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Six feet Down Under for UFC’s portrayal of Ronda Rousey as Mike Tyson

By Zach Arnold | November 14, 2015

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Ronda Rousey’s many admirers think she is as sexy as Maria Sharapova, but it was supposed to be Holly Holm’s role to play Maria Sharapova to Ronda’s Serena Williams in the cage. Ronda was the 20-to-1 favorite who was going to vanquish the pro-boxing convert to MMA and head onto a giant fight against Cris Cyborg.

Everything changed in Melbourne. Not only did Holly Holm knock out Ronda Rousey, she put her into an ambulance ride to a hospital.

The Buster Douglas comparisons immediately started flying. Quite appropriate, given ESPN’s airing of the Chasing Tyson documentary reviewing the 90s with Tyson/Douglas at the Tokyo Dome and Evander Holyfield watching his then-golden ticket fight with Tyson blow up in smoke. We know how the story played out, including cameos from Riddick Bowe & Michael Moorer.

The Chasing Tyson formula is now UFC’s best case scenario. A scenario where Rousey somehow rebounds, Holm fights the likes of Cris Cyborg, Miesha Tate, and Julianna Pena. For a true hardcore fight fan, these are wonderful scenarios. For the casual fight fan who loved or hated Ronda Rousey only and the media who helped build Rousey up to Rock-level icon status, they are now left with a feeling similar to when Mike Tyson went to jail in Indianapolis.

“[Everything] is on pause,” the venerable Charley Steiner lamented at the time.

The events that transpired before the fight in Melbourne had an eerie tone to what distracted Tyson before his Tokyo Dome fight. Ronda didn’t have rape allegations hanging over her head, but she was hearing and feeling the pressure from critics over what she wrote in her book about physically hitting a man. Was it domestic violence or not?

“Legally, you could almost consider it kidnapping” was the way it was paraphrased in her defense.

There was the Travis Browne “I’m her boyfriend” situation and Ronda hanging up on the conference call. There was Ronda’s mother chewing into trainer Edmond Tarverdyan as a bum, only for Bloody Elbow to extensive report on his major financial woes in bankruptcy court.

The usual questions as to whether or not Ronda would soon retire permanently and head to Hollywood. Would she fight at UFC 200? How long of a layoff would she take? Would she eventually fight Cris Cyborg? There was no peace heading into the Melbourne fight.

Styles make fights and Ronda Rousey faced the worst possible fighter in Holly Holm. A professional boxer with great discipline and foot work. She got crushed.

Suddenly, Ronda’s cheerleaders in the media turned hard on her. ESPN, which sent respected reporter Ramona Shelburne to Australia to cover the fight, found themselves covering Ronda’s demise wall-to-wall while Fox Sports 1 stuck with the Utah/Arizona college football game. Gracious in victory, Holly Holm delivered a fantastic interview with Ms. Shelburne that made you feel really, really good for her. Only a day before the fight, Rousey was trashing Holm the way Donald Trump has been attacking Ben Carson’s character:

A depressed Dana White on ESPN didn’t give a full-throated “yay!” to Holly Holm’s title win. For a man who drew over 56,000 fans to a largely silent Etihad Stadium, he struggled to muster a smile. He acted like his dog died. But women’s MMA sure didn’t.

In an irony of all ironies, Gilbert Melendez and Chael Sonnen dished out the best advice to both UFC & Ronda Rousey on how to move forward. Jonathan Coachman asked whether or not Ronda had the ability to be humble and contrite. Sonnen warned Ronda not to send a public relations flunky on social media to use a fake excuse and that she should admit that she lost to a better fighter in Holly Holm.

Two individuals whom, according to UFC & USADA’s new policy, can no longer associate with fighters due to prohibited association were doing the best job out of anyone in putting a positive foot forward on the events that transpired in Melbourne.

Topics: Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 44 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |

44 Responses to “Six feet Down Under for UFC’s portrayal of Ronda Rousey as Mike Tyson”

  1. Sundog says:

    Gambling problems?

    Ed. — Conjecture on internet, I removed it because there is no hard evidence to back up those claims.

  2. 45 Huddle says:

    This was my favorite UFC fight since Anderson Silva vs. Chris Weidman I. There is nothing more satisfying then watching an overly cocky fighter get KO’d. And now that I think about it, both of the fights were very similar. The “underdogs” dominated the “unbeatable” champion in the first round, and then KO’d them in the second.

    I predicted Holm’s would win, which is why I actually bought the PPV. I wouldn’t have wasted money on thinking Rousey was going to win. I was shocked how favored she was going into the fight. Holm’s is a world class fighter who just happened to under perform for her first few UFC fights. But the talent is all there.

    Hopefully this puts to rest all of the “Ronda is the best ever talk”. She is a one trick pony who showed how much of an amateur she is when can’t pull that trick off and her opponent is as athletic as her.

    EA Cover Curse?

    A few more comments:

    1) I do believe Ronda deep down is just a rotten person. Even after the loss, she didn’t clap for her opponent. During the weigh ins, she was attacking Holm’s personally, which is shocking because Holm’s is about as nice of a fighter as you are going to get.

    2) The weigh-ins proved to me that Ronda was going to lose. To see somebody get that unhinged so quickly was sad to watch. She was literally cracking under the pressure.

    3) Did anybody see the Miesha Tate comments after the fight? Very funny stuff.

    4) I know there will be a rematch next, but why push Rousey so quickly? She has no shot at Holm’s in a rematch without at least 18 months to improve some basic parts of her game.

    5) This does look good for boxing. A boxer comes in, learns the sport of MMA in a few years, and dominates. Not sure if this could happen with the guys, but Holm’s made Ronda look like an amateur by comparison.

    6) Hopefully HH has PPV points in her contract.

    • Mark says:

      1) How many people who get KO’ed are clapping for their opponent?

      Rousey certainly doesn’t come off as a sweetheart, but rotten person? How much of this is a persona to sell fights? She’s a big pro wrestling fan who knows how to play a heel. So she has fans behind her because they think she’s a bad ass and fans who buy shows to see her finally get beat like you did. You cared, so she’s doing something right.

      2) Possibly. Or she could have wanted to get on Sportscenter to sell more PPVs.

      3) It was amusing, but it could also get her “Matt Hughes on camera laughing at GSP losing to Serra” heat. Tate would lose a Holm fight or a Rousey rematch for #1 contendership anyway.

      4) Rousey said before the fight she’s filming that Road House remake, so she won’t be fighting again until UFC 200. So Tate will probably fight Holm in a few months.

      5) It would never happen with guys at championship level.

      6) Doubtful.

      • 45 Huddle says:

        1 & 2) Did you see her freak out at the weigh ins? That wasn’t trying to sell fights. That was a normally negative person who was attacking a normal person.

        3) There is so much hatred for RR, that Miesha will be a hero to many for those remarks.

        4) Even UFC 200 would be too soon to fight HH again. Even Cormier said it on the post fight show.

        6) Nobody really knows. If her management was smart, they would have pushed for it if she was in title fights. Hence why it took so long to sign her.

        • Mark says:

          It’s showbiz. It wasn’t a fight casuals cared about (although the hardcores knew she would give her trouble) because the thought was “Rousey can’t be beat and will just win in less than 90 seconds.” So get that on Sportscenter and make them think it’s going to be some vicious fight. There’s a reason Stephanie McMahon is such a big fan of her: she’s more pro wrestling in UFC than even Lesnar was.

          As for her management: fighters don’t have leverage anymore unless they’re a star. What’s she going to do? Go to Invicta? Fighters have to take what’s given to them.

      • rst says:

        “She’s a big pro wrestling fan who knows how to play a heel.”

        I get the impression that some people and some fans use the excuse of “playing a heel” to justify just being a standard issue asshole.

        I never got the impression that rousey is some sort of cleverly disguised chameleon.

        And I’m pretty sure Chael Sonnen IS Chael Sonnen.

        • Tradition Rules says:

          You may certainly be right,…but it can’t be denied that many fans, casual or otherwise, AND the UFC like that type of persona. Just look at McGregor…. and you typically don’t hear Meissha Tate talking like either of them publicly, but I hear a lot of negative things about her behind the scenes,…doesn’t necessarily mean it’s true, just that we really don’t know.

        • Mark says:

          Chael is the fakest of them all. The guy ran around stealing Razor Ramon lines for his interviews.

      • Mark says:

        Like I said, I don’t doubt that Rousey isn’t the nicest person in the world. But the weigh in stuff was to sell PPVs.

  3. Tradition Rules says:

    Good Fight Card, enjoyed most of the fights,…of course the 2 main events were what sold it for me to watch.

    Some observations:

    1) First, this was the most undisciplined fight I have seen Rousey fight. Not for reasons I’ve heard others say (mainly on sports radio).

    2) She was overly aggressive. Of course she wanted to take Holm down and not spend the fight in a standing, striking exchange. But she employed zero defense when engaging her and trading strikes.

    3) She was “over reaching” her strikes. Anybody who understands boxing/how to strike knows that there is a certain point (not reaching past your lead knee) to maintain control and power in your punches,….unless you are trying a Superman punch/cobra. Otherwise, you lose control, balance, and are open for a counter strike. She also flopped on her face a couple of times, and with HER level of balance, that should not happen

    4) She didn’t just pursue Holm, like most of us thought she would have to, she was literally running after her and swinging punches, some pretty wildly. By the end of the first round, when she walked back to her corner, she was severely winded, taking in very deep breathes. She seemed like she just ran a marathon ( and for more then just chasing Holm around the cage.)

    This, along with the fact that she was bleeding out of her nose (and mouth,) meant she was going to have trouble breathing and breathing with her mouth open, and much more likely to get KO’d if hit in the jaw.

    5)…I believe part of this was frustration on her part that she could not get Holm to engage her recklessly, like many of her prior opponents did. This pretty much lead to most of what she did wrong.

    Holm on the other hand seemed a bit hyper (championship fight jitters?), but maintained control and stayed relatively calm.

    And she threw that BEAUTIFUL left elbow that rocked Rousey. I had never seen Holly throw a single elbow, but I always thought if she incorporated even just a few into her game, she could become much more dangerous.

    Her takedown defense was great and she even took Rousey down (pretty hard too) that one time, and she prevented the armbar attempt. If she can improve her wrestling and grappling to become even more of her game, she will be a great deal of fun to watch every time.

    She won the fight like I had pretty much told everyone I was talking with about the fight: A head kick that she would only throw when she saw a clear opening, as to not rick getting taken down.

  4. Tradition Rules says:

    “Chael is the fakest of them all. The guy ran around stealing Razor Ramon lines for his interviews.”

    Not the mention using The Grappler’s catch phrases…

  5. david m says:

    I was so happy to see that fight. Ronda is incredibly arrogant, and the hype around her made no sense at all. Joe Rogan, who is out of his mind, has a gift for ridiculous hyperbole unlike anyone I have ever seen before. After 5 fights in the UFC, he said Ronda Rousey is a once in human history athlete. Jesus Christ Joe, shut the fuck up. Ronda believed her hype, and so did her deadbeat tax cheat coach. It wasn’t even a competitive fight; I have no idea why the odds were so high; Holly is training at the best mma camp in the world, and Ronda is with the tax evaders telling her she could be a boxing champion even though her boxing is not good at all. Holly is bigger, stronger, faster, moves better, has striking 50 levels beyond anything Ronda will ever get to, and didn’t seem to have any problems with Ronda’s grappling. Women’s mma has the most shallow talent pool on Earth; when Ronda fought a real world-class fighter, she got absolutely humiliated, and it was glorious.

    • Sonnen's Roided Left Nut says:

      To be fair to Joe Rogan, he acts like that on the broadcast, ….because it’s his job. The UFC wants that. He’s popular. And the stuff he says works. The fans eat it up.

      Listen to his podcasts, he’s not quite the same person you hear on the TV broadcasts.

  6. DIAZ'S PACKED BOWL says:

    Writing was on the wall for this one.
    RR had too much on her plate. Coach’s bankruptcy, dating controversial fighter, acting, family discord, wanting to disappear…
    Also we’ve seen that whenever a fighter and their trainers say they could be a pro boxer they end up getting tooled up, mainly from overconfidence ala Arlovski vs Fedor.
    She didn’t put the training time in.
    HH however did everything right prior to and during the fight. She literally ran circles around RR. While HH’s other ufc victories were underwhelming, her other opponents did NOT constantly close distance and attack wildly. HH striking wasn’t as effective with them since they were better able to absorb shots while backing up.

    On to dana dummy white. The dirtbag is living in a fantasy land. People who questioned RR game plan are stupid? No you are stupid for putting all you eggs in one basket, the golden goose is cooked, why not promote HH? Like RR she has an alliterate name she is blond and easy on the eyes and unlike RR she’s not grating on the nerves.

    Dana is replaying his GSP record, claiming an immediate rematch is in order. RR wasn’t exposed she just got beat, doesn’t begin to describe the fight. RR was destroyed and looked like a school yard bully against an adult pro boxer. Dana is such a fool and if it were in his nature he regrets the hell out of doing the wrong thing by not giving the title shot to Tate as he promised. Dana didn’t save Tates career he potentially put the nail in RR’s.

    danas non stop pr blunders, lies and hubris have exposed him yet again as trt laden mouth breathing monosyllabic imbecile unfit to run the company.

  7. King Famous says:

    When the fight was announced, I thought Rhonda would come in, take her down, and do what she has been doing. I didn’t see much out of Holly in her previous fights that showed she could do what she did last night.
    Holly had always seemed really nervous when getting into the UFC cage, even though she got through her fights and won.
    Watching the pre fight videos, the weigh-ins is when I started to think something else – everything else besides the fight was getting to Rhonda. Lots of “after the fight I’m going to do this” talk.
    We’ve seen it before. When fighters start believing their own hype, or get consumed by it, they often will loose.
    Rhonda jumped head first into what seemed like every media opportunity that was thrown at her. And while this helps spread excitement for “the sport” (really the ufc), it completely eats at your soul. Not one of those movies, tv shows or media obligations help you when you step in the cage. All the time Rhonda was busting her ass doing media, Holly was being trained by the best coaches on planet, and absorbing everything.
    To see upsets like that is why I still watch the small amount of fights I watch, but it was the best Holly Holm and the worst version of Rhonda in one night.
    I hope to see Rhonda bounce back from this, but also can’t help but root for Holly after that kind of performance and her humility. She is a class act, and one hell of a fighter. The Champion.

  8. Zach Arnold says:

    Dana is in complete meltdown mode over Ronda. Miesha Tate found herself having to make money at a club on Saturday night and then here’s this:

    http://www.mmafighting.com/2015/11/15/9734098/dana-white-if-miesha-tate-is-thinking-about-retirement-its-probably-a

    Tate would love nothing more than to get out and head to Cokerville, in my opinion…

    • 45 Huddle says:

      Miesha would be a great fit for Bellator. They could do a 145 & 125 lb female divisions. Miesha wants to go down to 125 anyways.

      Dana overplayed his hand with the way he treated Miesha. Now that Ronda lost, Miesha would be a great challenger for the belt. But something tells me he might have to pay up for more since she is getting closer to the end of her contract.

      If McGregor loses to Aldo…. White is going to go postal. The only problem is that I’m not sure who is going to win that fight. A year ago I would have said Aldo easily. But with the additional drug testing and IV bans…. It could change the game on that fight.

    • Mark says:

      So the same guy who did the “Chuck is one win away from getting another title shot!” act for 2 years is saying someone in their prime who just won a big fight needs to go? What a jackass.

    • Mark says:

      Miesha Tate found herself having to make money at a club on Saturday night

      Ooooh! What kind of club?

    • Fan says:

      a) This video was published prior to the Holm/Ronda fight. He wasn’t in ‘meltdown mode’ when he made these statements.

      b) He is calling Miesha’s bluff. That’s all there really is to this. These are essentially contract negotiations taking place in public forums.

      c) Miesha wants the money that comes from fighting Ronda on a big PPV. She needs the UFC for that.

      d) Then, there’s this, which should make Miesha happy: http://mmajunkie.com/2015/11/next-ufc-weight-class-to-be-added-female-125-pound-flyweights

  9. Sonnen's Roided Left Nut says:

    A lot of people just burying Ronda this morning. Kind of lame, how most places I look, all these type of comments keep popping up . ..

    “I predicted this or saw this coming”

    Bullshit. Easy to say now after the fact.

    Stuff happens. Champions lose. Many of the mistakes Ronda made can be corrected if she takes the time when going back to the practice room. It’s not like Holly is THAT much of a superior mma athlete. Styles make fights, and Ronda gave herself no chance behaving like a wild, unskilled chasing fighter. You can’t do that. It played to Holly’s strength’s and made her appear a bit better than she was. Holly was discipline. Ronda wasn’t. There’s the story of the fight.

    If Ronda fixes some things, actually game plans, …I think the rematch will be exciting, and a lot closer.

  10. JV says:

    The rematch will NOT be close whatsoever, this is not JDS vs. Cain I where we didn’t see the fight play out before the KO. Ronda was thoroughly picked apart in every single aspect of her game; on the feet she was completely outclassed, had no lateral movement, she was bum rushing in a direct line and blocking punches with her face… she was walking into everything (left straights, right hooks, elbows, low front kicks, etc.) it wasn’t just rookish–it was unskillful & inept. You could say ‘ok, next time she won’t play into Holm’s strengths’ but guess what? Holly defended beautifully in the clinch & even when she was half-thrown & Ronda went for the armbar–her biggest strength, signature move & the very thing she catches everyone with, what happened? Holly defended perfectly and got back up quite easily, she even took Ronda down once. And for all the ridiculous talk of best athlete ever, she didn’t even show good conditioning. If anything, the rematch will be much worse for Ronda.

    • Chael's roided right nut says:

      Oh it can be closer. Look at what you said. Ronda pretty much handed Holly everything she wanted. Led with her chin, no ducking jabs, no lateral movement, didn’t keep her hands up, etc… Ronda did everything wrong (as well as not show up in good shape) And not only wrong, but deliberately did it all wrong in her self induced rage to finish in 30 seconds. And guess what? It still took Holly around 8 minutes to finish her.

      What do you think would happen to Holly, if she did the equivalent? Came in mad, stuck her arm out into everything she did? She would have been finished in less than a minute.

      Game plans matter.

      Let’s be real here. Holly’s finishing kick wasn’t some masterpiece that was set up ahead of time, etc…It was mostly due to Ronda being down, and standing up face down. She kicked a helpless fighter. Ronda handed that over on a silver platter. Reality is Holly landed a lot of shots, but other than that kick, wasn’t dropping Ronda.

      We’ve seen Holly’s stuff against someone who moderately game plans. Holly isn’t a world beater. Raquel Pennington fought Holly moderately smart, with a bit of defense, and easily held her ground with her. If Raquel can do it, no reason Ronda can’t.

      Not saying Holly isn’t good. She is. But let’s not make the same mistake we did with Ronda, in assigning god like status on a limited number of fights. Especially with women’s MMA, which has no depth and athletes with TONS of holes in their game.

    • Chael's roided right nut says:

      Watch the fight again. Almost all of Holly’s most damaging punches started to occur in the latter half of round one. The straight left she was throwing. Holly wasn’t even having to set it up with a jab. No need to. Ronda was gassing hard late round 1, and COMPLETELY lunging at Holly. Like standing to far away, and lunging with horribly awkward rights she was throwing. Thrown to far away, off balance, and missing. All Holly had to do was one step away, and toss his left. Instant hit. And round 2? Ronda got sloppier, more tired, more lunging. This was a amateur hour boxing match. Holly might as well been fighting an amateur boxer.

      Despite all the above, none of Holly’s lefts dropped Ronda. Ronda kept eating them, completely undefended.

      The finish? Holly didn’t drop Ronda. At the 4:07 mark, Holly nailed Ronda with a left (again), and Ronda responded with a very undisciplined, WILD left of her own. Which missed so badly, it swung Ronda off balance and to her knees. While getting up, Ronda turned her back and left her face unprotected. Holly then kicked her. Might as well been kicking a boxing dummy at that point.

      Holly was impressive. But I’m not sure so if it was THAT impressive, like what she did. Like can really give her high marks for outboxing what was a amateur hour boxing attempt by Ronday? No. No props there. A mediocre amateur boxer could have picked apart that lame effort by Ronda. Can we give Holly high marks for doing the above, against what was a completely gassed fighter at the 3min mark of round 1? Not really. Holly did what she had too, as Ronda gave her very little.

      What Holly gets high marks for is sticking to her game plan. Learning how to defend Ronda’s only TD move, the headlock. And that’s about it, as Ronda offered nothing else. If that makes Holly a super champion these days, so be it.

      From my end, all Ronda had to do was a high double, or drop to a single/double up on the fence. It was there a number of times. It would have worked. As it was, Holly progressively fought more and more ’straight up’, as she realized Ronda only had ONE more. Bull rush to headlock.

      Maybe that exposes Ronda, more than makes Holly a great champion? Or maybe it’s an indictment to the overall level of women’s mma.

      • DIAZ'S PACKED BOWL says:

        Wrong. RR is a Judoka, there’s no touching the legs with their hands in judo. RR doesn’t have the wrestling skills, she doesn’t have those instincts. Shes not going to learn them in 6 months while shooting a movie. She doesn’t have striking skills to deal with a southpaw pro boxer. And finally she doesn’t have the JJ skills to keep it on the mat. When she got thrown to the mat she went to guard and rather than tie up and look for sweeps she actually pushed HH’s right shoulder away instead of hooking it.
        She will get the same beating at ufc 200 if thats what dana has planned for her. See her walk of shame from the airport lobby? shes all messed up..

        • Chael's roided right nut says:

          You said,

          “Wrong”

          What are you, some type of wanna be teacher retard?

          This place is called FightOpinion’. Do you know what an opinion is? Sounds like you don’t. Nor do you realize that just about anyone with 1/10th of a brain cell knows what Judoka employ in their competition, duh . . . we get that. The point there was that it was something that Ronda could have maybe TRIED. That was my point. And is six months enough time to get it down? Who knows. She is an ex Olympic athlete, so it’s not something that would be totally alien to her. Holly Holm was capable of learning a few things, no reason Ronda can’t either.

          Talking in absolutes now is just well, stupid. Like you all know these things for certain. None of you were talking this confidently before the match. And especially not when it comes time to putting your money where your mouth is. MMA is an unpredictable sport at times.

      • DIAZ'S PACKED BOWL says:

        Hey, you’re wrong when you think she could drop for a double leg if she hasn’t trained it.
        Oh and your a so and so! So there. Grow up and and drop the insults.

        • DIAZ'S PACKED BOWL says:

          Old Dana says the critics aren’t fighters and don’t know anything, fair enough. So lets see what some A level fighters think?

          “Holly Holm looked like a world-beater on Saturday,” said Cormier. “Going forward, they’re talking about an immediate rematch for Ronda Rousey? The improvements Ronda needs to make will take much longer than the six-month break she’s anticipating. She needs a year or so. I would actually not fight her back again, if I was Team Rousey.”

          “I think it would be a very bad mistake to give Ronda Rousey an immediate rematch with Holly Holm,” said Florian. “I’m telling you now, I don’t think she’s ready. I think she needs to revamp her footwork, revamp her striking and know how to face a southpaw like Holly Holm. If she goes in there and loses for a second time the UFC will lose their biggest star.”

  11. 45 Huddle says:

    New lows for the MMA Media lately:

    1) Posting an article trying to link HH to a bad drug company.

    2) Posting an article saying how she enjoyed punching RR. But then when you read the actual link she says something very different in context.

    3) Reporting what TMZ is about RR covering her face in the airport.

    Just disgusting.

    • DIAZ'S PACKED BOWL says:

      Mayweather says he’s against an immediate rematch.

      “Me as a former fighter(not a boxercise instructor), I think that she needs some time off to regroup and refocus,” he said. “I think they’re rushing her. They need to build Ronda Rousey back up, her confidence back up, even though I think she’s probably still confident. Let Holly fight, defend the title a few times, and build it. That’s what I would do, looking at it as being a former fighter and now promoter. I wouldn’t rush it.

      “What I would do, I would put them on the same card fighting against different opponents and then slowly build it up.”

      Mayweather is 100% correct.

      UFC now has 2 great memorable pretty women fighters. Idiotic to throw them against each other again… but of course Dana IS a nearsighted idiot, playing personal favorites and looking only short term bottom line.
      So much better for the fans, UFC and fighters to do the RR rebuilds over a year to challenge HH, while HH has two title defenses against Tate and Cyborg(which would be brutal) storyline.

    • Kid Nate says:

      Thanks for reading Bloody Elbow!

      • 45 Huddle says:

        Oh it just wasn’t BE this time. I expect that level of trash from them. Lol.

        I was seeing it at The UG and Junkie this time as well.

  12. rst says:

    Some fella called Todd Martin wrote a really nice article on sherdog about hyper competitiveness and how that probably makes rousy a little bit of a b1tch.
    I thought it was really well written and put rousy into a larger perspective.

  13. King Famous says:

    There doesn’t sound like there is much of a team in team Rousey. Who is sticking up for her if anyone? Is anyone around her telling her the truth, or is it all Yes Men?
    People ask why I’ll watch mediocre fight after mediocre fight. Because when you get to one like this it is always worth the wait.
    Most casual fans didn’t even see the punches Holly was hitting Rhonda with. People were invested in this on a much different level then we have ever seen. Will they come back for the rematch? I do hope Rhonda gives it some time.

  14. Safari_Punch says:

    @ DiazPB

    Judokas cannot touch the leg in tournaments only with an initial attack (last I heard). Morte gari (double reap) is one of the lower body attacks using the hands below the body that is still taught in the dojos. Plenty of “illegal” techniques are used in the dojo but aren’t used in competition.

    Just a heads up.

    • DIAZ'S PACKED BOWL says:

      I hear you. Its been a while since i played Judo, but where I did, sensei never let you touch below the waist except with newaza.

  15. Tradition Rules says:

    What I don’t understand is why Dana White is not hying up, more positively, the “big upset”.

    He, essentially, has TWO superstars in the women’s 135 lb. division now. Rhonda, the destroyer, had her first loss, and Holly, the undefeated boxer/kick boxer, converted the MMA new Champion. Holly is now a star for beating the dominant champ.

    I think there should NOT be an immediate rematch. What I think should be done is have Holly defend the title at least once (twice would be more to my liking).

    It can be promoted as “was it a fluke that she won, or, is she the real deal?”

    For Rhonda, they can hype up the fact that, “She was the dominant champ, destroying challengers in seconds,…can she regain her previous form?….” or some type of promotional BS like that.

    Both of their post UFC 193 fights could sell PPVs, so why would you throw away, not one, but TWO big PPV selling fights? Not to mention, even just having Holly defend the title once would be a fresh match up for the women’s title.

  16. Nepal says:

    I was wondering why Holly was so magnanimous about accepting an immediate rematch. Then I started thinking, an immediate rematch is the best possible scenario for her. Clearly Ronda can’t box at Holly’s level, Ronda has power but he technique is lacking. At 28, Ronda could improve her boxing over the next year or 2. It would be better for Holly to fight her again in 6 month, where the outcome would likely be similar rather than in 18 months after Ronda perhaps spends 18 months with Ray Longo or other top striking coach. If Holly smashes her twice, the bloom is completely off the Rousey rose. She might even move to movies full time a la Gina.

    Another interesting thing is that fight itself. I, like many people were glued to the fight from the first second to the KO… but was it really a good fight? If it weren’t 2 people (really one) that we were emotionally invested in, it would otherwise have been viewed as a crap one sided beatdown and wouldn’t have even been given a 2nd thought. Dana giving it fight of the night was ridiculous, it was great and enjoyable but as a “fight”, it was hardly even a fight. Often I think, why even have a fight of the night, as long as it’s not really bad, just give it to the main event fighters and pretend that they performed to the level they were marketed to perform to.

  17. DIAZ'S PACKED BOWL says:

    Now back to criticizing UFCs shrimpy cards…
    …this show in Mexico, shouldn’t Cain be fighting someone?!?! Anyone? isn’t Cain the big draw in mexico? Shouldn’t he be having a rematch with Big Ben or a dance with Arlovski? Shouldn’t the ufc put on a few more HW fights?
    but noooo… they’re going immediate rematch route, although 10 months isn’t very immediate, again.
    While wasting airtime with little tiny fighters who fight for a fraction of what the HWs get. Again ufc is going the cheapest route possible. And basically preventing many fighters from fighting.
    Dana (janus) white rips shammy vs Royce III because they’re old, but he’s so stingy giving fights to HW’s, they’ll be in their late 40’s 50’s before their next octagon fight!

  18. JV says:

    Just to give you an idea: Canelo used to be with the Televisa network in México, he is now with its biggest rival TV Azteca. The breakup wasn’t pretty & it was a couple of months after the Showtime to HBO move, it was brewing… there were many other factors such as Corona dropping it’s $100 Million dollar per year contract with Televisa.

    The UFC is with Televisa, it’s not about putting a good card, it’s just about having a little thorn in their side on the same night for as cheap as possible. It wasn’t even the UFC’s idea, the network made it worth their while. I doubt it makes a dent on the Canelo network broadcast (Canelo’s fights have bigger ratings than anything on Network primetime and even higher than the National Football/Soccer Team which is insane).

    If Televisa wants to have some sort of competition by using the UFC then they’ll have to have some sort of ‘UFC 100’ caliber card, now that one had huge ratings back when the UFC made its debut in México. Sorry that you are all getting such a crappy card, blame Televisa and not the UFC for this crapfest.

    • DIAZ'S PACKED BOWL says:

      I did not know that.

      • DIAZ'S PACKED BOWL says:

        Anyone check out Dynasty of champions II?
        Narantungalag Jadamba vs Marat “Cobra” Gafurov was a real mma fight. True fans of mma get the real deal with ONE championships.
        I did watch a round of the Cejudo fight, BORING!!! He’ll get embarrassed by MM should he challenge for the shrimp title. Tried watching Diego’s fight, but he was so outclassed I just watched the first round.

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