel Pennington.

The 11-fight event kicked off Saturday at 7 p.m. ET with two fights streaming on UFC Fight Pass. Four additional preliminary card bouts followed at 8 p.m. ET on Fox Sports 1, with the five-fight main card airing live on pay-per-view at 10 p.m. ET.

It was over as quick as it started. Women’s bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey made quick work of Cat Zingano, finishing her challenger in just 14 seconds to set a UFC record for quickest stoppage in a title fight. Zingano came out of the gates and attacked Rousey with an attempted flying knee. The pair went to the ground and scrambled immediately. Rousey tied up Zingano’s arm and transitioned to a straight armlock. Zingano quickly tapped out. Rousey claimed the submission win and then mentioned Holly Holm, who had picked up a win in the co-headliner, and rival Bethe Correia as two challengers she’d like to meet in the future.

Holly Holm made her long-awaited UFC debut and exited the Octagon with a victory. Holm faced the toughest test of her MMA career in the form of fellow bantamweight Raquel Pennington. Holm came out with her typical display of high-volume striking and side-to-side movement. The decorated boxer kept Pennington at range and landed with punches and kicks. Holm also stuffed Pennington’s takedown attempts with ease throughout the fight. Pennington started finding her mark in the third stanza, even dropping Holm briefly with a punch. While Pennington finished strong, it was only enough to earn her a single 29-28 score in her favor. The other two judges awarded the verdict to Holm, who remains perfect in her MMA career.

Welterweight Jake Ellenberger got back in the win column with a submission finish of Josh Koscheck. The first round was rather uneventful, with Ellenberger getting the edge in the stand-up and Koscheck scoring one takedown. Koscheck appeared tentative in the latter portion of the round and carried that hesitation into the second round. Koscheck then started chasing a takedown, but Ellenberger answered by clamping on a choke. Koscheck frantically struggled to escape, but Ellenberger tightened the hold and coaxed the tapout from his opponent to pick up the second-round submission finish.

Alan Jouban brought an early end to the night of Richard Walsh in their welterweight clash. Jouban landed an elbow midway through the first round that dropped Walsh. Walsh quickly bounced back to his feet as Jouban followed with additional strikes, but Walsh was out on his feet. Referee “Big” John McCarthy quickly jumped in to save the dazed Walsh. Jouban was awarded with the first-round knockout victory.

Lightweight Tony Ferguson turned in an impressive performance to open the pay-per-view card. Ferguson rocked Gleison Tibau with a right hand in the opening stanza and continued to put on the pressure. He chased Tibau, took the veteran down, transitioned to the back and sunk in a rear-naked choke. The choke was tight and Tibau was forced to tap, giving Ferguson the first-round submission win.

Middleweight Roan Carneiro made a triumphant return to the Octagon after more than six years since his last UFC appearance in 2008. Carneiro quickly ended up on top of Mark Munoz when the fit went to the ground. The Brazilian transitioned to Munoz’s back and sunk in a rear-naked choke that left Munoz unconscious less than two minutes into the first frame.

The bantamweight affair between Norifumi “Kid” Yamamoto and Roman Salazar ended prematurely when Salazar was unable to continue after taking a poke to the eye. The fight was ruled a no-contest by referee “Big” John McCarthy.

Welterweight Tim Means wasted little time in taking the fight to his opponent, Dhiego Lima. Means rocked Lima early with a knee and continued to tag his staggered opponent repeatedly. He eventually landed a combination that crumpled Lima to the mat and forced the referee to step in and call a halt to the action, giving Means the first-round TKO victory.

Derrick Lewis fended off the first-round submission attempts of Ruan Potts and answered with a heavy barrage of ground-and-pound in round two to claim a TKO victory in the pair’s heavyweight clash.

Lightweight Valmir Lazaro did just enough to eke out a split decision in a closely contested fight with James Krause.

Featherweights Masio Fullen and Alexander Torres kicked off the night with a fireworks display. Torres rocked Fullen on multiple occasions in a back-and-forth first round, but faded in the second and third frames. The strong first round wasn’t enough for Torres, who dropped the split verdict to Fullen.