By the Numbers: ‘Tate vs. Rousey’

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There is an overwhelming feeling of inevitability when Ronda Rousey steps into the cage. At some point, the former Olympian is going to grab an arm, and no matter how determined an opponent might be, she will eventually be forced to submit.

Such was the case at the Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio, on Saturday night, as Rousey used her patented armbar to elicit a tapout from women’s bantamweight champion Miesha Tate in the Strikeforce “Tate vs. Rousey” main event. Now, at 25 years old, Rousey is both a champion and the face of women’s MMA.

Rousey quieted the majority of the non-believers with her performance against Tate, who had not been submitted in 14 fights prior. For the minority who might still believe that “Rowdy” is more style than substance, it’s time to go deeper, with a by-the-numbers look at Strikeforce “Tate vs. Rousey.” Statistics are provided by FightMetric.com.

129: Difference, in seconds, between the length of Rousey’s opening round submission of Tate -- which came at 4:27 -- and her first four professional fights combined. The longest fight for the judo bronze medalist coming into Saturday night was 49 seconds, which came in a win over Charmaine Tweet last June.

43: Total strikes landed by Rousey against Tate. In her two previous Strikeforce appearances against Julia Budd and Sarah D'Alelio, the Californian landed just three strikes total before applying her submission of choice. Meanwhile, Tate’s 11 total strikes were seven more than Budd and D’Alelio managed to land against Rousey combined.

0: Successfully defended takedowns for Tate. Rousey was able to get “Takedown” to the mat three times in their title bout. In her first six appearances under the Strikeforce banner, only one opponent -- Hitomi Akano -- even attempted a takedown against Tate. Akano was unsuccessful on her lone try.

8: Armbar victories in eight fights for Rousey. “Rowdy” used the maneuver to dispatch her opponents in three amateur bouts and has followed the same pattern in her first five pro outings.

29: Significant strikes landed by K.J. Noons in his loss to Josh Thomson, a career low for Noons’ in fights that have gone at least three rounds. By comparison, Thomson landed 41 significant strikes.

428: Days since Thomson’s last fight, a decision setback at the hands of Tatsuya Kawajiri on Dec. 31, 2010.

4: Successful takedowns -- in 14 attempts -- for Thomson, his most since landing six in capturing the Strikeforce lightweight title against Gilbert Melendez in 2008.

2: Rounds where Paul Daley landed more significant strikes than Kazuo Misaki in their welterweight clash. The Englishman outlanded Misaki 13 to 10 in round two and 21 to 12 in round three. The 2006 Pride welterweight grand prix winner landed 21 strikes to Daley’s 10 in the opening frame, however.

8: Takedown attempts for Daley on Saturday night, which is three more than he attempted in seven previous appearances for Strikeforce and the UFC combined. “Semtex” attempted one takedown in his first-round defeat to Nick Diaz last year; he was 1-for-4 against Duane Ludwig at Strikeforce “Shamrock vs. Baroni” in 2007.

5: First-round finishes in five career victories for Lumumba Sayers, who tapped Scott Smith with a guillotine choke in just 94 seconds in their middleweight encounter. Both of the Grapplers Edge representative’s defeats have come in the opening frame, as well.

377: Significant strike disadvantage for Smith in his past seven Strikeforce bouts. While Sayers outlanded him 10-2 on Saturday night, the largest differential came in a loss to Nick Diaz, who outlanded him 150-22 in significant strikes at Strikeforce “Lawler vs. Shields.” Smith is 2-5 in those contests.

.800: Percentage of Ronaldo Souza’s victories that have come by way of submission. “Jacare” forced short-notice opponent Bristol Marunde to tap to an arm-triangle choke at 2:43 of the final stanza in their middleweight showdown.

100: Percent success rate on takedowns for Souza. The five time world champion in Brazilian jiu-jitsu secured six takedowns against Marunde.

370: Total combined strikes landed by Sarah Kaufman (157 of 322) and Alexis Davis (213 of 399) in their bantamweight showdown. Though Davis held an advantage in overall total strikes, Kaufman landed more significant shots in round one (68 to 59) and round two (50 to 46) to claim a majority decision.

.910: Total striking accuracy for Roger Bowling in his technical knockout triumph over Brandon Saling. The Team Vision representative landed 110 more strikes than “White Steel” before earning a stoppage at 1:15 of round two.

7: Guard passes by Pat Healy in his third-round submission triumph over Caros Fodor. The Team Quest representative landed 119 total strikes and executed four takedowns before forcing his foe to tap to an arm triangle from side control at the 3:35 mark of round three.

38: Significant strikes by which Ryan Couture outlanded Conor Heun in their lightweight bout. The 29-year-old Couture was particularly effective in rounds one (35 strikes to 16) and three (26 to 2) en route to earning a unanimous verdict.