I let the impact of the Rousey/Holm fight sink in for 3 days, gathered my thoughts, and this is what I feel.
I must admit I also, like all of you, thought I knew Ronda was going to win. I felt that if Holly had the right strategy and could somehow keep it standing, she had a slight chance. I didn't think she had the power to hurt Ronda with her hands and gave her a very small chance to perhaps land her high kick. Boy was I wrong.
My guess was that because Ronda had a "boxing" coach, Holly being a south paw wouldn't be much of a problem. I also thought that Holly wouldn't be able to stay away from the clinch, eventually get taken down, then arm barred.
What happened totally baffled me and although I saw Ronda lose the fire in her eyes half way through the second round, being the warrior that she is still thought that she was going to somehow gather herself, and pull something out. I noticed she wasn't properly prepared for a south paw and was getting fatigued to a point that her balance was very unsteady. Although she was getting beat pretty bad in the first round I was surprised to see that in the second round her corner changed nothing in her strategy. Her corner chose to try to boost her moral by saying things like, "You're doing great champ" although she wasn't. They gave her no technical advice and showed no signs of an alternate strategy.
With no proper guidance Ronda came out like a warrior scratching and fighting with all she had to keep her title. She kept coming forward being aggressive to Holly but Holly had a great game plan, stayed composed, and slowly chopped Ronda down. Although it was obvious that Ronda was slowly being broken down I still thought I was seeing things when Ronda finally went down and was knocked out.
The first thought that came to my mind was, holly s---, Holly did what everyone, including myself, thought was impossible. The second thought that came to mind was that Ronda was going to have to pay a price for some of the things she over exaggerated like, "I can beat everyone in my division with one hand."
Yes I knew there were going to be haters but honestly I was shocked at how much there were. I expected her to have to eat some of her words but the slander and insults went way too far.
As much as Ronda spoke with borderline arrogance which made some drool to see her lose, many loved her confidence, the indestructible belief in herself and her blunt way of telling things as it is. She didn't say things and behave to what was proper in everyone's eyes but instead she told it exactly like she saw it and behaved exactly how she felt, no filters.
This is what made Ronda who she was and I personally have more respect for someone who is willing to take the chance of ruffling some feathers with brut honesty than someone who chooses not to say what they really feel just to avoid controversy and is afraid of attracting haters their way.
Many feel it was poor sportsmanship for Ronda not to touch gloves with Holly before the fight and frown on her for not shaking Misha's have after their second fight but at least she was honest. She couldn't do it sincerely so she opted not to do it, I can respect that.
She is not a bad person for being honest with herself and doing what is in her heart however her youthfulness and lack of knowledge prevents her from making better decisions. Which in turn is the result of her saying incorrect things and making the wrong choices. Things like not being able to be a gracious loser, making overconfident comments, and thinking that winning is only when your hand is raised at the end of the fight just shows she has a lot to learn.
Is she bad for having flaws? If so, then we all are also bad because everyone has flaws.
As great as Ronda is now with more maturity and knowledge she will be even greater. Winning a fight isn't something you can always guarantee and fighters that do are either trying to over emphasize their confidence or don't have a true grasp of reality, yet.
Whenever I entered the ring, I was always confident that I had what it takes to win the fight but also understood that there is a chance that I may be beat by a better or stronger man. I never dwelled on something that was beyond my control like winning or losing. Instead I focused on what I could control and that was giving everything I had, fighting to the very end. I even went as far to accept in my heart that in the rare circumstance that death maybe the outcome, I am okay with it.
I also had a different definition of victory and defeat. Victory is not merely your hand being raised at the end of a fight, but it's much deeper than that. If you can enter the ring a better than you were in your last fight, then it was a victory. So I am interested to see what Ronda will do with her last fight and the changes she will make. If she can learn and become a stronger person or a better fighter than the fight was a victory.
There are all sorts of different people with different personalities in our sport which makes it so entertaining. Some polite some loud, some humble some arrogant, some safe some risk takers and this is what causes so many to fall in love with our sport. Can you imagine if everyone acted proper and there was no controversy. Things would be so boring.
Fighters train their hearts out and literally drop lots and lots of blood, sweat, and tears hour after hour getting ready for a fight. We fight through injuries and put everything on the line in front of millions of people. For that, all fighters deserve respect and never deserve the bashing Ronda is getting.
Hats off to Holly Holm and I look forward to see her fire and skill in her next fight as the Champ.
As for Ronda, rest up, evaluate the fight, rekindle the fire, come back strong, and show us the warrior that we know you are.