The fight begins 2:30 into that video, after the introductions, and you can see that Rose lands a vicious right hand at the outset.
Couture explains what happened, from her perspective:
I just walked out there to touch gloves and she just hit me. She wasn't interested in touching gloves and that first shot is what broke my jaw. My left hand wasn't even up to protect myself -- it was straight out to touch her glove. She took her shot, connected it and dropped me. That first shot is what broke it.Couture is classy about it and stops short of calling it a cheap shot, but it is a potential problem in both boxing and MMA that fighters leave themselves exposed when they try to touch gloves. Unfortunately, I think the best solution might just be to do away with that tradition.
Some folks have criticized Couture's husband, Randy Couture, for not throwing in the towel as he stood in Kim's corner and watched her get pummeled, but Kim told Sherdog, "My husband is not going to throw in the towel and I would have killed him if he would have."
Couture said her jaw was broken in two places, but she said reports that her nose and orbital bone were broken are incorrect. She also said that although the broken jaw left her in excruciating pain throughout the fight, she never considered tapping out. And she said that as soon as her jaw heals, she wants a rematch with Rose.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
6-26-2008 @ 1:14PM
DTC said...
I think this was legit, you must always be ready for something like this to happen. Although it is not mandatory you should touch gloves, but in one of my first fights this happend to me too, the guy said he was just too pumped up.
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6-26-2008 @ 1:29PM
Dave said...
Keep the tradition. Fighters need to be better educated about how to demonstrate they are going to touch gloves. I couldn't really tell that's what she was doing from the video. The more experienced fighters touch gloves to show respect, hop back, reset their feet, etc., and then go to work. I like the tradition. Just like watching two fighters who may have a serious grudge worked up going into a fight showing each other respect afterwards.
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6-26-2008 @ 2:02PM
Unsilent Majority said...
They touched gloves in the center of the ring before the fight, why would they touch them up again after the bell? There is absolutely no point. I'm not a big MMA guy, but I imagine that they have a "protect yourself at all times" rule ala boxing.
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6-29-2008 @ 5:49PM
Wade said...
from watching the video, I don't think it's clear that's what happened. It looked more like she wasn't ready for that shot.
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6-30-2008 @ 4:07PM
Q said...
Please watch the video folks. Kim was not trying to touch gloves, that's the worst excuse ever. She comes out of her corner with active hands, ready to fight. There was absolutely NO ATTEMPT TO TOUCH GLOVES. What a terrible excuse.
Kim Rose - Great punch and great victory, hope to see more of you in the future.
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7-19-2008 @ 1:13AM
gabriela said...
kim rose came out like she should have, ready to fight. maybe the fact that couture has'nt had alot of amateur experience had something to do with her lack of defense. i thought couture did well on the ground, just needs work on hands
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