After UFC 178 win, Cat Zingano earns title shot vs. Ronda Rousey, likely at UFC 182

LAS VEGAS – As promised by the UFC, Cat Zingano will get her long-awaited title shot against women’s bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey, likely at UFC 182 on Jan. 3 in Las Vegas.

UFC President Dana White confirmed the promotion’s plans at the UFC 178 post-event press conference, which followed Zingano’s third-round TKO Amanda Nunes in her first fight in 17 months.

“I was really pushing to get through this fight and I just had to get through this one and then I could look at the horizon,” Zingano told MMAjunkie.

Zingano rebounded from deep trouble in the first round to surge ahead and then finish Nunes with a flurry of punches and elbows on the pay-per-view bout.

Afterward, White reported that Zingano walked over to him and screamed, “Do you see me?”

“Yes, I see you,” he continued. “This was the ‘Shutup about Gina Carano fight, I think.'”

Zingano could have lost the title shot promised her by White on multiple occasions when the UFC entered talks to bring former Strikeforce star Gina Carano out of retirement for a fight with Rousey at the end of the year. But when negotiations petered out, the executive reaffirmed his commitment to giving Zingano her chance.

It’s an opportunity she earned in April 2013 after a third-round TKO of onetime title challenger and ex-Strikeforce champ Miesha Tate. Zingano was scheduled to coach “The Ultimate Fighter 18? opposite Rousey in advance of a title fight when she blew out her ACL and was benched.

In the interim, Rousey defended her belt on three occasions, stopping Tate, Sara McMann and Alexis Davis.

With such a dominant performance, Zingano is now back where she was more than a year after suffering an injury as well as the loss of her husband, who committed suicide in January.

After some back and forth, White no longer needs convincing that Zingano is the right one for the No. 1 contender spot, not Carano.

“I think that’s the statement she wanted to make, and she made it loud and clear. She’s been away for awhile, she had some injuries, she’s dealing with some personal problems. She is back. I think the fans can see her and she needed to remind everybody why she was in line for a title fight. She did it tonight.”

For complete coverage of UFC 178, check out the UFC Events section of the site.