Larry Brown Sports

Miesha Tate lost to Cat Zingano by third-round TKO at The Ultimate Fighter Finale 17 on Saturday and complained afterwards that the fight was stopped too early and that she was struck by an illegal knee.

Tate was in control most of the first two rounds of the fight. She repeatedly sought submissions in the second round — either by heel hook or armbar — but was unable to land either one. In the third round, Zingano came out and immediately got a takedown, and then dominated from top position. She nailed Tate with blow after blow to the face and body.

Halfway through the round, after receiving several blows to her face and nose, Tate fought to stand up. Just as she was standing up, Zingano nailed her with a knee that dropped her back to the ground. Tate fought to get back up again, but Zingano crushed her with three straight knees and an elbow to the head that forced the referee to stop the fight.

Tate may have felt the stoppage was too early, but I don’t. She was hardly able to defend herself and she was getting pummeled. I thought it was a good stoppage.

As for the potentially illegal knee, that’s a more legitimate point.

Under the “Fouls” section of the UFC’s rules, it states that you are not allowed to knee the head of a grounded opponent.

One could argue that Tate’s finger tips were touching the canvas at the time she was kneed, which would make the knee illegal. If it was illegal, it was by the slightest margin. I thought the rulings were fine.

To me, the biggest issue for Tate is her strength. She wasn’t strong enough to submit Zingano, and she struggled to get out from under Zingano in the third round.

Tate and Zingano earned Fight of the Night bonuses while Zingano will be a coach opposite Ronda Rousey on the next season of The Ultimate Fighter. Zingano will face Rousey in a UFC title match.

Charles Barkley made an appearance on “Conan” on Thursday night and covered a wide range of topics. Conan O’Brien had Sir Charles talking about everything from his personal hygiene to the prospect of him working as a general manager in the NBA in the near future. Conan also brought up how Barkley has been critical of Michael Jordan’s looks in the past, and Charles was happy to elaborate.

“People tell me he’s good looking,” Barkley said. “First of all, he’s not good looking. He’s not. Every man who’s got $500 million is good looking. But seriously, if he was a plumber people wouldn’t be saying he’s good looking.”

And then there was the manscaping talk. Apparently Barkley is big into keeping himself groomed, which Conan couldn’t resist poking fun at him for.

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Ronda Rousey gave one of her most dedicated fans quite the treat when she spent some time over the weekend specially drawing a customized tattoo that included her autographed initials on the fan’s ankle.

Carey Fusco, who is a huge Rousey fan and calls the fighter one of her inspirations, tells Larry Brown Sports she ran into the UFC champ at the Tuff-N-Uff event in Mesquite, Ariz., over the weekend and told her she was interested in getting the fighter’s autographed initials tattooed on her ankle.

“[Rousey] was like ‘Really? That’s cool!’ and then said ‘let’s do it,’ ” Fusco recalled to Larry Brown Sports in an email.

Fusco then rolled up her pants, pushed down her socks, and let Rousey draw her initials on her ankle. Fusco says Rousey was very sweet and careful while taking her time on the design to make it perfect.

Fusco has been a Rousey fan for a few years and knew the fighter was destined for stardom long before she exploded in popularity. Fusco tells LBS she first saw Rousey fight at a Tuff-N-Uff event in 2010 and that Rousey stood out to her immediately. Fusco took a picture with Rousey that day — surprising Rousey with the request — and got to see her fight at Tuff-N-Uff one more time before the armbar master went pro.

A year later, she saw Rousey at the 2011 World MMA Awards in Las Vegas, by which time the fighter had become well known. She says Rousey told her, “Hey, I remember you from Tuff-n-Uff!” which instantly made Fusco a fan for life.

She ran into Rousey at the next awards show and says Rousey remembered her again and they took a picture. So when Fusco saw Rousey at the latest Tuff-N-Uff event, she decided to ask the superstar for the autograph so she could get it tattooed.

“The way I look at it, I have a custom tattoo designed by Ronda Rousey, somebody who has changed the face of MMA forever. I was a fan before she blew up, and watched her career transform and grow. Such an inspiration,” says Fusco.

We have seen some dedicated fans go all-out with tattoos of their favorite athlete or sports team, but not many of them can say their favorite athlete specially designed and signed their work. Carey Fusco can make that claim.

Photo credit: Carey Fusco

A rumor circulated on Tuesday that Ronda Rousey has been courted to play a role in the third installment of “The Hunger Games” movies. The report emanated from Dave Meltzer of Wrestling Observer Radio and was publicized by MMA site Bloody Elbow.

When contacted by Larry Brown Sports over email Wednesday, Rousey’s manager Darin Harvey said he had no comment on the report.

When asked for his opinion on the report, UFC President Dana White was not bashful.

“You know how I feel about the movie stuff,” White said on “UFC Tonight” Tuesday, per MMA Mania. “When Rampage (Jackson) did the movie, it was his dream to be a part of the A-Team. I don’t want to take away any opportunities from Ronda, but at the same time, her window of opportunity as a professional athlete is really narrow. She could make a zillion movies when she retires. Where she’s really going to get the money is here fighting. I don’t care if she’s the lead role in ‘The Hunger Games 2,’ she would not make anywhere near – I mean, not even in the universe – to the money she makes fighting.”

Would Rousey really make more as a fighter than she would as an actress? I’m not as confident as White. I do know acting has one benefit — it would be a heck of a lot safer than fighting.

In August, Rousey hinted at the possibility of going into movies. However, she recently told the New York Post she wouldn’t consider an acting career until she’s done fighting.

“I’m a fighter first,” Rousey said Feb. 14. “I came straight [to this interview] from sparring, not from getting my eye brows done. Once I feel like my fighting career is done, then maybe I’ll go into something else.”

Rousey may not be ready for a movie career, but she certainly is becoming famous. She headlined UFC 157 over the weekend and it reportedly generated a very respectable 400,000-plus pay-per-view buys. It must be noted that she did get a nice boost from the Lyoto Machida-Dan Henderson co-main event, which probably would have drawn well on its own.

White, of course, is hoping Rousey sticks with fighting; he allowed women into the UFC because of Rousey and he would be losing his biggest female draw if she left. Former Strikeforce fighter Gina Carano began making movies after losing to Cyborg Santos in 2009 and hasn’t returned to the cage since.

Liz Carmouche lost to Ronda Rousey at UFC 157 in Anaheim Saturday and has the battle scars to prove it.

At the postfight press conference, Carmouche showed off bite marks that Rousey left on her forearm during their fight.

Carmouche was a heavy underdog entering the fight, but she gave Rousey the toughest test the champion has ever had in her MMA career. Not only did she last longer than anyone had before (she didn’t tap until 11 seconds were left in the round), but she also probably came the closest to submitting Rousey than anyone else.

Carmouche jumped onto Rousey’s back and had a neck crank going early in the first round. That led to Carmouche receiving the bite marks on her arm:

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Ronda Rousey spoke in rare detail about her father’s death and showed raw emotion during a moving interview released this week.

Rousey is two weeks away from her first career fight in the UFC. She will be taking on Liz Carmouche Feb. 23 at the Honda Center in Anaheim. The UFC has begun increasing promotion for the fight, and they released the first episode of “UFC Primetime: Rousey vs. Carmouche” this week to help build interest in the match.

The show is structured very similarly to HBO’s fantastic “24/7″ series that revolutionized the fight promotion industry. The episode takes viewers into the personal lives of both fighters. We learn about their histories, their daily routines, and how hard each of them have worked to get where they are.

Rousey’s life as a struggling waitress following her time as a judo fighter at the Olympics is discussed; Carmouche’s struggle with her sexuality is broached. But the episode really begins to touch viewers when Rousey talks about her father.

Rousey has talked in the past about her father dying and how it has inspired her toward greatness. Normally considered a tough girl who talks trash, is free sexually, and isn’t afraid to go after anyone, Rousey was in tears when she talked about her dad, who died when she was eight.

Give yourself about five minutes to watch this video and you will see a side of Rousey that she doesn’t often show:

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Ronda Rousey will be making her UFC debut at UFC 157 in February, and some people are not too thrilled about all the promotion she’s receiving. In fact, one of Dan Henderson’s coaches is upset with the situation.

Hendo, who was Strikeforce’s light heavyweight champion and a two-time champion in Pride, will be fighting Lyoto Machida at the Anaheim event. Their fight is being billed as the co-main event behind Rousey’s fight with Liz Carmouche. That’s not sitting well with Henderson’s striking coach Gus Pugliese.

“Ronda is headlining UFC 157. Here is why I have a problem with that,” Pugliese wrote on his Facebook page Monday. “Ronda is the champion of Strikeforce with 6 wins in less than 2 years of a mma professional career. That’s impressive regardless of who she has fought. However, she is not the UFC champion yet. She still has to win this fight to get that belt. On the other hand , we have Hendo, who has also been the Strikeforce champion (never lost the belt),Pride champion in 2 different weight classes; he has been ranked #1 contender for the UFC 205lbs, and #6 by many pound for pound best fighter. His resume is second to none, moreover, he is fighting a former champion, Lyoto Machida. Now why aren’t they main event? Is Ronda a better market value? I don’t know, but her fight could be quick as usual and we could be missing another historic 5 rds fight between 2 legends and possible hall of famers. I’m not saying she doesn’t deserve to headline an UFC event, but certainly not this one.”

At least Pugliese isn’t saying Rousey doesn’t deserve to headline an event, he just doesn’t think it should be ahead of Hendo. He further explained his view to Gracie Mag.

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