Official UFC Thread - Part 6

[Mindreaper21]

Night Night, Ronda. She's catching some Z's on that foot thinking its a pillow.

 

[Black Narcissus]

Why wouldn't she be?

She was losing her ass, but it seems to be back.

 

[TheCommissioner]

She went to the hospital. Apparently she is fine. Plenty of people are knocked out and get worse done to them in MMA and Boxing and still talk to the media afterwards. There was no way she was going to talk to the media.

Those that talk the most before the fight are the ones who have nothing to say after they lose. It was just like Broner shaking his way to the back after Maidana beat him down.

could be, or maybe with the light being cast on concussions so much, getting her looked at was more important than a press conference

 

[DarthSkywalker]

She was losing her ass, but it seems to be back.

I must have missed that tiny bit of downsizing.

 

[DarthSkywalker]

could be, or maybe with the light being cast on concussions so much, getting her looked at was more important than a press conference

She didn't have to go to the presser.

 

[aNarcHy2day]

I'd consider the possibility that Holm has a perfect game to go up against Rousey-Ronda's biggest weakness was her biggest strength. Also, quite possibly she was underprepared and probably over confident. She did not have any strategy whatsoever to cover for her precieved weaknesses. So, even Holm looked much much better than she did in previous matches.

The rematch is crucial for Ronda's career-anyone can lose a stray match especially after they were as short as the ones she has been in in recent times. If she loses again, that's probably the end of her 'best of all time' rhetoric.

 

[Black Narcissus]

I must have missed that tiny bit of downsizing.

It makes a difference.

 

[DarthSkywalker]

Was this Ronda's first fight under the USADA testing? If so, she gassed pretty hard. Makes you think.

 

[TheCommissioner]

I don't think so, I think her last was as well

as a fan, if a fighter has 9 or 10 fights that dont go past a minute, train all you want, but if a fight goes long, it has an effect

same thing happened to Tyson when he fought Buster Douglas

 

[DarthSkywalker]

I don't think so, I think her last was as well

as a fan, if a fighter has 9 or 10 fights that dont go past a minute, train all you want, but if a fight goes long, it has an effect

same thing happened to Tyson when he fought Buster Douglas

Tyson didn't train properly for Buster.

This was Ronda's first full training camp under the new rules.

 

[BattleCat]

I'd consider the possibility that Holm has a perfect game to go up against Rousey-Ronda's biggest weakness was her biggest strength. Also, quite possibly she was underprepared and probably over confident. She did not have any strategy whatsoever to cover for her precieved weaknesses. So, even Holm looked much much better than she did in previous matches.

The rematch is crucial for Ronda's career-anyone can lose a stray match especially after they were as short as the ones she has been in in recent times. If she loses again, that's probably the end of her 'best of all time' rhetoric.

Ahhh the classic under prepared excuse.

 

[Longshot777]

Dam so Holm could also beat Mayweather too in a street fight lol

 

[The Game]

How the heck do you think you can go toe to toe with a boxer and not come out second best?

Because if you can beat up Mayweather, then surely you can do the same to other boxers

 

[Dr. Evil]

And now it's Mayweather's turn to lose.....that guy is a jackass.

 

[Nardz937]

 

[aNarcHy2day]

Ahhh the classic under prepared excuse.

I did not use "underprepared" as an excuse for Ronda. If anything, it's a big problem for her. What I was pointing out is that Holm had the perfect natural game to counter Rousey and Rousey quite obviously didn't work enough on that aspect. Holly is undoubtedly a great striker but irrefutable proof can only come if she wins her rematch-which I think she will.

I'm not defending or offering excuses for anyone at all. I'm just saying the obvious.

 

[B]

See, this kind of comment I think shows some insight -rather than Ronda simply got on the wrong end of karma. Nicely put dude.

Cheers.

Do you think RR will come back from this ? I agree that it's good for the division, (and I'm an RR fan, although full credit to Holm for making Ronda fight her fight - a great gameplan,worked perfectly) because having a champion who's too dominant effectively kills off the up and coming competition.

One of GSP's great moments was losing to Serra, and having to rethink his gameplan - hope RR can do the same. I think that the one thing that is perhaps even greater than an undefeated champion, is the champ who wins, defends, eventually loses and then regains their title - an enormous test of character.

As for Holm, she reminded me a little of Chuck Liddell, in terms of her ability to keep things standing up, and unload (albeit with a kick rather than a punch). Good on her !

I'm sure she'll come back from it, if there is an immediate rematch at UFC 200, something I'm not sure should happen despite Ronda's dominance of the division thus far, Miesha Tate should get first shot as the lost to Holm was quite definitive, but if there is a rematch I'd expect it to go a lot differently.

You mention GSP, it's a very similar situation to his, he lost to Serra who was a massive underdog & that defeat to Serra was arguably the defining moment of his career & despite his immense talent before the fight, it wasn't until after until he truly became arguably the most well rounded fighter that's ever fought in MMA.

It's very similar because people were talking about GSP in that fight as if he was going to steamroll Serra & were already planning his next couple of fights, same as Rousey, people were already talking about a rematch with Tate or a bout with Cyborg.

Holly did fantastic, I feel her performance was only aided though by Rousey's gameplan, if there's a rematch I would expect Ronda to cut more angles & try to focus on turning it into a grappling match rather than a standup fight.

 

[Brian Braddock]

But we saw that there were times when she did try to make it a grappling match, and Holm got out of it each time (hell, she even managed to take Rousey down at one point)?

 

[Longshot777]

That is awesome!!!!! Hahahahaha

 

[Moridin]

Excellent breakdown of the fight here from Firas Zahabi:
[YT]p3stwtCmWTA[/YT]

Really shows how well prepared Holly was, how she shut down Ronda's game.

The other fighters in the division will be studying this hard, Ronda's job got a lot harder.

 

[kane9321]

F THIS RIGHT AWAY REMATCH BS...Miesha Tate is next in line

 

[Unbreakable Lex]

I think Ronda's corner needs to shoulder some of the blame, I mean if the gameplan her corner came up for her to nullify Holly's striking advantage was to move forward in straight lines trying to constantly pressure her then she should seriously consider taking her bags & moving to another camp.

You don't just try to march forward, in straight lines, against even a mildly experienced boxer/kickboxer in an attempt to pressure them & certainly not one who's fought at the level of Holm. Footwork & movement are pretty much kickboxing/boxing 101, to have a gameplan that relies on the other person not having good footwork is ignorance on either her, her camp or both's part given that Holm is a former world female boxing champion.

Not ignorance, arrogance.

 

[E-Man]

Cheers.



I'm sure she'll come back from it, if there is an immediate rematch at UFC 200, something I'm not sure should happen despite Ronda's dominance of the division thus far, Miesha Tate should get first shot as the lost to Holm was quite definitive, but if there is a rematch I'd expect it to go a lot differently.

You mention GSP, it's a very similar situation to his, he lost to Serra who was a massive underdog & that defeat to Serra was arguably the defining moment of his career & despite his immense talent before the fight, it wasn't until after until he truly became arguably the most well rounded fighter that's ever fought in MMA.

It's very similar because people were talking about GSP in that fight as if he was going to steamroll Serra & were already planning his next couple of fights, same as Rousey, people were already talking about a rematch with Tate or a bout with Cyborg.

Holly did fantastic, I feel her performance was only aided though by Rousey's gameplan, if there's a rematch I would expect Ronda to cut more angles & try to focus on turning it into a grappling match rather than a standup fight.

I'm going to have to disagree with you there. Ronda had the best possible gameplan for the type of skills she has. She is too limited a fighter for a gameplan to change the outcome of this fight. As a judoka she has to get within clinch range to even work her game, and that won't work against someone like Holly who uses good footwork to stay out of range and tag her with shots. Ronda did the same thing she always does to win, but she fought someone who knew who to throw a straight punch and use angles rather than moving backward into the cage. Take a look at all of her fights before this. Ronda basically just bullrushes girls and gets into clinch range while they stand there and throw a few punches thinking it will succeed. Just look at Sara McMann, which is probably Ronda's best fight. Sara throw some hard shots and tagged Ronda, but had no power or movement and got pushed against the cage. This is bantamweight WMMA. These girls don't know a lot of the simple things like moving around the cage, tucking their chins, defending takedowns, and even defending the standard submissions. Ronda got away with a ton because everyone else is as limited as she is, but Holly is not because she actually added to her kickboxing skillset and has the footwork to beat girls who know nothing about actual striking besides throwing punches like Ronda. Ronda could have won this if she was a good wrestler that could shoot from afar to get Holly down, but judokas don't have that ability all the time. It's why they lose at times to people who know how to stay out of their range. It's also why you don't see too many male judokas dominating outside of a few guys like Lombard, Dong Hyung Kim, and Karo before drugs did him in. It's a great base to have, but it can be easily nullified by good wrestling and boxing if the judoka isn't well rounded. Ronda is as limited as they come, and she got by on fighting girls even worse than she is. She is straight up Royce Gracie fighting people who knew nothing about the ground game, and Holly is the Sakuraba that shut her down by taking away her one advantage. Now you see why Cyborg is the Marco Ruas that Ronda/Royce had been desperately ducking for so long. The Gracies did the same thing Ronda is doing with Cyborg to Marco Ruas because they knew he was well versed in the ground game, and could knock them out on the feet as well. History is basically repeating itself.

I know what you're thinking too. Why didn't Holly knock out girls so easily like she did to Ronda. It's because the girls Holly fought in the UFC were just in there fighting to survive. Ronda, to her credit, doesn't have that same type of fear, so she kept trying to do what she could to win instead of just not wanting to get knocked out. What she didn't plan for was Holly defending her armbar, and moving her hips around in the clinch so she couldn't throw her. But Ronda's aggression worked to the knock out because she wasn't too afraid to get knocked out. It's like when supposedly boring wrestlers fight guys who actually try to win instead of just lay on their backs and hold on. When they fight guys who go for submissions off their backs and try to stand up then they open themselves up for more punishment. A good example is GSP vs. Condit. Most of GSP's competition after Fitch just fought to hold on while Condit threw the kitchen sink at GSP on the feet and the ground. Needless to say Condit was GSP's best fight since the Matt Hughes wins, and that's all because he didn't just accept defeat early on and then ***** about being taken down. Ronda had no fear. She paid for it, but it made it entertaining instead of the boring decisions like Holm vs. Pennington and Reneau. That's also why a fight with Miesha might be very boring from Holm. Miesha might just fight to survive after getting tagged a few times, and Holly would be patient instead of trying to force a brawl like an idiot. That actually might be the UFC's best bet instead of getting Ronda owned again. Holly could fight a timid Miesha that fights to either a decision or a late corner stoppage. People would then try to make the argument that Ronda beat Miesha better, and she was overtrained, jet lagged, living too much like a rockstar, or whatever to fight her best against Holm. They could then market the rematch better if Ronda fought someone else and did her usual bumfight thing where she wins early in the fight, then talks **** about beating Holm. This way they can prolong Ronda's career better because if she fights Holly again without taking on anyone else she's going to get the **** beat out of her again, and she wouldn't have a shot at a title anymore. The only money fight left would be Cyborg, but we all know damn well she ain't going for that unless Cyborg is drained as hell at 135.

 

[Golgo-13]

LAwd.

Miesha Tate celebrated so hard. She is still hnnnghhh to me.

Love me some Miesha Tate. She's the only other opponant to last against Rousey into the second round.

Both Cyborg and Tate celebrated via twitter after that KO.

 

[DarthSkywalker]

This is an absolutely beautiful breakdown:

http://fightland.vice.com/blog/how-holly-holm-killed-queen-ronda-rousey

Three things that need to be thought about when breaking down this fight:

1. Ronda is a Judoka, not a wrestler. Her only entry move is the bull rush. She doesn't know how to wrestle. So once the clinch didn't work, she was in trouble. A lot of trouble.

2. Ronda isn't use to be forced to move in a fight. Holm's keeping her at a distance, using angles and making her move/circle wore Ronda out. Look at how exhausted she was at the end of the fight. Top flight boxers are some of the best athletes in the world for a reason.

3. Ronda is crazy talented, but she has a horrible coach and corner. They clearly had no idea what was going on, and they have let Ronda coast on her pure talent and previous skills. A good coach would have taught her footwork and how to hit a double leg a long time ago.