Ronda Rousey to defend UFC title against Cat Zingano
UFC women’s bantamweight champion and Glendale Fighting Club trainee Ronda Rousey has her next opponent: Cat Zingano. In The Ultimate Fighter 17 Finale, Zingano scored a third-round technical knockout of Meisha Tate, securing a coaching spot on the next season of the show and, more importantly, a shot at Rousey’s title.
UFC President Dana White has yet to announce a date for the bout, but Rousey’s trainer Edmond Tarverdyan said to expect a fight around “the end of the year.” Before the 7-0 Rousey takes on 8-0 Zingano in a rare battle between udefeated fighters, they will serve as the first female coaches for The Ultimate Fighter 18, set to air on September 4 on Fox Sports 1.
“Technically, Cat has a better record than I do right now,” Rousey said. “She’s 8-0. I’m 7-0. Who was it? Was it like Rashad [Evans] and Lyoto [Machida] who were the only two undefeated people fighting for a championship before? So this is something very uncommon and very special, and I’m happy to be a part of it. I always think of myself as the underdog regardless of what other people think.”
Conference shakeups aren’t just for the NCAA. With Crescenta Valley, Arcadia and Hoover all petitioning to join the Rio Hondo League, the Pacific League seemed on the verge of a Big East-style collapse. After a 23-5 vote by the CIF Southern Section committee denied the Falcons entry, Arcadia and Hoover withdrew their bigs and opted to stay put as well. Only Pasadena’s Marshall Fundamental will be making a move, from the Alpha and Delphic Leagues to the Mission Valley League.
Crescenta Valley’s senior goalkeeper Gabriel Isacson was “perhaps overlooked throughout much of this past [water polo] season,” according to TCN North sports editor Grant Gordon, but her 16-save performace against Riverside Poly not only sercured the 2013 CIF Southern Section Division V championship for the Falcons but also catapulted her to the top of the voting for our All-Area Girls’ Water Polo Player of the Year. Congratulations to Gabriel, as well as the All-Area Girls’ Water Polo First Team and Second Team.
In celebration of its 100-year anniversary, the CIF Southern Section released a list of 100 of its greatest athletes. A handful of local legends from both Glendale and Pasadena (including at least one name everyone should recognize) made the list. Here’s to another century of competition!
--Peter Madden, Times Community News
Follow me on Twitter @pamadden.