The lights flashed, and the Honda Center shook with the bass from “Satisfation” by Benny Benassi as Liz Carmouche, UFC's first openly gay fighter, approached the cage. Her opponent, Ronda Rousey, favored both in stats and in-house fan popularity, followed shortly thereafter to Joan Jett and the Blackhearts' "Bad Reputation." The women were prepped to square off in UFC's first female fight ever, as the Anaheim event's headliners.
Carmouche is on the bottom, Rousey on top.
In the first round, Carmouche reversed Rousey, getting onto her back and maneuvering a tight neck crank that looked to spell Rousey’s end. “That was the most vulnerable a position I’ve been in so far in my career,” said the undefeated Rousey after the fight.
Still, Rousey managed to break her way out of Carmouche’s hold. “That was pretty tight, that neck crank, and I was very happy to get out of it,” Rousey said. She had the choke across my mouth and the angle pushed my mouth-guard out of my mouth. Her forearm was pushing against my teeth and that can’t have been any more fun for her than it was for me… crazy sport we’re in, huh?”
Eventually, it was Rousey’s armbar that did Carmouche in. The former marine tapped out of the fight with only a few seconds remaining in the first round.
“It was an honor to fight here tonight,” Carmouche said afterward. “I thought I had her for a minute there, but she’s the champion for a reason. I had that neck crank very tight, but I had the choke across her mouth and couldn’t get it to her neck. I actually have her teeth marks all over my arm. Sorry, Ronda, I didn’t mean to do that!”
With her first UFC fight under her belt, Liz Carmouche says she is poised for MMA greatness. “This isn’t the highlight of my career,” Carmouche said. “So far, maybe, but the highlight is going to be when I win some fights in the UFC and come back for the title.”
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