Last Saturday night, the previously undefeated women’s Bantamweight champ, Ronda Rousey, finally had to put that little number “1” under her losses and surrender her belt.
The long-awaited fight between Rousey and “The Preacher’s Daughter," Holly Holm, came to a quick close in the second round with one of Holm’s mighty, signature kicks landing square on Rousey’s face, knocking her unconscious for the first time in her UFC career.
Many of Rousey’s fans, myself included, were thoroughly disappointed with the champion’s loss; but not as disappointed as we could have been due to the plethora of unsportsmanlike conduct displayed by Rousey leading up to the match, not to mention her clumsy performance in the ring pre-knockout.
Obviously there is going to be tension between two fighters leading up to such a highly anticipated rivalry. But at the UFC weigh-in preceding the fight, those tensions seemed to be pushed to the breaking point on Rousey’s part and her overconfidence began to reveal itself. Upon entering the stage, Rousey went straight up to Holm getting right in her face and raising her fists in an attempt to “show her she was there for a reason. In response, Holm also raised her fists, one of them touching Rousey’s cheek. This is what set Rousey off as the two then had to be held back from each other, seemingly ready to fight right then and there.
When asked what the scuffle was all about Rousey stated that she could see right through Holm’s “fake sweet act”. This accusation that Holm’s respect towards her opponent had been a stunt the entire time was reiterated by Rousey via instagram with a clip of the tussle, captioning it, “Fake ass cheap shotting fake respect fake humility bitch - "preacher's daughter" my ass - I see through your fake sweet act now - you're getting your ass kicked tomorrow, and I'm really going to enjoy the beating I give you.”
At this point, Rousey’s actions had been deemed distasteful. However, the moment where she lost many of her fan’s support was just before the match started. Once in the ring, Holm went to touch gloves with Rousey prior to the first round; a display of respect that most fighters take part in before the first round begins - Rousey refused. Her fans and haters alike took to social media, disappointedly commenting on the arrogant display of disrespect.
The fight proved Rousey’s overconfidence to be just that as she stumbled around the ring while Holm landed shot after shot to the champ’s face. Rousey did manage to get Holm to the ground once, but only for a few seconds as Holm knew Rousey’s ground skills would be the end of her, prompting her to get up as fast as she could. After the tremendous kick to Rousey’s face, packing 50 pound of force behind it, the reign of Rousey came to a disappointing, but arguably deserved end.
Some say that Rousey’s underhanded actions were all about the hype, and were simply tactics to get her psyched up for the fight. Others argue that she had the TKO coming to her by that point because of her contempt and discourtesy. Either way, a rematch is definitely in order, both in the opinion of fans and fighters. Despite her extensive injuries from that condemning kick, which brought on the need for plastic surgery, Rousey has voiced her intention of reclaiming her title. She posted on instagram after the fight, “I just wanted to thank everyone for their love and support. I appreciate the concerns for my health, but I’m fine. As I had mentioned before, I’m going to take a little bit of time, but I’ll be back.”
In the meantime, the new women’s Bantamweight champion, Holly Holm, plans on thoroughly preparing herself for Rousey’s come-back, counting on the inevitable animosity that will come with her. In an interview with Extra’s Mario Lopez, Holm said, “I’ll train just as hard, I'll train twice as hard for the rematch, because anyone who has been as successful as Ronda has obviously been a champion for a reason. She’s a very dominant athlete, a very hard-working athlete, so I know she'll be coming back with a vengeance and I'll have to be ready.”
Until Ronda returns, the world will wait with bated breath to witness her attempt at redemption. Hopefully she won't make the same mistakes twice.
