10 MMA Fights That Created Instant Legends

4. Ronda Rousey Vs. Miesha Tate - Strikeforce: Tate Vs. Rousey

Not even a year after making her professional MMA debut, a 4-0 Ronda Rousey found herself making her bantamweight bow and challenging for Miesha Tate’s Strikeforce Women’s Bantamweight Championship.

Given that Rousey would at one point get to 12-0 in her career, it goes without saying that The Rowdy One won that particular battle. Not only did Ronda win, but this was the fight that made her stand out from the pack as a special fighter.

At that point, all of Rousey’s fights had lasted less than a minute. Even against the ever-impressive Tate, Ronda still managed to bring home the W in the first round. What was most eye-opening about this victory over Miesha, however, was how the Olympic bronze medallist dislocated her opponent’s elbow on her way to winning.

Throw in the pre-contest trash talking from Ronda Rousey, and this was well and truly the fight that launched Ronda on her way to superstardom.

So impressive had Rousey become, eight months later she’d become the first female fighter to sign with the UFC. This coming after Dana White had previously said how the UFC would never feature any women’s divisions.

White would announce Ronda as the inaugural UFC Women’s Bantamweight Champion, and the future UFC Hall of Famer would go on to add another six wins to her record before finally losing to Holly Holm and then Amanda Nunes.

No woman, and few fighters, period, have had as much of an impact on the world of MMA as Ronda Rousey, and her breakout moment can be traced back to that March 2012 Strikeforce show.

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Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer and Presenter, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main day job, his role as lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund and Eli Roth to Kevin Smith and the Russo Brothers, to Kevin Conroy and Frank Miller, to Bret Hart and Sting, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, and Brian Flynn, to many, many more. Where his beloved Wrexham AFC is concerned, Andrew is a long-standing season ticket holder and an FSA Award-winner for his time co-hosting the Fearless in Devotion podcast.