Undefeated women’s bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey will put her title belt on the line Saturday in Brazil as the biggest betting favorite of her career against unbeaten No. 5 contender Bethe Correia in the main event at UFC 190.
Rousey (11-0) will be fighting outside North America for the first time and is at -1600 (bet $1,600 to win $100) against the Brazilian Correia (9-0), who is a +800 underdog (bet $100 to win $800) at sportsbooks monitored by Odds Shark with victories over two of the champ’s training partners in her past two bouts.
The challenger Correia will be attempting to become just the second opponent to ever take Rousey to the second round, as the past two have lasted a combined 30 seconds in the Octagon with her before being finished.
Miesha Tate made it to the third round in her championship fight with Rousey back in 2013 at UFC 168 before tapping out via her infamous armbar submission for the second time in as many bouts. The previous time came for the Strikeforce title in 2012.
Of her 11 MMA fights, Rousey has submitted nine opponents with an armbar, including six within the first minute of the first round. Previously, the biggest number on Rousey was -1000 when she fought Liz Carmouche in her UFC debut on Feb. 23, 2013. That UFC 157 bout ended with a Rousey armbar at the 4:49 mark of the first round.
In the co-main event at HSBC Arena in Rio de Janeiro, former light heavyweight champ Mauricio “Shogun” Rua (22-10) will take on Antonio Rogerio Nogueira (21-6) in a rematch of their PRIDE battle from 10 years ago. Rua won the first bout by unanimous decision in what was named Fight of the Year, and he is a solid -200 betting favorite to win the second matchup as well.
Nogueira is a +160 underdog and has gone 2-3 in his past five fights with wins over Rashad Evans and Tito Ortiz, but he is coming off a first-round knockout loss to Anthony Johnson last July 26 in just 44 seconds. However, Rua has struggled even more recently, dropping four of his last five bouts, with the lone victory over James Te Huna via first-round knockout two years ago.
