Sherdog’s Top 10: Fights That Failed to Live Up to Their Hype

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9. Ronda Rousey vs. Sara McMann

A mere 56 days after her thrilling finish of Miesha Tate in their rematch at UFC 168, trail-blazing bantamweight champion Rousey got back on the horse against undefeated Olympian McMann at UFC 170 on Feb. 22, 2014. The challenger had won the silver medal in freestyle wrestling at the 2004 Olympics, and, on paper, she seemed to be one of the very few women’s 135ers who might be able to hang with Rousey in the athleticism and takedown departments.

The ease with which Rousey ran through her first eight opponents is difficult to overstate. Liz Carmouche got her back for a brief period and Tate was perfectly willing to wade into the pocket and throw, if ineffectively, but nobody had been able to challenge Rousey in any meaningful way. She seemed invincible, and who better to give her a serious test than someone who had been through the fires of the Olympics?

To be sure, the heat around the fight came entirely from the prospect of the matchup itself. McMann did almost no promotion and barely went out of her way to sell herself to the public, while Rousey coasted on the massive wave of exposure that had led up to UFC 168. The short lead-up to the fight likewise accentuated that relative lack of fire. Despite the underwhelming promotional push, the fight itself looked like it had the potential to be a barnburner, and the opening exchange -- McMann tagged Rousey with a series of hard right hands -- seemed to be evidence of that competitiveness. Shortly thereafter, however, Rousey pushed the fight into the clinch, ate a few more punches and began to unleash a steady stream of knees to the body. Sixty-three seconds into the fight, the champion landed a sharp knee to McMann’s liver, dropping her to the canvas, and three follow-up punches were all referee Herb Dean needed to see to stop the fight.

It was fun while it lasted, but 66 seconds can only provide so much entertainment.

Number 8 » The fight itself played out almost exactly as most observers thought it would, with the champion taking his challenger to the mat repeatedly, beating him up from inside the guard and from the top-ride and keeping the fight in the center of the cage.