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Holly Holm shocked the world at UFC 193, defeating Ronda Rousey via TKO to win the UFC bantamweight championship in one of the biggest upsets in combat sports history. Holm KO’d Rousey in round two to end Rousey’s unbeaten streak and become the new UFC women’s bantamweight champion.

Fair or not, Holm got the shot and there weren’t a whole lot of analysts that gave her much of a chance. Vegas odds had Rousey at somewhere around -2000 for the fight which whether you like Miesha or not, Rousey was a -555 favorite going into that fight. Holm was highly disrespected by analysts and oddsmakers and I am not sure why. She had the big fight experience from boxing and kickboxing, giving her a mental edge that Rousey’s opponents never had.

This was a different Ronda Rousey fight from the opening bell. Holm peppered Rousey from the open with jabs and strikes. A big moment came at the midway point of round 1 when Holm escaped an armbar attempt and popped back up. At that point, you could sense something was different about this fight. Holm battered Rousey’s face throughout the rest of the round with the left, at one point even taking down Rousey. It was the first round Rousey ever lost in her career and she looked very vulnerable as the round closed.

Holm made Rousey look foolish in the opener of round two as Rousey fell down after missing a punch and looked frazzled. The round ended with Holm nailing a nasty kick and then following up with ground and pound TKO. A  slowed-down version of the kick, which can be found in many .gifs on social media really captures how absolutely brutal it was. Rousey was down for awhile after she got hit. The finish comes in 59 seconds of round number two.  Holly Holm shocked the world!

Rousey has been mentioning retirement as of late. The buzz is that Rousey will sit out for almost a year, not fighting again until next July at UFC 200. Whether that changes or not now that she lost is another story. I have to believe that there is big money in a rematch with these two. Unfortunately, I just can’t see Rousey winning a rematch. Holm was in a completely different class as a striker and Rousey looked one-dimensional with no answers as the fight went on. The rematch will be big, but it probably won’t end the way UFC wants it to end.

The loss is a major game changer for UFC business. The UFC was banking on a mega Rousey fight at UFC 200, likely against Cristine Justino. Not only will that fight likely change, the big money that would have come with a Cyborg vs. Rousey fight took a major hit with this one. I still think that a Rousey-Cyborg fight would be huge whether Rousey loses her rematch to Holm or not. However, it won’t be the mega fight the promotion hoped it would be.

A lot of analysts are comparing the loss to Buster Douglas upsetting Mike Tyson. I would disagree in that I think Holm was more the real-deal so to speak than Douglas who was a fluke. One comparison I heard was the turmoil in Rousey’s life in regards to her boyfriend taking their relationship public, his ex-wife’s claims, her mother publicly criticizing her coach, and her coach claiming bankruptcy. That is a lot to handle before a fight and maybe that was it, although I think it’s unfair to Holm to credit the loss to that. However, in terms of Vegas odds it certainly ranks up there. Speaking of Vegas odds, it has also been noted that a lot of money came in on Holm in the last 24 hours, following the melee at the weigh-ins.

The bigger question is what happens to Rousey? Will Rousey’s franchise ever recover from such a catastrophic loss? I think it can, but I also think that the public may not find her as endearing. She gets away with a lot of stuff other mainstream athletes do not, for instance not touching gloves tonight. I think her biggest test will be how she presents herself moving forward. If she proceeds as a gracious and humble ex-champion, I think she’ll be fine. If she whines or complains in any way, I think she could have problems.

Full UFC 193 Card and winners…
Main UFC 193 Card
Holly Holm defeated Ronda Rousey to win the UFC Women’s Bantamweight title
Joanna Jedrzejczyk defeated Valerie Letourneau via Decision (unanimous) to retain the UFC Women’s Strawweight title
Mark Hunt defeated Antonio Silva via TKO
Robert Whittaker defeated Uriah Hall via Decision (unanimous)
Jared Rosholt defeated Stefan Struve via Decision (unanimous)
UFC 193 Undercard
Jake Matthews defeated Akbarh Arreloa via TKO
Kyle Noke defeated Peter Sobotta via TKO
Gian Villante defeated Anthony Perosh via KO
Danny Martinez defeated Richie Vaculik via Decision (unanimous)
Daniel Kelly defeated Steve Montgomery via Decision (unanimous)
Richard Walsh defeated Steve Kennedy via Decision (unanimous)
James Moontasri defeated Anton Zafir via TKO
Ben Nguyen defeated Ryan Benoit via Submission

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