(sports) UFC: Is Ronda Rousey's MMA career over?

After falling victim to another crushing and comprehensive striking clinic this time at the hands of  UFC women's bantamweight champion Amanda Nunes, much lip service and keyboard pressing has been donated to the question whether her career was over and the consensus was overwhelmingly yes. 

On the face, it seems a fool's errand to argue otherwise given questions about Rousey's commitment to MMA given the myriad of  opportunities available to her outside the sport and the fact that Rousey has been severely outclassed twice in her last two bouts with both Holm and Nunes exploiting Rousey's bad footwork and poor head movement which would make promoting Rousey's next fight a real tough sell for the UFC. 

However, the only  argument that has any credence is that Rousey is now part of an improving women's bantamweight division at a time when her skillset has stagnated which. No one (and I mean no one) thought Rousey could compete with Nunes on the feet as Nunes is by far the superior striker and showed as much last night as Rousey seems unable to adjust or weather the barrage of strikes thrown her way by a ferocious Nunes. 

What was worrying however is that Rousey was making the same  technical mistakes (poor head movement, poor guard, bad footwork etc) she made during her crushing defeat to Holly Holm in Australia a year ago. Many have rightly pointed the finger at her much maligned coach Edmund Taverdyan who has been accused by many, including Rousey's mother, of being a terrible coach. 

Rousey looked like she was going lose the fight from the first clean punch she took and as the fight continued, it was painfully clear that she had neither tools or ability to avoid or stop the onslaught unleashed by Nunes.When a fighter has a gaping hole in their skillset, it's the coach's job to either fill the hole with or add another skillset to their fighter's game that at offsets the downsides associated with the weakness and this clearly didn't happen within the year Taverdyan had with Rousey to make sure his charge wasn't embarrassed so publicly again. 

   

Rousey may well quit MMA but if she plans to make another comeback, she has to make it without Taverdyan or face the ignomy and ridicule of three very embarrassing losses at the highest level. There is no shortage of world class coaches who could help Rousey at the very least address weaknesses in her striking such as the brilliant Rafael Cordeiro or Mark Henry or gyms that can help her become a more complete martial artist such as Tristar in Canada headed by the much respected Firas Zahabi or the Jackson Wink Academy headed by two excellent coaches in Greg Jackson and Mike Winkeljohn in New Mexico. 

Such a move would be a step in the right direction and would show that Rousey is looking to learn from her mistakes but given Rousey's stated premium on loyalty and propensity to take losses personally rather than learn from them, such a move looks unlikely to say the least.   

In sum, despite the industry wide consensus, Rousey can definitely comeback though her star power diminished but to so she may have to make changes, changes that elude her and leave what was once the brightest star in UFC's vast constellation a dimmer and less intriguing version of herself.

(Sports) MMA: Congratulations UFC, you played yourself

Every organization suffers self inflicted wounds once in a while but no company in the world cuts its nose to spite its face more than the $4 billion MMA behemoth that is the UFC. 

The UFC can largely get away with these self inflicted wounds because they're far and away the biggest MMA promotion on face of the earth, have the best talent in the sport on their books, and with the recent sale to WME/IMG, are the most valuable sports franchise in American sports. 

However, with the recent formation of the Mixed Martial Arts Athlete Association that sports Georges St Pierre, former chairman and CEO of Bellator Bjorn Rebney, former UFC heavyweight champion Cain Velasquez and former bantamweight king TJ Dillashaw as its members, the UFC may have to contend with possibly the strongest bid yet to bring collective bargaining into MMA. 

The nascent association also includes fan favorite Donald "Cowboy" Cerrone and Army Veteran Tim Kennedy which rounds up an impressive cast of elite level fighters in their prime. One of the big problems other organizations such as the Professional Fighters Association had in bringing collective bargaining into MMA was their inability to get prominent UFC fighters on board but with the MMAAA already attracting championship and top ten level fighters among its ranks out the gate suggests that this obstacle won't be much of a problem for MMAAA going forward. 

While the MMAAA hasn't revealed much in the way of a strategy or gameplan to take on the might of the UFC, MMAAA has two things going for it, Bjorn Rebney, a lawyer by trade and who knows MMA inside out and GSP, a much respected and admired former champion who could help recruit more fighters and possibly played a part in attracting the names the organization already has as members. 

However, MMAAA are hamstrung by the simple but crucial fact that the UFC have all the cards in their favour. They're by far the biggest promotion in the sport and have the best talent which means the UFC can and almost certainly will act as if MMAAA doesn't exist despite MMAAA already enjoying the backing of some of their best fighters.        

Despite this, there are plenty of chinks in the UFC's impressive armor, most troublingly its relationship with its fighters. Because the UFC is by far the biggest promotion in MMA, the UFC tends use its dominant position to undermine its fighters or make decisions that impact fighters directly without their input. The most flagrant example of this was the UFC's apparel deal with Reebok which was clearly hammered out without the input of their fighters. Because of Reebok deal, fighters lost thousands in sponsorship money which in some cases outstripped their show and prize money combined. 

The UFC wouldn't have been able to do this if fighters were represented by a strong union who could hold the UFC's feet to the fire which is why you'll have a hard time finding a member of MMA community who isn't in favour of fighters unionizing.  

While there are some concerns about MMAAA intentions particularly surrounding the involvement of Bjorn Rebney and his history in dealing with fighters, the MMAAA is possibly the best positioned effort so far to unionize the fighters though it remains to be seen how they plan to proceed. 

In sum, The UFC hasn't been shy about putting its interest first over it fighters but with the recent sale to WME/IMG and recent exit from one of its biggest market suggest the MMAAA has picked the right time strike the UFC as it may have played itself into a corner. 

(Sports) UFC 193: Why Ronda Rousey Lost To Holly Holm

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.