It’s time to step into the Octagon for our latest review as we look back at Cat Zingano challenging Ronda Rousey for the Women’s Bantamweight title in the main event of UFC 184, shown live in the early hours of this past Sunday morning on BT Sport here in Britain.
The show began with action from the lightweight division as Tony Ferguson took on Gleison Tibau.
This was a great way to open the show. Both guys enjoyed some success with combinations early on, until a big right from Ferguson caught Tibau behind the ear and staggered the Brazilian. Tibau tried to counter with a takedown, only for Ferguson to counter that with a guillotine attempt. Tibau was still shaken when Ferguson quickly took his back and locked in a rear naked choke. Tibau tapped within seconds, giving Ferguson the highly impressive submission win.
It was up to welterweight for the next fight as Alan Jouban faced Richard Walsh.
These two began trading as soon as the fight began, and it wasn’t long before Walsh began to get the better of the exchanges, the Aussie enjoying a great deal of success with his body kicks. A brief clinch against the cage followed, and after they broke free Jouban connected with a kick to the liver that Walsh seemed to shake off very quickly.
A few seconds later and it was all over. A left elbow from Jouban rocked Walsh, and as his legs began to go Jouban went in for the kill, the referee stepping in before Walsh could hit the ground to give Jouban the knockout win.
The welterweight action continued with Jake Ellenberger taking on Josh Koscheck.
The first fight of the show to make it out of the first round proved to be an interesting back and forth affair. Koscheck began his night’s work with some nice jabs and a strong-looking takedown. Ellenberger didn’t give the former title challenger much time to work though, and it wasn’t long before they were back on their feet clinching against the fence.
A few moments later Ellenberger connected with a powerful right, and from that moment on Koscheck seemed very reluctant to engage, and it was during the second round that Koscheck began to favour his left eye, rubbing and wiping it on numerous occasions.
Towards the end of the round Koscheck went for another takedown, but this time Ellenberger countered with a choke while they were still standing. The action quickly went to the ground as Ellenberger turned it into a north/south choke, and although Koscheck fought it was much as he could the inevitable soon happened when Koscheck tapped out to give Ellenberger the submission win.
The co-main event featured women’s bantamweight action as Raquel Pennington went up against Holly Holm.
The only fight on the show that went the distance saw Holm putting in a solid performance on her UFC debut. She used her reach advantage to good effect to control the distance, and although there didn’t seem to be much power behind her combinations there were quite a few of them.
Pennington had a great deal of difficulty closing the distance at times, and her best work with her clinch work, which gave her the chance to get in a few decent blows. Her best chance came towards the end of the final round when a big right put Holm on the ground momentarily, but by then it was too little too late. Holm’s control was such that not even a minor comeback from Pennington could derail her progress.
As for the judges they couldn’t agree was Holm took the split decision.
The main event saw Cat Zingano challenging Ronda Rousey for the Women’s Bantamweight title.
The blink or you’ll miss it affair of the evening saw Zingano coming out of her corner like a freight train with a high knee. She then grabbed hold of the champion, but when the action went down to the ground Rousey immediately went for an straight arm lock, with Zingano tapping out after just fourteen seconds to give Rousey the title-retaining submission win.
In conclusion – well, they’ve gone and done it again, haven’t they?
UFC 184 proved to be a very enjoyable and action packed show. All five fights delivered to varying degrees, and while the performances of the likes of John Ferguson and Jake Ellenberger were top notch I’m once again left to marvel at the skills of Ronda Rousey. Cat Zingano is no pushover, but for Rousey to take her out in the way that she did was just mind-blowing, and like many others it leaves me to wonder just who is out there who could take down the Rowdy one.
As for my fight of the night those in the know didn’t give an official award to guide me, so I’m going to praise the main event once more by giving my prestigious no-prize to Ronda Rousey’s extraordinary performance.
So with all of that out of the way there’s just one more thing left to do, and that’s to give this show the big thumbs up.
By day I‘m an unemployed retail worker, and at weekends I volunteer in a local museum, but by night I’m the author of The Two Sheds Review, Britain’s longest running professional wrestling and mixed martial arts blog. It’s been online in one form or another since June 2000!
