10 memorable moments from UFC 207, including Amanda Nunes' destruction of Ronda Rousey

After 13 months away from fighting, Ronda Rousey returned at UFC 207 hoping to regain the UFC women’s bantamweight title she lost to Holly Holm. That return lasted just 48 seconds and Rousey spent most of that time eating punches from champion Amanda Nunes.

Nunes landed her first jab four seconds into the fight. As soon as that strike landed, Nunes seemed to sense the fight was hers. She dropped her hands and stalked Rousey, using the former champion’s head for what it was: an unmoving target.

With unquestionable wins over Rousey and Miesha Tate, Nunes’ recent highlight reel should make her an easily promotable fighter when her next title defense rolls around.

Cody Garbrandt began 2016 as an unranked bantamweight prospect. He enters 2017 as the UFC bantamweight champion, taking the title from Dominick Cruz with the type of performance fight fans will be talking about for years.

Here are 10 memorable moments from UFC 207, which took place this past Friday at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.

1. The future

It took Nunes less than a minute to let the world know that she is the undisputed women’s bantamweight champion.

Nunes’ punches hurt Rousey  (12-2 MMA, 6-2 UFC) early, and when the former champ attempted to slow the onslaught by looking to clinch, Nunes (14-4 MMA, 7-1 UFC) shrugged her off and continued her assault. By the time referee Herb Dean stepped in to end the contest, the only thing that kept Rousey from tumbling to the mat was an instinctual grab for the fence.

And now we’re left wondering what’s next for Rousey and for Nunes.

Whatever Rousey decides, women’s MMA and the UFC are in a better place heading into 2017, and she played a huge role in that.

As for Nunes, her recent wins leave her in the position to become one of the first UFC champions to get the full-court promotional press from the WME-IMG machine.

2. Shhhhhhhhh

Fans were unable to hear the instructions Rousey’s coach, Edmond Tarverdyan, shouted to his star pupil during her fight with Nunes, but judging from Nunes’ reaction after she closed out the fight, she sure heard what Tarverdyan had to say and didn’t appreciate it.

After stopping Rousey, Nunes put a finger to her lips and stalked to Rousey’s corner and had a few words for Tarverdyan before continuing to circle the cage.

At the post-fight news conference, Nunes was critical of Tarverdyan’s coaching of Rousey, openly wondering why Tarverdyan tried to convince Rousey to abandon her judo base in favor of her underdeveloped striking.

3. The kid has layers

When Garbrandt entered the UFC he was viewed as little more than a power puncher. He shed that tag at UFC 207.

Garbrandt (11-0 MMA, 6-0 UFC) stopped all seven of Cruz’s (22-2 MMA, 5-1 UFC) takedown attempts, taking a big part of Cruz’s game away from him. That left Cruz to rely on his striking and Garbrandt dealt with that, as well.

Garbrandt refused to bite on Cruz’s feints and fakes, he remained calm, timed Cruz’s awkward movements well and showed great movement, footwork and timing of his own while landing his strikes at a higher percentage than Cruz. Garbrandt also revealed that his cardio is on point, going five rounds and earning a unanimous decision over one of the most active fighters in the UFC.

Finally, in one of the more touching moments in UFC history, when it was his time to enjoy the spotlight, Garbrandt took the belt and wrapped it around the waist of Maddux Maple, a young leukemia survivor from Grabrandt’s hometown, whom Garbrandt later credited for giving his life direction.

4. A champion in defeat

Before UFC 207, Cruz had one loss on his record: a 2007 submission to Urijah Faber. Following his defeat to Garbrandt, Cruz set the tone for his post-fight appearance right away.

“Loss is part of life,” said Cruz. “If you don’t have loss, you don’t grow. This isn’t tough – this is life.”

In a sport in which the vanquished often make excuses after a loss, Cruz accepted his defeat.

“I’m not disappointed in myself at all,” Cruz said. “All I can say is I lost, and I’ll take my loss like a man.”

5. He wants next

T.J. Dillashaw, the former bantamweight champion and former teammate of Garbrandt, solidified his top contender status with a dominant win over John Lineker.

Lineker did his best to put his hands on Dillashaw (14-3 MMA, 10-3 MMA), but the former champ did an excellent job at taking Lineker (29-8 MMA, 10-3 UFC) to the mat, where he was able to exploit Lineker’s ground game.

After his victory, Dillashaw called for a title shot, which seems likely since Garbrandt’s final statement during his in-cage interview was, “T.J. Dillashaw, come find me, mother(expletive).”

6. Winning in the cage, losing to the scale

Ray Borg earned a much-needed unanimous decision win over Louis Smolka at UFC 207, much needed because Borg weighed in more than three pounds heavy for the flyweight fight. It was the second time in three fights Borg missed weight.

Borg (10-2 MMA, 4-2 UFC) dominated every aspect of the matchup, bloodying Smolka (11-3 MMA, 5-3 UFC) with elbows, taking him down four times and controlling the fight on the ground. He accomplished most of this despite injuring his ankle to the point at which he told his corner that he thought it was broken.

Borg is one of a handful of flyweight fighters who could make big moves in 2017, but with his weight issues, the promotion will be reluctant to give him big-time opportunities until he proves himself trustworthy.

7. Shoot out the lights

Alex Garcia got back in the win column with a huge knockout win over Mike Pyle.

Garcia, wearing a brace on his right knee, seemed to have trouble pushing off that leg early in the welterweight contest. But when Pyle dropped his hands to throw an inside leg kick, Garcia (14-3 MMA, 4-2 UFC) put everything he had behind a big right hand that landed right on the button, dropping Pyle (27-13-1 MMA, 10-8 UFC) to his back.

The knockout was the second of Garcia’s UFC career and first since his UFC debut in 2013. Garcia has alternated wins and losses over his last five fights.

The loss is the third knockout loss for Pyle in his last five fights and second consecutive KO defeat.

8. A win and a promotion

Brandon Thatch was on a three-fight losing streak entering his UFC 207 fight against the debuting Niko Price.

Price took the welterweight fight on short notice, but he had enough time to do some homework on Thatch, so he knew his best bet was to do what Thatch’s three previous opponents did: fight him on the ground and look for a submission.

When the two hit the mat, it was Thatch (11-5 MMA, 2-4 UFC) who first went for a submission, looking for a kimura, but when Price (9-0 MMA, 1-0 UFC) worked free of that hold he threatened with an arm-triangle choke. Thatch avoided Price’s first submission attempt, but soon found himself caught in the same technique and he was forced to tap.

Following the victory, Price was awarded his Brazilian jiu-jitsu brown belt.

9. That was illegal and intentional

UFC 207 started with controversy.

With 90 seconds left in the first round of their welterweight fight, Alex Oliveira was working his way to his feet against the cage when Tim Means (26-7-1 MMA, 8-4 UFC) landed both a right knee and a left knee to Oliveira’s (16-3-1 MMA, 5-2 UFC) head. The problem was Oliveira’s knee was down when those strikes were landed.

With Oliveira unable to continue, there was complete confusion in the cage when it came time to decide if the knees were illegal (they were, despite the broadcasters saying they were legal). The situation got even weirder when referee Dan Miragliotta ruled the fight a no-contest due to accidental knees to the head.

In his post-fight interview Means made it clear the knees were no accident, saying, “I threw the knee intentionally; I’d rather you disqualify me.”

Means may get his wish. Oliveira’s manager, Alex Davis, plans to appeal the result.

10. A quiet goodbye

UFC 207 marked the final event for two longtime UFC employees and neither of those men was acknowledged during the broadcast.

Commentator Mike Goldberg has been front and center on UFC broadcasts since 1997, but there was no mention of UFC 207 being his final call, other than Goldberg offering his thanks to several individuals as the credit’s rolled long after the fights ended.

There was no note of thanks, not a word from UFC President Dana White or even from his broadcast partner Joe Rogan.

This did not sit well with Goldberg’s son.

After the fight, some notes of appreciation did come in via social media, but again, nothing from his now former employer.

Also leaving the UFC after UFC 207 was long time matchmaker Joe Silva, whose tenure also went unacknowledged by the promotion in any way other than a tweet from fellow matchmaker Sean Shelby.

It was an odd way for two long-tenured employees to end their employment with the promotion.

For complete coverage of UFC 207, check out the UFC Events section of the site.