UFC woman’s bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey won ‘Best Female Athlete’ at the 2014 ESPY Awards last night in Los Angeles.
In the process Rousey became the first MMA fighter ever to win an ESPY award, beating out WNBA player Maya Moore, olympic skier Mikaela Shiffrin and NCAA basketball champion Breanna Stewart to claim the coveted award.
There’s no question that Rousey earned her award, having almost single handedly brought woman’s Mixed Martial Arts to the sports biggest stage and then stamped her authority on the UFC’s 135lb division with four victories to date, including three successful title defenses in the past seven months.
Rousey also featured in the ‘Best Fighter’ category at the ESPY’s last night along with fellow UFC champion Jon Jones, but they both lost out to boxing superstar Floyd Mayweather Jr who scooped up the award for the third year in a row.
Finally, UFC middleweight champion Chris Weidman was in the running for the ‘Biggest Upset’ award for his stunning KO victory over long-reigning champion Anderson Silva, but despite the magnitude of that moment, he lost out to Mercer basketball team for their NCAA tournament win over Duke.
