MMA Betting: Ronda Rousey and Liz Carmouche Clash in UFC 157 Main Event

Date, Time: Sat, Feb 23 - Honda Center, Anaheim, California, United States

For the first time in the UFC history, an official pay-per-view event will be headlined by two female fighters: Ronda Rousey and Liz Carmouche.

If you think this is irrelevant, then you probably have no idea what it means for the MMA world.  It is big enough to make UFC President Dana White reconsider his position regarding women competing in the Ultimate Fighting Championship.  But it doesn’t end there. It also brings a huge chance to make the women’s mixed martial arts movement official in the biggest and most popular Mixed Martial Arts organization in the world. 

Rousey, a 25-year-old gold medalist and the first American woman to earn an Olympic medal in Judo at the Summer Olympics, made her professional mixed martial arts debut on March 27, 2011 at King of the Cage: Turning Point, where she took out Ediane Gomes with an armbar in 25 seconds. A few months later, Rousey signed a contract with Strikeforce, where she achieved two more victories against Sarah D'Alelio & Julia Budd (armbar submission).

Rousey then moved down to 135 pounds and faced Strikeforce Women's Bantamweight Champion Miesha Tate on March 3, 2012, defeating Tate by submission due to an armbar in the first round and becoming Strikeforce’s new Women Bantamweight Champion.

As part of Strikeforce-UFC merger, UFC President Dana White officially announced in November, 2012 that Rousey had become the first female fighter to sign with the Ultimate Fighting Championship and confirmed that she will make her first title defense against Liz Carmouche.

Currently ranked as the #6-ranked 135-pound female MMA fighter in the world, Carmouche began her professional career in 2010, winning her first three fights via knockout or submission. On August 13, 2010, she made her debut for the Strikeforce promotion with a unanimous decision victory against Colleen Schneider.

Carmouche scored another TKO victory over Jan Finney  and faced Women's Bantamweight (135 lbs) champion Marloes Coenen on March 5, 2011 at Strikeforce: Feijao vs. Henderson, losing the fight due a triangle choke in the fourth round.   The second loss in her career came against Sarah Kaufman at Strikeforce Challengers: Voelker vs. Bowling III, losing the fight by unanimous decision.   Carmouche bounced back with two wins over Ashleigh Curry (TKO in the first round) and Kaitlin Young (submission due to a rear-naked choke in the second round).

Outside of Rousey and Carmouche, UFC 157 main card features four electrifying bouts. Here’s the complete fight card and odds for each bout.      
  

UFC 157 Main Card and Odds:

Women's Bantamweight: Ronda Rousey (-1200) vs. Liz Carmouche (+800)
Light Heavyweight:  Lyoto Machida (-220) vs. Dan Henderson (+180)
Bantamweight:  Urijah Faber (-400) vs. Ivan Menjivar  (+300)
Welterweight: Koscheck (-450) vs. Robbie Lawler (+350)

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