Ronda Rousey's UFC Debut Set For UFC 157 Mainevent

[No More Sorrow]

A day after a bit of a tease about Ronda Rousey's first UFC fight, things finally are official.

But Rousey won't be fighting Cristiane "Cyborg" Santos, as Wednesday's rumor had her meeting. Instead, Rousey (6-0 MMA, 0-0 UFC) will be meeting Liz Carmouche (7-2 MMA, 0-0 UFC) as the first defense of her new UFC women's bantamweight title at UFC 157 in February.

UFC President Dana White made the announcement following Thursday's pre-event news conference for UFC on FOX 5 in Seattle, and he presented Rousey with her new UFC belt.

UFC 157 takes place Feb. 23 at Honda Center in Anaheim, Calif. Rousey vs. Carmouche will be the main event of the card, which will air on pay-per-view, FX and Facebook.

News broke this past month that Rousey would migrate over from Strikeforce, where she was the women's bantamweight champ, to become the first female fighter in UFC history. But just who her first opponent would be and when that fight would take place were up in the air, despite White telling multiple news outlets that it was official that Rousey was in the UFC.

Her Strikeforce contract and Zuffa's deal with Strikeforce broadcast partner Showtime appeared to be potential stumbling blocks for expediting the process. But with White's presentation of Rousey in Seattle, those hurdles appear to have been cleared – at least well enough to announce a fight for her.

On Wednesday, the UFC's Brazilian website mistakenly announced a Rousey UFC debut at the same event, UFC 157, but had her main eventing against Santos – which the UFC explained as a technical glitch and later removed.

Now, a day later, it will indeed be Rousey headlining that card in her backyard – she hails from Southern California – but against Carmouche.

"It's going to happen eventually," Rousey said at the news conference of a potential fight against Santos. "I can't make these girls fight who don't want to fight me. (Carmouche) was the only one who stepped up, and it speaks a lot to her. When the other girls come around, they know where I'm at."

Rousey said receiving her UFC championship belt and having the fight announced on the heels of a press conference for Saturday's card, which features Benson Henderson's lightweight title defense against Nate Diaz, came as a surprise to her.

"I didn't even know about this till this morning," she said. "I don't even know what to make of it. It means a lot, and we have a lot to prove. I think the women are here to stay, and I think we're going to prove it."

White, of course, long said he didn't foresee a day when women would fight in the UFC, owning that belief to a perceived lack of depth in the women's divisions. But with Rousey's emergence over the last year as a bona fide star not just of women's MMA, but of all MMA, he came around.

She enters the fight, of course, unbeaten with a record consisting solely of first-round armbar submission wins. She won the Strikeforce title in March by stopping Miesha Tate, who went longer with her than all her other pro opponents combined. In August, she defended the title with an armbar of Sarah Kaufman.

Carmouche took a 5-0 record into a Strikeforce women's bantamweight title fight against Marloes Coenen in March 2011, but was stopped with a triangle choke in the fourth round. Carmouche took that fight on short notice, filling in for an injured Tate. Her next outing, she lost a decision to Kaufman.

But since then, she has back-to-back wins under the Invicta banner, and both by stoppage.

For more on UFC 157, stay tuned to the UFC Rumors section of the site.

She was introduced as the First Ever UFC Bantamweight champion today at the UFC on FOX 5 Presser.

 

[Embrace Thou Maryse]

As good as Carmouche is I see another first round armbar going down. Ronda is just too good at getting people down and getting the armbar, she's trained her entire life and competed at a truly elite, world class level with those two things.

 

[Dale]

Would be hilarious if Dana's new pet project lost in her first fight.

 

[The Cork]

It's already been said, this is just a forgone conclusion.

Rousey armbar R1, moves on to the Cyborg fight.

 

[Deezy]

Carmouche isn't a decent challenge for ousey, her record was shit in Invictor or whatever that womens fed was called.

The womens division will be a strict circus type of card that will be used sparingly because there isn't the kind of talent pool you could actually promote.

 

[Ryan]

The womens division will be a strict circus type of card that will be used sparingly because there isn't the kind of talent pool you could actually promote.

Which is a shame because a lot of the female fighters can fight just as good, if not better than some of the men. I want to see Gina Carano fighting... this is more about her looks than her actual skill though.

 

[Embrace Thou Maryse]

MMA is lucky people didn't look at it this way when it was just starting out. In the early days is was just like WMMA is now. Alot of one dimensional or not very talented fighters fighting occasionally, luckily somebody gave it a chance. Dana Whites boner for Rousey isn't though.

MMA is lucky people didn't look at it this way when it was just starting out. In the early days is was just like WMMA is now. Alot of one dimensional or not very talented fighters fighting occasionally, luckily somebody gave it a chance. Dana Whites boner for Rousey isn't though.

 

[Deezy]

Original MMA was just one giant commercial for BJJ. It was only adapted into a legit sport after they saw the PPV numbers, which were pretty damn good for a one off show in 93. I remember it being huge in my circle.

Womens MMA is like any sport that involves women, nobody is going to watch it unless there is sex appeal that goes with it, sucks for the women, but thems the breaks.

 

[Dale]

Given how's he putting all his eggs into one basket and he's only brought in this division because of his hardon for her, is it wrong that I want to see her lose.

 

[Deezy]

Would totally kill any momentum they had, much like Strikeforce did it for Carano before she was decimated by Cyborg, who you can't really market the way Strikeforce was doing it with Carano or UFC is doing for Rousey. Which in turn still doesn't bring any new fans to watch this stuff.