Sherdog’s Top 10: Greatest Title Reigns

7. Ronda Rousey

UFC Bantamweight Champion, 2012-2015

WMMA's greatest superstar cracks yet another Sherdog top 10. For a while, she was utterly unbeatable, and the period between when she won the Strikeforce women's bantamweight crown from Miesha Tate to her shocking head kick knockout loss to Holly Holm were as dominant a reign as any the sport has seen. All seven title defenses were one-sided demolitions ending in a stoppage, with only one fight even getting out of the first round.

Rousey possessed a level of physical strength and athleticism WMMA has never seen before or since and combined it with world-class judo, making her one of its very best grapplers ever. Her striking was sorely lacking, and as we later found out, she was incredibly mentally weak. However, for a long time, it didn't remotely matter. She began this period armbarring Tate at the end of the first round, armbarred Sarah Kaufman in 54 seconds, armbarred Liz Carmouche at the end of the first round in the UFC's first women's fight ever, knocked out Sara McMann in just over a minute, eviscerated Alexis Davis with ground-and-pound in 16 seconds, armbarred Cat Zingano in 14 seconds, and then overwhelmed Bethe Correia with punches in 34 seconds. The only person who survived the opening stanza was Miesha Tate in the rematch, who was beaten brutally throughout, but only tapped early in Round 3. Certainly, WMMA has evolved an awful lot since Rousey's heyday, but I don't know if we will ever again see a champion record so many first-round stoppages in title defenses.

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