How the armbar instantly made Ronda Rousey a star

Ronda Rousey was certainly one of a form as a one-trick pony. That’s a time period usually used to decrease somebody for his or her limitations, however Rousey discovered limitless success in her one trick. There was an aura of invincibility to her race to the entrance of the MMA pack. She did not break stride on the technique to saddling up the shiniest star energy the sport had ever seen. Rousey carried out a magic act with simply that one trick.

The armbar.

Rousey introduced the ending transfer together with her from judo, the sport by which she received Olympic bronze in 2008. The approach, which includes isolating an opponent’s arm and utilizing leverage to hyperextend the elbow joint and power a submission, was her go-to maneuver from the second she transitioned to MMA. After successful three novice fights, all by armbar in beneath a minute, Rousey turned skilled in 2011 and continued accumulating arms very quickly. She received her first eight professional fights by armbar, all however a kind of finishes coming in the opening spherical. Five occasions she twisted her opponent into submission in lower than a minute.

The Rousey armbar grew to become MMA’s model of the Mike Tyson knockout punch. For opponents, the end was inevitable, however not less than over shortly. For followers, the inevitable end left them wanting extra.

Rousey grew to become the greatest crossover star the UFC had seen, not less than till Conor McGregor pranced onto the stage in 2013. It wasn’t solely about the armbar. Rousey’s steely-eyed, double-time strut to the cage set to Joan Jett’s “Bad Reputation” was iconic. But the Rousey mystique would not have heated up if she weren’t cooking opponents as quick as a microwave. No one completed fights like she did. One trick did the trick.

You’ve in all probability seen that this story has to date referred to Rousey’s preventing profession in the previous tense. That’s as a result of she has not competed in a decade. But that can change on May 16, when Rousey, 39, faces Gina Carano44, in a assembly of retired legends of ladies’s MMA.

Carano, who final fought practically 17 years in the past, was a pioneer of the sport and somebody Rousey has credited with inspiring her MMA profession. Carano’s reputation served as a jumping-off level for Rousey, however that’s the place the comparability ends. Their preventing types couldn’t have been extra totally different. Carano got here from Muay Thai kickboxing, and three of her seven MMA wins had been by knockout. It stays to be seen if her fingers might be as quick as they had been again in the day, however her greatest likelihood to win can be if Rousey engages her in a standup struggle.

That will not be out of the query, as Rousey grew to become in love with boxing late in her UFC run and bought away from her bread-and-butter grappling. It was a lot to her demise. In her remaining two appearances inside the Octagon, Rousey was brutally crushed to the punch in knockout losses to Holly Holm and Amanda Nunes.

Against Carano, it might be sensible for Rousey to tug the armbar out of her room-for-just-one bag of tips. It has been a whereas, however some stuff you always remember. It’s like using a bicycle — if the level of the trip is to make the handlebar faucet out. Carano by no means needed to cope with an armbar in any of her fights, however wouldn’t it matter if she had?

Knowing what’s coming has by no means been a lot assist for Rousey’s opponents. take Sarah Kaufmanfor instance. They fought in August 2012 in the remaining Strikeforce girls’s bout earlier than Rousey moved on to be a part of the first girls’s UFC struggle. Kaufman was Rousey’s sixth skilled opponent. All 5 earlier than she had misplaced by armbar. Kaufman’s technique was apparent.

“I think if there was any pressure on me at that time, it was not going to let her armbar me because she had done it to all these people,” Kaufman told ESPN in 2015. “‘That’s ridiculous and I’m too good for that. You know what she’s doing, so don’t let her do it.’ That kind of thing. And that way of thinking almost lets it happen. I had a game plan of how to win, but that [armbar] was in my head so much. I just wanted to counter what she was doing.”

Kaufman did not have time to counter. She bought armbarred in 54 seconds.

As the sub-one-minute finishes piled up, there was a sturdy case to be made that the Rousey armbar was the best ending transfer in MMA historical past. It actually was the most constant and environment friendly. Consider these superlatives compiled by ESPN Research.

Four fights, 4 armbars, complete struggle time 138 seconds

Rousey’s first 4 skilled fights ended by armbar in 25, 49, 25 and 39 seconds. That’s a complete struggle time of two minutes, 18 seconds. After making fast work of Julia Budd for her fourth win, Rousey informed an interviewer, “We did the math and figured out how much I got paid per second, and it was pretty cool.”

Only fighter to win their first two UFC fights by armbar

That Rousey did this could come as no shock. By the time she signed with the UFC, the armbar was already her signature. She had received six professional and three novice fights, all by armbar. How else may followers have envisioned a Rousey struggle enjoying out?

“She’s very technical,” Ediane GomesRousey’s first skilled opponent, told Bleacher Report in 2015reflecting on her 25-second loss 4 years earlier. “She is several steps ahead. She’s like a razor, so fast. You don’t even notice what she is doing until it has happened.”

Fastest armbar end in the UFC’s fashionable period

Rousey’s 14-second end of Cat Zingano in February 2015 is the quickest by armbar in an period that started at the starting of the century with the implementation of the Unified Rules of MMA. It’s tied for quickest armbar in the UFC’s complete historical past — Joe Charles submitted Kevin Rosier in 14 seconds at UFC 4 in 1994.

The instantaneous end at UFC 184 was the byproduct of Zingano’s aggressive technique. She got here charging out of her nook and tried to take Rousey to the canvas.

“I decided to go out and try something that hadn’t been done before,” Zingano informed ESPN months after the struggle. “If anyone knew how to beat Ronda, they would have done it by now. People have tried different approaches. My approach was, ‘OK, no one has ever gone at her, guns blazing, before.’ Obviously, it didn’t work out.”

Rousey defended the takedown attempt by scrambling into prime place and instantly securing the submission.

“That approach can be checked off the list, I guess,” Zingano stated.

Only lady to win a UFC struggle with out making an attempt a vital strike

Did I point out that in the 14-second armbar end, Rousey did not throw a single punch? One trick was sufficient.

Three UFC wins by armbar, tied for the most by a lady

The armbar finishes of Liz Carmouche, Miesha Tate and Zingano put Rousey in a tie with present girls’s bantamweight champion Mackenzie Dern and onetime title challenger Mayra Bueno Silva.

Carmouche, the different half of the first girls’s struggle in UFC historical past, took solace in not less than placing Rousey in hassle earlier than succumbing to the inevitable. In the opening minute of their struggle, she gained standing again place and tried a rear-naked choke on Rousey.

“I’m one of her only opponents that she didn’t take down,” Carmouche, who remains to be an energetic fighter at 42 years outdated, informed ESPN in 2015. “When it came to me going down, it was her shaking me off from her back. So, that’s something I did correctly.”

On the technique to a defeat in 4:49.

Only lady with 5 or extra UFC wins by stoppage

Rousey received her first six fights in the Octagon, three by armbar submission and three by knockout.

Only lady in UFC historical past with three finishes in beneath a minute

After getting into the UFC off a dominant run in Strikeforce and different promotions — six first-round armbar wins, all however one in the first minute — Rousey wanted practically the complete first spherical to beat Carmouche, then was taken to Round 3 by Tate. After that, the quick finishes summarized. Rousey scored her first non-armbar win, beating Sara McMann by TKO in simply over a minute. Then she posted the document three sub-minute finishes: Alexis Davis (KO in 16 seconds), Zingano (armbar in 14 seconds) and Bethe Correia (TKO in 34 seconds).

No one in UFC historical past, man or lady, has had extra finishes in beneath 35 seconds.

“What impresses me is how fast she finishes people,” McMann informed ESPN in 2015. “She’s going for every chance and she’s setting a pace that is really hard for people to maintain. She knows she doesn’t have to set it for 25 minutes, because she’s finishing people.”