Holm fought a perfect fight but was Rousey’s defeat on the cards?

Holly “the preachers daughter” Holm became the new undisputed bantamweight champion following a her brutal second round knockout of Ronda Rousey.

It was no more than she deserved as she looked good from the outset and systematically dismantled Rousey, using her superior boxing skills, movement and footwork. The southpaw and 18 time world boxing champion just couldn’t miss, as she consistently connected with some stunning straight left hands to the face.

Rousey seemed to get desperate in the first round, chasing Holm around the octagon struggling to land a significant glove on her.

Even when Rousey took Holm down and for a split second that inevitable armbar thought crossed your mind.

Holm was able to stay calm and get back to her feet. Holm even took Rousey down herself but intelligently got back up to keep the fight standing where she was having so much success.

The end came following another straight left that stumbled and disoriented Rousey, Holm then delivered a devastating kick to the neck that made Rousey fall hard, head first, to the floor. Holm then finished it with two brutal hammer fists to the face, forcing ref Herb Dean to stop the fight.

Holm’s boxing experienced exposed Rousey’s inexperience in the stand up, something we all suspected was there but until now Ronda had always managed to negate by using her own Judo skills and experience.

Many may say Ronda fought the wrong fight by trying to trade and should have just stuck to her judo, got Holm to the ground and looked for the usually armbar. Though the one brief time Holm was taken down, she stated Rousey did start to go for the arm, but the way Ronda had been so dominant in her UFC career, how could anyone blame her for looking to trade? With that being said, I actually believe her dominance is what led to her downfall.

All it needed was an lucky or unlucky (depending on how you look at it) twist of fate to seal the deal. This came in the weigh ins, during the stare down.

While both fighters were jockeying for position, a tussle ensued and Holm managed to get her fist on Ronda’s face. From that moment the course of the fight changed.

This is why fighters are always doing things during the weigh ins or stare downs to get a psychological advantage on their opponents, and after that small altercation, I felt Ronda looked rattled. I believe she was slightly embarrassed, her emotions kicked in and regardless of what her game plan was, she was going all out to knock Holm out.

Regardless of how dominant a champion Ronda has been, she still was a novice of 12 fights. She fought a combined total of just over two minutes in her last four fights and this definitely worked against her.

Beating her previous opponents so easily has not allowed her to gain further octagon experience, especially in the stand up. She has not really been dragged into a dog fight or needed to come through much adversity. This inexperienced showed.

Only one of her 12 wins went past the first round. So to me it was inevitable that if this continued, she was going to come unstuck. But it needed the right opponent, with the right skills, in the right scenario, at the right time.

I previously thought Bethe Correia could have been the right one but Rousey walked through her, which in the long run went against Rousey also.

Correia is a brawler and was known for having a great stand up. When Ronda decided to trade with her and spectacularly knocked her out in the first round, beating her at her own game, I’m sure it gave Ronda the confidence to trade with anyone.

But there is a big difference between a brawler and an experienced boxer which Holm demonstrated. The fight could have been different if Ronda stuck to her Judo and looked for the armbar from the outset, but we will never know.

In terms of the right scenario at the right time. Outside the octagon, Ronda’s mum recently gave an interview where surprisingly she explained her dislike for Ronda’s trainer Edmond Tarverdyan.

She called him a “terrible coach” explaining that Ronda was already a winner before she joined him, even implying he has done nothing to improve her. She also warned anyone else from going to him. That was the first indication of any issues in the camp.

Ronda has also recently confirmed she is dating married UFC heavyweight Travis Browne which became quite contentious as she found her self having to defend him being accused of domestic violence against his wife.

To add to this, Ronda also has had cameo roles in movies, and is now staring in her own movie. She has also recently written a book and has had a multitude of TV/celebrity appearances including getting in the ring during Wrestlemania in March. She was even recently endorsing Bernie Sanders run for the 2016 presidency.

I am not for one second saying if it wasn’t for all these things Ronda would have beaten Holm. But as I stated, it needed all these things to came together at the right time to cause one of the biggest upsets in UFC’s history.

It still needed Holly Holm to be perfect in every way to pull it off and that is exactly what she was. There is no doubt she worked extremely hard for this fight, had the perfect game plan and executed it flawlessly. To be honest, she destroyed Ronda.

The question now will be how will this devastating defeat affect Rousey? Champions have come back from devastating defeats before to be even better, but undefeated champions have also never been the same after such a devastating defeat.

Only time will tell how Rousey will come back from this as inevitably a rematch is on the cards. That I hear will possibly be penned in for UFC200 in July 2016. But then again anything can happen in the world of UFC.

Though it’s very early, Holm could possibly have her first defence before that against another opponent, but who knows.

Until that time, this moment well and truly belongs to Holy Holm. The new undisputed bantamweight champion of the world. Congratulations.