UFC 157 went down tonight at the Honda center in Anaheim California where we were treated to a fairly decent main card. The night was capped off by a highly anticipated and very historical women's MMA debut for the UFC, with a main event battle between Olympian Bronze medalist in Judo and UFC Women's bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey and her challenger and ex-marine Liz Carmouche. The bout, as short as it was,  didn't disappoint.

Below is a quick recap of each main ard fight followed by the summary of results for all cards on tonights event.

Koscheck vs. Robbie Lawler

This fight started as most expected with the wrestler wanting nothing to do with Lawler's well established power and striking skills, sadly for Koscheck, Lawler defended well on the ground and was able to swing out from under Koscheck and throw a hard punch that landed flush onto Koscheck's head, the punch obviously rocked Koscheck and Lawler was able to punch Koscheck 6 more times, Koscheck was still, he didn't react to any of the punches and started to fall over onto his left side, that was enough for referee herb Dean, stopping the fight and sealing the TKO victory for Lawler in his UFC re-debut.

Court McGee vs. Josh Neer 

Court McGee came out storming in the first round, taking it to Neer for the whole round and rocking him late with a liver kick and punch, oddly though McGee decided to Punch to the face only while he had Neer on the ground and in obvious pain. Instead of finishing Neer with more liver shots, he let Neer survive the round. In the second, McGee started strong but faded quickly when Neer started taking control and landing first, stunning McGee and slowing him, Neer did enough to steal the round but also used up all his energy in the attempt. The 3rd was all McGee who used his take downs and relentless pressure to seal the unanimous decision victory over the very durable Josh Neer. 


Urijah Faber vs. Ivan Menjivar

In a rematch from a 2006 disqualification win over Ivan Menjivar, Urijah Faber and Ivan Menjivar look to erase the memory of that fight that was prematurely ended by an illegal kick. This fight on paper has all the making's of a fight of the night. While this fight lasted it was a good one, but it was also a very dominant performance by Urijah Faber tonight where he displayed a very strong top game with some really powerfull and quite nasty elbows that he rained down on top of Menjivar. As much as we thought the fight was about to be finished with Faber on top of Menjivar, Menjivar was able to get up, though it wasn't any help as Faber was able to get on Menjivar's back and was able to secure the tap to his rear naked choke while Menjivar was standing. A really powerful and strong performance by Faber tonight showing his game has greatly improved.

Dan Henderson vs. Lyoto Machida

When i first saw this matchup, i had a feeling that this fight was going to be exactly what we saw tonight, which was the usual elusive LyotoMachida doing his Karate thing, keeping Henderson standing, on the outside and confused with his unorthodox style which visibly frustrated Henderson. Machida was able to launch his attacks and avoid any shots that Henderson was throwing, even when Machida slipped and Henderson took him down, he was unable to do anything at all, eventually getting stood up by the referee.
Machida wins by split decision, although it should be unanimous. with the rather vanilla performance by the 2 fighter's it may prompt Dana White to recant his offer to give the winner the next title shot. 

Ronda Rousey vs. Liz Carmouche - Women's bantamweight title Fight

This fight went exactly how Ronda Rousey had likely expected it to go, well for the most part. Liz Carmouche was able to take Rousey's back while standing eventually securing a really nasty looking neck crank on Rousey, putting the champ in real danger for the first time of her short career. The challenger locked in the crank so tight that Rousey's face almost went purple. Somehow and incredibly,  Rousey was able to stay calm and shake Carmouche off her back and onto the Mat where she was able to get on top and start to go to work on Carmouche. Rousey angled her hips and worked her way into armbar position that Carmouche defended well, but it was still only a matter of time until Rousey worked the arm free to extend it finally able to lock in the armbar forcing Carmouche to tap. Rousey goes to 7-0 with a remarkable 7 1st round armbar victory's.

BONUSES:

Fight Of The Night: Dennis Bermudez vs. Matt Grice = $50,000 each

Submission Of The Night: Kenny Robertson = $50,000

Knock-Out Of The Night: Robbie Lawler = $50,000

MAIN CARD

• Ronda Rousey def. Liz Carmouche via submission (armbar) - R1, 4:49
  - Rousey retains women's bantamweight title
• Lyoto Machida def. Dan Henderson via split decision (28-29, 29-28, 29-28)
• Urijah Faber def. Ivan Menjivar via submission (rear-naked choke) - R1, 4:34
• Court McGee def. Josh Neer via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
• Robbie Lawler def. Josh Koscheck via TKO (punches) - R1, 3:57

PRELIMINARY CARD

• Brendan Schaub def. Lavar Johnson via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27
• Mike Chiesa def. Anton Kuivanen via submission (rear-naked choke) - Round 2, 2:29
• Dennis Bermudez def. Matt Grice via split decision (28-29, 29-28, 29-28)
• Sam Stout def. Caros Fodor via split decision (28-29, 29-28, 29-28)

FACEBOOK PRELIMINARY 

• Kenny Robertson def. Brock Jardine via submission (kneebar) - R1, 2:57
• Neil Magny def. Jon Manley via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28)
• Nah-Shon Burrell def. Yuri Villefort via unanimous decision (30-27, 29-28, 29-28)
  
   

Photo Credit: mmafighting.com

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