Liz Carmouche, the openly lesbian ex-Marine mixed martial artist, lost to Ronda Rousey by armbar submission late in the first round of their UFC bantamweight fight on Saturday. Rousey was the heavy favorite going into the UFC's first female fight, but Carmouche almost choked her out early in the fight and all reports say both women put on quite a show. From Nate Wilcox at Bloody Elbow:

Carmouche deserves to be called a winner for a few reasons. She may have lost her bout, but she made it an exciting fight. She was an excellent representative of WMMA all the way through this, even down to the post-fight press conference. And she cemented her spot as a top contender for a rematch against Rousey down the road. Forget making history for a second - she made a lot of fans last night. And I'm one of them.

The fight was so intense that Rousey sank her teeth into Carmouche's forearm as she tried to wriggle out of what they call a "neck crank." "Neck cranks are hard to pull off and if the person has a lot of heart, she can fight through it, which she did," Carmouche said of Rousey in the postfight press conference.

"I gave 100% tonight. Thank you for your support! I shall return. #lizbosm," Carmouche tweeted to her fans afterwards.

Carmouche had been very proud about being an openly gay athlete (she fought wearing a rainbow mouthpiece, which you can see by clicking on the photo) and she acquitted herself well in what was a historic fight in the UFC.