Ronda Rousey's Reign of Terror Ends and other UFC News

I actually considered dropping $60 to watch this tonight, but regrettably passed on it. Holly Holm came to fight and completely dismantled Rousey, who had been winninng her matches in record time.

Holly Holm shocks the world with head kick KO over Ronda Rousey

Holm was touted as the toughest challenger to Rousey's title ever since she signed to the UFC, but she walked into the fight as much as a 20-to-1 underdog.

That all changed as soon as the fight started as Holm showed poise and a picture-perfect strategy used to dismantle Rousey in less than six minutes.

Holm prepared for the fight with coaches Greg Jackson and Mike Winkeljohn, who are well known as being two of the best strategists in the entire sport, and it seems like they picked apart every one of Rousey's tendencies and it paid off in the Octagon.

"I have to say that everything that we worked on presented itself in the fight. Every kind of grab that she tried to get and clinch on the cage. I have not spent this much time in the gym before any fight in my life," Holm said after the historic win.

And to tie this into gaming, EA just announced Ronda Rousey as the cover athlete for the upcoming UFC 2 game just 2 days ago.

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http://www.mmafighting.com/2015/11/1...

The announcement comes just days before Rousey (12-0) is scheduled to defend her UFC title against undefeated challenger Holly Holm at Etihad Stadium in Melbourne, Australia at UFC 193. With over 50,000 fans expected to attend, the Nov. 15 show could wind up being the biggest UFC event in the promotion's history.

Rousey, 28, has seen her star explode over the past two years, propelled in large part by a trio of victories in a combined 64 seconds of fight time. She defended her UFC title with a stunning 16-second knockout of Alexis Davis in July 2014, then bested that time with a 14-second submission of Cat Zingano in Feb. 2015. Her masterpiece, though, came this past August when Rousey scored a brutal one-punch knockout over Bethe Correia in 34 seconds at UFC 190.

Rousey's victory over Correia pulled in the largest estimated pay-per-view buyrate of 2015, cementing the judo champion as unquestionably the biggest draw in the UFC.

Be interesting to see if this ends up her "Buster Douglas" or she recovers and its a speedbump in a long line of title defenses.

This is to the folks who say that high kicks are "unrealistic" and whatnot.

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Was Holm the first Southpaw Rousey has ever fought? Rousey was circling into her power ALL NIGHT. For those who are unfamiliar with boxing, that is a whole lot like passing in front of your own goal in hockey or soccer.

I saw on Facebook someone pointed out the EA Sports Cover Curse, which I thought was kinda funny.

I don't dislike Rousey but have to admit I kinda enjoyed seeing Holm work her over for the entire fight.

Thin_J wrote:

I don't dislike Rousey but have to admit I kinda enjoyed seeing Holm work her over for the entire fight.

I am with you. Not sure that I get all the Rousey hate myself. That said, I love seeing a plan well executed.

Paleocon wrote:
Thin_J wrote:

I don't dislike Rousey but have to admit I kinda enjoyed seeing Holm work her over for the entire fight.

I am with you. Not sure that I get all the Rousey hate myself. That said, I love seeing a plan well executed.

This exactly.

I think Rousey is great, and she's definitely inspiring more women to the sport. And women's MMA is actually taken very seriously. The top two cards on this fight were women, and they were great fights by their own merit, not because they were women.

Paleocon wrote:
Thin_J wrote:

I don't dislike Rousey but have to admit I kinda enjoyed seeing Holm work her over for the entire fight.

I am with you. Not sure that I get all the Rousey hate myself. That said, I love seeing a plan well executed.

Couple reasons why people dislike Ronda. She's extremely cocky and she's a 9/11 and Sandy Hook truther. If you're going to constantly make controversial statements you have to know there's going to be people who don't like you.

I'm not going to insert my opinion on it but I'm just letting you know what I've read from people who don't like her.

I get that there are ok reasons not to like her. I might like her less if I followed the whole scene more closely than I do.

On the other hand, there are certain things that caught my attention. Like Rousey wouldn't even even touch gloves with Holm before the match started. Really? It's a little thing, a small tradition, but it seems like a respect thing and for me that's where her confidence starts bleeding into arrogance and it makes it just that little bit easier to root for the competition.

And from what I can tell the whole time Holm has never engaged in any of the boasting or trash talking? Maybe I'm just out of touch, but from what I can tell she's just always said she's going to do her thing and show up to fight and that's it.

Which is great to me. I wish a solid portion of the NFL would learn how to shut their yaps and just show up and play. I'd like them a lot better.

Gumbie wrote:
Paleocon wrote:
Thin_J wrote:

I don't dislike Rousey but have to admit I kinda enjoyed seeing Holm work her over for the entire fight.

I am with you. Not sure that I get all the Rousey hate myself. That said, I love seeing a plan well executed.

Couple reasons why people dislike Ronda. She's extremely cocky and she's a 9/11 and Sandy Hook truther. If you're going to constantly make controversial statements you have to know there's going to be people who don't like you.

I'm not going to insert my opinion on it but I'm just letting you know what I've read from people who don't like her.

I guess I am more willing to cut her slack because I don't expect her to be terribly sophisticated. It isn't like she is a Rhodes scholar. She dropped out of high school and later got a GED. I see her as a blonde, female version of Mike Tyson.

Thin_J wrote:

I get that there are ok reasons not to like her. I might like her less if I followed the whole scene more closely than I do.

On the other hand, there are certain things that caught my attention. Like Rousey wouldn't even even touch gloves with Holm before the match started. Really? It's a little thing, a small tradition, but it seems like a respect thing and for me that's where her confidence starts bleeding into arrogance and it makes it just that little bit easier to root for the competition.

And from what I can tell the whole time Holm has never engaged in any of the boasting or trash talking? Maybe I'm just out of touch, but from what I can tell she's just always said she's going to do her thing and show up to fight and that's it.

Which is great to me. I wish a solid portion of the NFL would learn how to shut their yaps and just show up and play. I'd like them a lot better.

I, honestly, think that the public persona of the trash talking diva is marketing. Yes she does it and is a willing participant in it, but even she refers to it as "selling the fight".

Paleocon wrote:

I, honestly, think that the public persona of the trash talking diva is marketing. Yes she does it and is a willing participant in it, but even she refers to it as "selling the fight".

If she is indeed playing a character and that's what she wants to do, ok more power to her... but I'm still going to find those little things grating and like her less and less for it.

Thin_J wrote:
Paleocon wrote:

I, honestly, think that the public persona of the trash talking diva is marketing. Yes she does it and is a willing participant in it, but even she refers to it as "selling the fight".

If she is indeed playing a character and that's what she wants to do, ok more power to her... but I'm still going to find those little things grating and like her less and less for it.

I agree it is grating as hell, but the UFC has been three parts WWE for a LONG time. The whole TUF thing is all about injecting pretty meaningless drama into a sport that is second in filler to fight ratio only to sumo.

I know folks are talking about an immediate rematch, but there is nothing I saw on the tape that indicates to me that the Rousey would be ready for what Holm can bring. And the fact that she got beat so badly in what was as dominating a beatdown as you can manage in two rounds leaves me thinking that what Rousey needs is a rebound fight and not an immediate rematch.

The fight I would like Holm take next is Cyborg Justino.

Oh, and if Holm could cut down to 134, so can Justino. She just doesn't want it bad enough.

Gorilla.800.lbs wrote:

This is to the folks who say that high kicks are "unrealistic" and whatnot.

Left leg high kick victory on the weekend CroCop (shoutout to Mirko, number one in my heart) retired and tested positive for HGH.

CroCop wrote:

Right leg hospital. Left leg cemetery.

Aside: I tried to look up the stance of Rousey's past opponents, but wikipedia sucks.
I don't THINK she fought another southpaw in UFC but sources are lacking.

Is now the time when we talk about Joanna Jedrzejczyk?
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Paleocon wrote:

Oh, and if Holm could cut down to 134, so can Justino. She just doesn't want it bad enough.

She'll be able to as long as she stays off the sauce.

Just a thought on the whole public persona of Rousey and what it has meant to the sport. I agree it is grating, but compare the differences between the women's bantamweight division which, because of Rousey and (I would argue) her antics, is the biggest financial draw for the UFC with the attention given the men's flyweight division where Demetrius Johnson is very quietly dominating the division with some of the most inspired fighting I have seen in decades.

Don't know who Demetrius Johnson is? Never seen a fight? Maybe it is because he doesn't believe in trash talking anyone, anytime, ever, for any reason.

Promotion is a thing.

Maybe his camp is going for the long game so that after he retires they can come out with movies and books about the most underrated MMA fighter in history and legends can begin to spring up around his abilities and what could have been had he been given the spotlight. That earns him a place in the history of the sport and higher speaking fees where he can talk about all the fights and training he had that no one ever saw.

Kehama wrote:

Maybe his camp is going for the long game so that after he retires they can come out with movies and books about the most underrated MMA fighter in history and legends can begin to spring up around his abilities and what could have been had he been given the spotlight. That earns him a place in the history of the sport and higher speaking fees where he can talk about all the fights and training he had that no one ever saw.

Hmm. The Hipster fighter. I like it.

Probably the most annoying narrative I keep hearing from folks who obviously don't train at all is this idea that Rousey arrogantly tried to outbox a boxer. BS. She was trying to set up the takedown all night. She just didn't have the tools to do it. She had no answer for Holm's lateral movement and counterpunching. She was completely incapable of cutting off the ring, taking Holm to the cage, and forcing the fight to the ground. Holm was too good at cutting the angles, beating her to the punch, and escaping the cone. And the one time she did manage to get Holm to the mat, she couldn't keep her there.

Folks who say ignorant stuff like "she could have won if she just did....." really just need to train.

Who is Edmond?

mudbunny wrote:

Who is Edmond?

Her "boxing" coach.

Gumbie wrote:
mudbunny wrote:

Who is Edmond?

Her "boxing" coach.

The same coach that said he would need to see the tape to determine if Holm was getting the better of Rousey in the striking. Seriously? Fire his ass.

BTW, has anyone gotten the punch count for the rounds? It felt like every 10 seconds Holm was landing that straight left flush on Rousey's chin. I am actually rather astounded the fight lasted that long.

I saw some commentary from those closer to the ring that his advice to Rousey even during the fight and between rounds was awful and useless.

Popular consensus seems to be that she needs a new trainer. Even some people who actively dislike Rousey seem to agree she'd be better off with some new more proven people around her.