Second-ever women’s fight in promotion’s history ends in a stoppage.
Cat Zingano is set to put her name on the mixed martial arts map.
After keeping her unblemished record intact, stopping former Strikeforce champion Miesha Tate in the third round, Zingano will now face current UFC bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey.
Both women were making their UFC debut despite being in 25 MMA fights between them, with Zingano landing several hard knee strikes in the third round before ended the bout with punches.
After the fight Tate said she did not think the fight deserved to be stopped when it was.
“I’m not happy, I still felt like I was in the fight, not for one second I felt like it should have been stopped, I’m a fighter,” Tate said.
“I think I came out really well in the first two rounds, I felt excellent, she’s pretty heavy from the top position but she (Zigano) said for me to show her something.
“I sat us I shot a double (leg takedown), I got back to my feet and I took some damage because of that because I was trying to listen to the referee.”
Zingano believed there was nothing controversial about the end of the fight and she she deserved to have her hand raised.
“I think I won her face shows it, and that i came back and I finished it and I don’t have any excuses for how I did tonight,” she said.
Check out the highlights of the fight below:
The win for Zingano gets her a spot as a coach on the next series of The Ultimate Fighter, which will create history as it will have men and women living and training alongside each other for the first time.
Given the possibility of chances of fraternisation of a different kind, Rousey has already put her stamp on the show, saying fighters who fool around with the male contestants will have their papers marked for the rest of their career.
“If they’re the chick that was screwing around the house, for the rest of their career they’re going to be known as the chick that was screwing around the house. Sponsors are going to be looking at that. Everybody’s going to be looking at that,” Rousey said.
“I think the series, itself, has kind of gone away from the attention-grabby reality TV-esque kind of genre and more into just a documentary series on the toughest, most competitive tournament in martial arts.
“I think that it’s going to be very similar in this season, at least on my team. I’m going to have to remind these girls that this is the first impression you’re setting for women MMA fighters because this is a lot of exposure that they’re going to be getting.”
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