Las Vegas Sun

Currently: 70° | Complete forecast |

UFC 170: Rousey, Cormier destroy outmatched opponents with quick TKOs

Daniel Cormer sends Patrick Cummins back to the coffee shop

UFC 170

Sam Morris / Las Vegas Sun

Champion Ronda Rousey celebrates after her first round TKO of Sara McMann at UFC 170 Saturday, Feb. 22, 2014 at the Mandalay Bay Events Center.

Updated Saturday, Feb. 22, 2014 | 9:25 p.m.

UFC 170: Rousey vs. McMann

Martial arts legend, coach and friend Gene LaBell raises Ronda Rousey's arm after her first round TKO of Sara McMann in their fight at UFC 170 Saturday, Feb. 22, 2014 at the Mandalay Bay Events Center. Launch slideshow »

UFC 170: Cormier vs. Cummins

Daniel Cormier has his mouth piece checked before his fight against Patrick Cummins at UFC 170 Saturday, Feb. 22, 2014 at the Mandalay Bay Events Center. Cormier won by TKO in the first round. Launch slideshow »

UFC 170

Mike Pyle hits T.J. Waldburger with a left during their fight at UFC 170 Saturday, Feb. 22, 2014 at the Mandalay Bay Events Center. Launch slideshow »

Note: Find full results from the undercard at the bottom of the page.

Ronda Rousey’s record will no longer exclusively list, “submission: armbar,” as her method of victory.

The women’s bantamweight champion added some variety in her ninth professional fight Saturday night in the main event of UFC 170. Rousey finished Sara McMann by TKO with a knee to the body 1:06 into the first round to stay undefeated and retain her title.

“It’s something I’ve been working on this whole camp,” Rousey said afterwards in the octagon. “I just thought if I zoned into one spot, it would work.”

For the second straight bout, Rousey’s post-fight interview was nearly inaudible because with the vast majority of the arena booing. Unlike her victory over Miesha Tate where Rousey drew scorn for refusing a handshake, the McMann outcry was because of the stoppage.

The Mandalay Bay Events Center crowd felt referee Herb Dean should have allowed McMann more time to recover. He rushed in to wave off of the fight immediately after Rousey dropped McMann to the canvas.

“I was trying to get back up, but it’s my own fault,” McMann said. “If you see a fighter drop, you’ve got to protect us.”

The co-main event went just as quickly, but without the controversy. Daniel Cormier dispatched Patrick Cummins, who lost his job at a coffee shop to take the fight on 10 days notice, with a right hand and ground-and-pound in one minute, 19 seconds.

Motivated by Cummins’ claims that he used to force him to cry at the Olympic Training Center, Cormier came out on a mission in his light heavyweight debut.

“He couldn’t have lasted with me,” Cormier dismissed Cummins. “I’m mad that even hit me twice.”

Rory MacDonald hit Demian Maia a couple hundred times in the fight before, winning a unanimous-decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28) after overcomig a first-round where he was taken down and controlled.

That was the only decision on the main card. Stephen Thompson made it a trifecta of first-round finishes with a TKO of Robert Whittaker 3:43 into their welterweight fight.

Local welterweight Mike Pyle pulled off a TKO with all of 53 seconds to spare, as he elbowed T.J. Waldburger into unconsciousness in another welterweight bout.

The action-packed pay-per-view card built anticipation all the way up to the main card, which ultimately disappointed. But McMann never joined in the protest.

“I thought it was a good fight,” she said. “I got hit in the liver, and no matter how hard you train, it hurts to get hit in the liver.”

Check below for a round-by-round live blog of the main card and preliminary results at the bottom of the page. Come back to lasvegassun.com later for full coverage.

 

Pre-main card

Ronda Rousey likes to self-impose obstacles.

The UFC women’s bantamweight champion said her desire to push herself was the reason she took two movie parts during training camp for her last fight against Miesha Tate. It also played into why she accepted tonight’s UFC 170 main event against Sara McMann at the Mandalay Bay Events Center immediately after defeating Tate on New Year’s weekend.

Rousey’s quick turnaround will tie the record for most title fights in the shortest amount time, as she’s the first champion since Matt Hughes eight years ago to fight for a belt twice in less than two months.

The other UFC champions at the time were Tim Sylvia, Chuck Liddell and Rich Franklin. So, yeah, it’s been a while.

To boot, Rousey has her hands full with McMann. Most believe McMann represents her toughest competition. It’s a test of well-publicized Olympic proportions, as McMann took home silver in wrestling in the 2004 Olympics for the United States four years before Rousey captured bronze in judo.

Daniel Cormier put a challenge of his own in front of himself before UFC 170. The undefeated heavyweight, who’s also a former Olympian, decided to drop to light heavyweight in order to make a run at Jon Jones’ title.

He weighed in at the limit of 205 pounds yesterday, the lightest Cormier says he’s been in 13 years. His late-notice opponent, Patrick Cummins, had no problem making weight either despite accepting the fight on a week’s notice.

Cummins is one of the biggest underdogs in the history of the UFC, at as high as 10-to-1, but those who train with him swear he can’t be counted out.

The two headlining bouts have hogged the spotlight, but three competitive matchups come before them. Welterweights Stephen Thompson and Robert Whittaker start the main card with a pick ’em bout that could feature the former’s striking against the latter’s strength.

The next two fights stay in the same division. Local Mike Pyle faces T.J. Waldburger in what could turn into a back-and-forth grappling affair before former top-ranked 170-pounders Rory MacDonald and Demian Maia take the octagon.

Stay tuned to lasvegassun.com for round-by-round coverage of the main card and look below for results from the preliminaries.

For the second time in two UFC bouts, Jessica Eye engaged in a razor-thin fight that went the distance and ended in controversy. While many thought Eye lost in her debut to Sarah Kaufman despite getting the nod, UFC 170 provided the opposite scenario. The crowd booed when Alexis Davis was announced a split-decision winner (29-28, 29-28, 28-29) over Eye.

Raphael Assuncao may have proved himself as the next challenger for bantamweight champion Renan Barao in the second-to-last fight on the undercard. Assuncao defeated Pedro Munhoz by unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27), winning his sixth straight to bolster his resume.

Aljamain Sterling and Cody Gibson woke the crowd up with the first fight of the night that was equal parts competitive and entertaining. Sterling took Gibson's back and nearly choked him out in the final minute to likely seal his unanimous-decision victory (29-28, 29-28, 29-28).

Josh Sampo had his moments striking, but Zach Makovsky out-wrestled him for the majority of their flyweight fight. The judges awarded Makovsky for his repeated take downs and top control, giving him a unanimous-decision victory (30-27, 30-27, 29-28) over Sampo.

Erik Koch had a dazzling debut at lightweight. Koch defeated Rafaello Oliveira by TKO at 1:24 in the first round, using a straight left and ensuing ground-and-pound to get the finish.

Ernest Chavez pulled out a split-decision victory (30-27, 29-28, 28-29) over Yosdenis Cedeno in a lightweight bout.

Case Keefer can be reached at 948-2790 or [email protected]. Follow Case on Twitter at twitter.com/casekeefer.

Join the Discussion:

Check this out for a full explanation of our conversion to the LiveFyre commenting system and instructions on how to sign up for an account.

Full comments policy