martial

Rousey won the fight with her signature armbar lock, forcing Carano into submission just 17 seconds into the bout.

Mixed martial arts (MMA) star Ronda Rousey has re-retired after demolishing fellow combat sports trailblazer Gina Carano in their long-awaited non-title comeback bout in Los Angeles, defeating her rival by armbar after just 17 seconds.

After a hype-filled build-up, the bout on Saturday was a jarring anti-climax, with Rousey flooring Carano almost immediately before wrestling her into an armbar to end the fight.

American stars Rousey, 39, and Carano, 44, are widely regarded as two of the most important female fighters in the history of MMA, helping to take the sport into the mainstream during their fighting heydays more than a decade ago.

Carano had parlayed her success into a Hollywood career, appearing in several action movie roles, but had not fought since 2009 before her appearance in Saturday’s featherweight bout.

Rousey, a 2008 Olympics judo bronze medallist who subsequently found huge success in the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), retired from the sport in 2016 after suffering back-to-back defeats against Amanda Nunes and Holly Holm.

The fighters were lured back into the cage for Saturday’s card at the Intuit Dome with the promise of a bumper payday that will reportedly see each fighter earn several million dollars from the streaming giant.

Rousey (13-2-0 MMA) secured her 10th submission win, returning to the cage following an exit from MMA in December 2016.

She insisted afterwards her return to the ring was a one-off and ruled out the possibility of fighting again after paying tribute to Carano.

“Gina is the only person who could have brought me back into MMA – she’s my hero,” Rousey said. “She changed my world, and we changed the world, and I’ll never ever forget that or be able to pay that back enough.

“I’m so glad we finally got to share this moment.”

Asked about possibly extending her comeback, Rousey added: “There’s no way I could have ended it better than this. I want to have some more babies, got to get cooking.”

Carano (7-2-0 MMA) ⁠⁠had been inactive in the sport since August 2009, returning to MMA after a conversation last year at Rousey’s encouragement. She admitted the fight was too fast for her, regretting what ⁠⁠more she could have done in a short timeframe.

“I feel great,” Carano said after the loss. “I wanted to fight, ⁠⁠and I didn’t get that. But she trained. She ⁠⁠had her game plan. I have so much love and respect for her, and this was a victory in my life. She changed it. I woke up at 3am every morning thinking about ‌‌her. I fell back in love with mixed martial arts. There’s ‌‌so ‌‌many things to think about here. It’s just [that] the fight didn’t go my way.

“I wanted that to last longer – I felt like I was so ready, I felt so good,” she said. “But I haven’t been here for 17 years. I wanted to hit her.”

Carano, 44, is unsure whether she’ll return to MMA, choosing to keep the door open.

Carano said the mere fact of getting in shape for her return – she revealed before the bout she had shed more than 100 pounds (45kg) in the two years leading up to the contest – was a victory.

“Right now, just getting in the cage was a victory, getting here after 17 years is a victory. Fighting a legend was a victory. I feel great, I just wanted to fight, and I didn’t get to do that.”

Seoul appeals court cuts ex-prime minister’s prison sentence from 23 years to 15.

A South Korean appeals court has reduced the sentence of former Prime Minister Han Duck-soo by eight years for crimes relating to ex-President Yoon Suk Yeol’s declaration of martial law.

The verdict was issued in the South Korean capital, Seoul, on Thursday.

Yoon’s decree in December 2024 briefly suspended civilian government and plunged South Korea into chaos, but it only lasted about six hours as opposition lawmakers moved quickly to overturn it in a vote.

A lower court had sentenced Han in January to a heavier-than-expected jail term of 23 years for engaging in the insurrection, as well as on related charges of perjury and falsifying an official document.

But the appeals court in Seoul cut that by eight years on Thursday, with the presiding judge announcing: “We sentence the defendant to 15 years in prison.”

The court still maintained most of Han’s convictions but lessened the penalties after taking into account his “more than 50 years as a public official prior to the martial law declaration”.

“The records also make it difficult to find evidence showing that the defendant participated more actively in the insurrection, such as by conspiring in advance or systematically leading the operation,” the judge said.

However, he said Han had “abandoned the grave responsibilities arising from the authority and position entrusted to him and instead sided with those participating in the acts of insurrection”.

Han, wearing a white shirt and a dark suit with no tie, listened to the verdict without showing much emotion.

The 76-year-old has been imprisoned since his original sentence in January.

Han had denied wrongdoing on all charges except perjury, saying in November that while he regretted not being able to stop Yoon from declaring martial law, he “never agreed to it or tried to help”.

Han is an experienced technocrat, who served in senior posts under five presidents.

He became the acting president after Yoon was impeached, before his own impeachment on accusations of having aided Yoon in the martial law declaration.

The Constitutional Court overturned Han’s impeachment, restoring his powers to serve as leader before he resigned from the post to run in a snap election in June.

He ended his bid for the presidency following rifts among conservatives.

Yoon, who faces eight separate trials, was handed a life sentence in February on charges of “masterminding an insurrection”.

Yoon, a former career prosecutor, denied the charges, arguing he had presidential authority to declare martial law and that his action was aimed at sounding the alarm over opposition parties’ obstruction of government.

He has apologised for the “frustration and hardship” brought upon the people by his martial law decree, but said in a statement after the sentencing that he stood behind the “sincerity and purpose” behind his actions.

The defense ministry said Tuesday it has dismissed three Army officers from military service and removed another from service over their involvement in former President Yoon Suk Yeol’s short-lived martial law declaration.

The decision came after the ministry convened a disciplinary committee meeting last month to review the cases of the four Army officers accused of involvement in the Dec. 3, 2024, martial law bid.

Brig. Gen. Kim Jeong-geun; Col. An Mu-seong, who had been awaiting promotion to brigadier general; and Col. Kim Se-un were dismissed from military service, the highest level of disciplinary punishment, according to sources. The punishment carries a 50 percent cut in military retirement benefits.

Brig. Gen. Kim and An are accused of deploying troops to the National Assembly on the night martial law was declared, while Col. Kim is accused of transporting the troops to the National Assembly building.

Col. Kim Sang-yong, former deputy chief of the Defense Ministry’s Criminal Investigation Command, was removed from military service, the second-highest level of disciplinary punishment, over his alleged role in helping form a team to arrest key politicians and other major figures. The punishment does not affect military retirement benefits.

The latest move came as the ministry has launched an internal probe into about 860 general-grade and field-grade officers and identified some 180 military personnel as having been involved in the martial law bid in late 2024.

Copyright (c) Yonhap News Agency prohibits its content from being redistributed or reprinted without consent, and forbids the content from being learned and used by artificial intelligence systems.

May 4 (Asia Today) — A special counsel team said Monday it has identified signs that South Korea’s military counterintelligence unit may have begun preparing for a declaration of martial law as early as the first half of 2024.

Kim Ji-mi, a deputy special counsel, said during a regular briefing that investigators confirmed indications of early preparations through questioning of officials from the Defense Counterintelligence Command.

She declined to elaborate on who led the preparations or whether specific plans were in place.

The findings differ from earlier conclusions by a separate special counsel team led by Cho Eun-seok, which had investigated allegations of insurrection and foreign conspiracy related to a Dec. 3 emergency martial law declaration. That team charged former President Yoon Suk Yeol as the alleged ringleader, citing a notebook belonging to former intelligence commander Noh Sang-won as evidence that planning began before October 2023.

However, a lower court rejected the evidentiary value of the notebook, ruling that any decision to impose martial law appeared to have been externally expressed no earlier than Dec. 1, 2024. The court said concrete steps toward implementation began only about two days before the declaration.

The court also found that meetings cited by prosecutors – including a presidential residence dinner in December 2023, a series of gatherings with senior military officials through August 2024 and other meetings in Seoul – could not be directly regarded as preparations for martial law.

Separately, the special counsel team said it would impose a one-month pay reduction on an investigator who posted investigation-related materials on social media. The investigator had uploaded photos including a certificate of appointment and a suspect’s signed statement, which have since been deleted.

The team said it questioned two suspects and 43 witnesses last week as part of the ongoing investigation.

— Reported by Asia Today; translated by UPI

© Asia Today. Unauthorized reproduction or redistribution prohibited.

Original Korean report: https://www.asiatoday.co.kr/kn/view.php?key=20260504010000426