Ronda Rousey on 14-second fight: That's the most brilliant 'ninja s---'
In this week's Sports Illustrated cover story, Ronda Rousey describes her 14-second defeat of Cat Zingano in February as "the most brilliant f------ ninja s--- I ever saw."
The UFC women's bantamweight championship between Rousey and Zingano on Feb. 28 at the Staples Center in Los Angeles was the main event of UFC 184, and Rousey defeated Zingano with her patented armbar in less than a half-minute. As L. Jon Wertheim writes in the story, Rousey's armbar "is a relic from her days as a judo star" and "her go-to move—Duncan off the glass, Rivera's cutter—that entails using leverage to isolate an opponent's arm and then essentially manipulating the elbow."
The 14-second match was the shortest in UFC championship history, and it gave Zingano her first defeat while maintaining Rousey's undefeated record.
• Rousey recounts one-armed judo victory in new book
"Rousey felt a new sensation that night," Wertheim writes, "something resembling guilt, as she considered her previously undefeated opponent, Cat Zingano, who had trained so hard only to be humiliated with such brevity. Then she watched a replay. 'I'm dropping all modesty here,' says Rousey. 'That's the most brilliant f------ ninja s--- I ever saw. Every single millisecond of that fight was something that has never been done before in MMA."
[youtube:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nw7Jt2bZCBU]
Wertheim's full cover story will be published on SI.com on Wednesday. The issue, with Rousey on the cover, hit newsstands this week.
- Mike Fiammetta
