mma / Columns

Ronda Rousey’s Loss and Why It’s a Good Thing

November 17, 2015 | Posted by Evan Zivin

It looks like the gold mining industry that helped establish Melbourne, Australia in the 19th century is still going strong.

Or at least it is for Holly Holm, as she dug up 13 pounds of it on Saturday night.

UFC 193 proved to be quite a historic night. Not only was it the first UFC event held in the Australian state of Victoria, it was held in front of an announced attendance of 56,124, the largest ever for a UFC event.

And those 56,124 saw quite the show. They saw James Moontasri connect with a spinning back kick, spinning back fist combination that would make any Diaz brother blush. They saw Kyle Noke crush Peter Sobotta’s ribs with a body kick. They saw Mark Hunt at his Super Samoan best, pounding out whatever is left of Bigfoot Silva at this point.

They saw Joanna Jędrzejczyk face off with a game Valérie Létourneau. The fight stayed close through all five rounds, with Jędrzejczyk’s ability to sneak in punches and land lots of leg kicks being the difference that earned her the unanimous decision and another successful defense of her UFC Strawweight Championship.

And, in the main event, they saw Ronda Rousey, UFC Women’s Bantamweight Champion, and the female G.O.A.T. (that’s called a doe or something, right?), fall from her throne, as former boxing world champion Holly Holm knocked her out with a head kick to become the new champion.

That’s right. The sky is falling, the tooth fairy isn’t real, our next president is going to be either Donald Trump’s hairpiece or a brainless brain surgeon, and Ronda Rousey is no longer the best female fighter in the world.

And, honestly? I don’t think that’s such a bad thing.

There are a lot of reasons that could be cited for why Rousey, the woman who had been utterly dominant in dispatching every other top contender at 135, was made to look so lost and helpless against Holm, who earned the title shot off a rather unimpressive victory against a borderline Top 10 fighter.

Maybe Rousey didn’t take the fight all that seriously, or as seriously as she needed to. Maybe she thought she’d walk through Holm just like she did Miesha Tate and Cat Zingano and Bethe Correia and everyone else who has been placed in front of her. Maybe she felt her abilities would be enough to get the job done like they always had before.

Maybe she hadn’t accounted for how far Holm’s grappling has come since she first entered MMA. Maybe she didn’t think that Holm, let alone anyone, would be capable of stopping her judo throws and prevent any significant action from taking place on the ground, where she is at her best. Maybe she thought her striking, which is powerful but still very sloppy and rudimentary, would be enough against the vastly superior technique and footwork of Holly Holm.

Seriously, Holly’s technique was outstanding. Her jabs and straight punches were connecting, she stayed loose on her feet and avoided most of Ronda’s attacks, and she went for the kill when the opportunity presented itself.

We like to criticize the gameplanning of Greg Jackson, since it has produced some boring fights and fighters, but, against an aggressive fighter like Ronda Rousey, it was effective as hell. Holm combined the strategy of “The Sport Killer” with the technique she’s developed over the last 20 years with Mike Winklejohn to make the most dominant athlete in the world today look like she had never been in a fight before. It was masterful stuff.

Of course, I could mention some of the other distractions that have been surrounding Ronda’s life, like the criticisms her Mom levied at her coach, or her relationship with alleged domestic abuser Travis Browne, or all the movies and pro wrestling appearances that are cutting in to her training time, or just the pressure she must be under to perform because she’s Ronda freakin’ Rousey, but to do so would not be fair to Holly. Holm rose to the occasion, didn’t wilt under pressure, and fought a perfect fight to earn the upset win and become the new Baddest Woman on the Planet.

Now, why do I say it’s good that Holly won and Ronda lost? It’s certainly easy to say why it’s bad, namely that Ronda is the biggest draw in the UFC and part of that is due to her dominance. Ronda has been built up as this unbeatable juggernaut, made believable by how easily she has beaten every challenger she has faced, and it definitely hurts her to have everyone know that she’s no longer invincible. Maybe she was never invincible to begin with and just hid it well.

Before, Ronda was a God. Now, she’s nothing but a mere mortal, capable of being hurt and beaten just like everyone else. All it took was a skilled enough fighter with the right strategy to prove it.

Ronda won’t completely lose her drawing power, as she’s still an immensely popular personality, but it will hurt the build of future fights not having that “0” in her record any longer. Just think of all the potential money that has faded from reality because of her loss. She’s still a great fighter but she’ll never be as great as she was before Saturday night. Not ever again, or at least that’s how it will seem to many. The fight was a loss for Ronda, a loss for her coaches, a loss for the UFC, and a loss for the continued growth and mainstream popularity of the sport.

I mean, look how quickly the MMA bubble burst in 2010 after Brock Lesnar lost, or in 2007 after Chuck Liddell lost. Saturday night was a devastating night for the sport in ways we’ll never be able to fully comprehend.

But that doesn’t mean the world is over. The sport will recover, like it always has, and there’s the potential for some interesting fights in the wake of what happened. While Rousey has mostly cleaned out the division and was getting desperate for a real challenge (I still can’t believe we were onboard with seeing her fight Miesha again…), Holm won the title without facing any top challengers. So, provided Holly can hold onto the belt, we have a crop of fresh title matches waiting for us at 135.

Losing also frees Ronda up to work the schedule she wants and to take the fights she wants without the pressure to return and defend the belt. Ronda’s been one of the most active champions in the UFC, defending her belt 5 times in two years. She was already planning to take time off after this fight but now she has the luxury to take as much time as she needs to heal and rest up and regain her focus after she’s done working on films or becoming WWE Divas Champion or whatever else she wants to accomplish.

Then, when she’s ready to return, she’ll make UFC a huge amount of money in trying to get that belt back. While I don’t think Ronda deserves an immediate rematch for the belt or any sort of title shot without at least one fight first, we all know she’ll be fighting Holly again. It’s the biggest money fight the weight class has now and, even though the risk of Ronda losing to Holly again is a great one, it’s one UFC will be willing to take because they know casual fans love a good redemption story and – hey, what do you know – there’s one right here that’s being written right in front of our eyes!

And they know we’ll be waiting to see how that story ends. I’m guessing with hot wings.

Evan Zivin has been writing for 411 MMA since May of 2013. Evan loves the sport, and likes to takes a lighthearted look at the world of MMA in his writing…usually.

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Ronda Rousey, Evan Zivin