It was no secret before the
fight that Holly Holm was easily the most technically gifted and accomplished
striker that former UFC champion Ronda Rousey has ever faced and would possibly
prove to be her toughest opponent yet but nobody ( maybe except her coaches) was expecting Rousey to be
severely outclassed in the first round and get put to sleep with a brutal head
kick in the second.
It was clear from the outset
of the fight that it was going to be a long night for Rousey as she was chasing
Holly Holm but failing to catch her as Holm was pretty much in control of the
distance of the fight for as long as it lasted. Rousey had a few moments of
control when she managed to close the distance from a missed counter and got
Holm into a clinch and later on when she attempted arm bar but that short of
that Holly Holm was busy showing the holes in Rousey striking ability.
And that's what was really shocking,
not that Holly Holm was a better striker than Rousey but just how much better
she was than Rousey. When facing someone as good as Holm at distance management,
creating angles and landing counters, the last you want to do is get desperate
and chase them as you’ll eat counters, hit air all night and possibility get
knocked out which was basically happened last night.
A good deal of fighters in
both boxing and MMA struggle at cutting off the ring but Rousey was
particularly bad at it last night as there were several instances where she was
following Holly Holm into a series of stiff straight rights and lefts which
bloodied her nose. The amount of energy Rousey wasted for most of first round
chasing Holm took its toll and as soon this happened the fight was lost as
Rousey’s only chance from of winning the fight from that point on was Holm
tiring, getting sloppy or complacent.
Rousay has eaten stiff
punches before coming in but she basically harassed and closed the distance on fighters
who were nowhere near as skilled as Holm is at circling or evading attacks
particularly clinches and shots for take downs. To even get close to someone
like Holm requires someone who can match her for creating angles and movement
but Rousey wasn’t even close on both fronts.
It’s quite ironic that an MMA
bout at the highest level turned out to a be a boxing clinic in using footwork
and movement to keep an opponent out of position and punish them for their
mistakes as Rousey most almost always out of position to throw a punch and paid
for virtually every one she threw.
Rousey is almost definitely
going to have get her chance to win her belt back but it’s hard to see how she’ll
regain her crown given the night and day skill deferential between her and holm
that’s damn near impossible to close in three to six months.
In sum, a near capacity
Etihad stadium crowd was treated to technical clinic as the queen of MMA was
deposed by, quite simply, the better fighter on the night.
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