2. Holly Holm vs. Ronda Rousey
UFC 193
Saturday, Nov. 14
Etihad Stadium | Melbourne, Australia
How much more can be said or written about Holly Holm destroying Ronda Rousey? With one swing of her shin, Holm tore out future pages of the MMA history book already etched in ink and said, “Start again.”
Need I really describe the humiliating beatdown that was the first round of their UFC 193 headliner in November? Need I remind you of how Holm’s left leg nearly decapitated Rousey? Not only did they fight in front of a reported 56,000-plus at Etihad Stadium in Melbourne, Australia, but given Rousey’s level of mainstream celebrity and the brutal nature of the outcome, it is probably a fair bet to say it was the most watched fight of 2015. You saw it, your mother saw it and your co-workers saw it.
Much of the knockout's majesty stems from it coming against Rousey, the greatest women’s mixed martial artist to date. She had looked nearly unbeatable prior to her encounter with Holm and had grown into the sport’s greatest pop culture star. While we might not know the entirety of its impact at this juncture, Holm altered MMA’s future. However, there is still particular beauty in this knockout that is intrinsic to Holm herself.
Not only did her UFC bantamweight title capture put her in elite company amongst multi-sport athletes, prizefighting or otherwise, but it was the actualization of the MMA success many dreamt of for Holm. Having been a world champion boxer, kickboxed actively and trained MMA for years prior to entering the cage in 2011, Holm’s entry into the sport was a dream come true, especially fighting at 135 pounds, which even prior to the UFC’s patronage had long been the most celebrated women’s weight class. She had all the traits of a potential star.
Yet when Holm’s MMA career began -- even though she was stopping foes with kicks to the head and liver en route to the Octagon -- it seemed something was missing; she was winning handily, but she was disappointingly passive and counter-oriented and at times, it seemed hard to believe she was a boxer at all, let alone one of true world class. When she made her Ultimate Fighting Championship debut at UFC 184 in February, she eked out a split decision over Raquel Pennington before outpointing Marion Reneau in ho-hum fashion in July, with both fights continuing the same disappointing trend in Holm’s offense. She was 9-0, but any improvements she was making seemed marginal at best.
The six minutes of hell Holm put Rousey through, poetically capped off with the head-kick exclamation point, were the perfect synthesis of skills for which people had always prayed out of “The Preacher’s Daughter.” Against Pennington, she threw 107 head strikes and landed 24 over 15 minutes -- a 22.4 percent clip. Against Reneau, she was 27 of 103 to the head -- 26.2 percent. Against Rousey, she was 29 of 44, landing 66 percent, her left hand perpetually tethered to the Olympic bronze medalist’s face. She also landed all nine of her attacks to the body and legs. She finally showed off her boxing skills, savaged Rousey with them, and then for the show-stopping sockdolager went upstairs for the sixth kick-related knockout on her 10-0 ledger and the biggest knockout in women’s MMA history.
With most knockouts, even great ones, their reverberations are literal, the concussive impact surging through the brain. No doubt, the “Rowdy” one got her cerebellum rattled in Melbourne, but the shockwaves of Holm’s head kick have extended far beyond that. Holm’s KO has been the catalyst for hot-button conversations:
Will Rousey even be healthy for UFC 200?
Will Rousey even fight again?
Does Rousey need to leave trainer Edmond Tarverdyan?
Is dating Travis Browne hurting Rousey’s career?
Yes, that is in some part the cost of Rousey’s celebrity, but it took a special fighter to make her pay that tax. As much as Holm’s knockout was about the fall of Rousey, its place in MMA history is just as indebted to Holm for living up to our wildest dreams, just when we had started to abandon them.
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