The Kick Heard Down Under: Ronda Rousey Goes Down To Holly Holm At UFC 193, Rematch Coming Immediately?

Unless you’re living under a rock, you know Ronda Rousey is now a former UFC Women’s Bantamweight Champion as she lost to Holly Holm in the main event of UFC 193 in Australia, which saw a record crowd and great love from the Aussie fans all night.

Ronda has been the only person to hold this title in UFC history as she has held it since she first won it. Rousey then became the top draw in all of UFC with her ability to consistently win in impressive fashion. Then Holly Holm comes in.

On paper, it was Ronda Rousey’s toughest test. Holm had a great camp in the Jackson-Winkeljohn MMA Academy helping her, and she was a lethal striker. Holm was a multi-time boxing and kickboxing champion, so everyone knew she was legit when she came in. However, straight boxers normally do not beat great Judo and ground workers. You have to improve, and Holm knew the type of game Ronda Rousey had and what she would go to.

Rousey lost on Saturday night, not because she was over-confident, but because she was not the best fighter on that day. She was beaten, and not by a little, but by a lot. Holm landed over 30 strikes to Rousey and it is hard to win when all of those come in at a major rate, and all hit hard in significant places.

The fight actually started Friday at the weigh-in. Ronda went in like she always does to do the fight picture. Once she did, Holm pushed her back with her fist to her face. This only fired up Rousey and infuriated her, which led many to assume that Ronda would go out and get major revenge immediately. This means anyone saying that Ronda was a poor sport for not touching gloves each of the two rounds needs to wake up; of course she wouldn’t after what happened at the weigh-in. Few would.

From there, Holm dominated most of the fight. Again, she landed big strikes the entire fight, and it seemed that Ronda could never get into her style. Finally, it led to a kick to the head which knocked Rousey out and ended the fight, giving us a new champion.

Was Ronda not training hard enough? Was she distracted by another upcoming project? There are a ton of people who believe if she was more focused on MMA than her brand, she would not have lost to Holly Holm.

She is so used to winning easily, you cannot blame her for assuming Holm would be just another fight. However, that does a disservice to Ronda as she does train hard; she simply was not the best on a given night. This led many to wonder if we would get a rematch, and by the looks of it, it is possible.

When asked by ESPN about a rematch in the future, Holly Holm said she firmly believes a champion should get a rematch for their lost title, so she is willing to go again. Ronda has yet to respond, but of course she was taken to the hospital after being knocked out.

For those wondering, this is a UFC rule. Anyone who gets knocked out is transported to a local hospital to get checked out to make sure they are okay. It is nothing new, but for some reason when people saw that Ronda Rousey was being transported by an ambulance to a hospital, everyone assumed the worst. She is most likely fine, but will be evaluated.

Ronda will be busy doing the remake to Roadhouse very soon. This means she won’t be able to fight for a while. There is talk of her appearing at UFC 200 next summer, which would give her plenty of time not only to train, but to get everything cleared up so that she could be in the best possible shape for the fight that she may be in.

Many love to hate on Ronda Rousey because she is confident and talks a big game. She should. Everyone should believe in themselves and think they are the best any given day. If not, you’re not going to win anything. You have to believe in yourself so others can do so. Otherwise there is no reason to fight so that you can prove it. She talks a lot because she is trying to sell a fight, not unlike a pro-wrestler selling themselves on their big PPV match. There is literally no difference, it is promotion. Plus, she is the biggest star in the UFC.

Ronda Rousey is who people want to talk to and have on their talk show. No one knew Holly Holm until Saturday night. So naturally, Ronda will talk because she has to. However, she was respectful about Holm the entire time. That said, any hate going on regarding Rousey is ignorant. She lost and many many MMA fighters do. Most of the greats lost at least once.

Holly Holm played Buster Douglas tonight against Ronda Rousey’s Mike Tyson. Holly Holm will forever be known as the person who ended the reign of Ronda Rousey and handed her the very first loss of her MMA career. However, there is a reason we know Tyson more than Douglas. Tyson continued to be great. Ronda can be just as well, and it starts with a rematch. The numbers it could do alone are worth it for the UFC. Expect UFC President Dana White to book it as soon as he gets word Ronda wants to do it. Holly Holm has already claimed she is willing.

This may be a bad night for Ronda Rousey and her supporters, but it can only be good for the sport of MMA and the UFC itself. A rematch will sell a lot of tickets and PPVs, and you can almost guarantee it will destroy records. It might have been the best thing to ever happen to UFC at the end of the day.

[Image via UFC]