Preview: UFC 225 ‘Whittaker vs. Romero 2’

Women’s Featherweights:
Holly Holm (11-4) vs. Megan Anderson (8-2)
Odds: Holm (-230), Anderson (+190)

Hot featherweight prospect Anderson takes a leap up in competition against former bantamweight champion and featherweight title challenger Holm. Anderson was supposed to make her debut and challenge Cristiane Justino for the title at UFC 214 last June but pulled out, citing personal reasons. Most agreed it was for the better. While she may be in her physical prime at 28, the Glory MMA product had not yet been a professional for four years when she was supposed to battle the best, most fearsome female fighter ever. More seasoning seemed warranted, and a bout with Holm helps provide it. It’s unclear what the UFC intends to do with Anderson as only the second true featherweight on the roster behind “Cyborg.” Unless she embarks on a best-of-five series with the Brazilian wrecking machine or hops back-and-forth to Invicta Fighting Championships, Anderson will probably end up fighting converted bantamweights like Holm and Germaine de Randamie too. The talent will be better, but exactly what always fighting with a size advantage will mean for her remains in question. At least she’s on the roster, I guess.

The Australian is a long, heavy-handed muay Thai practitioner. Her power was on display in her last several Invicta outings. She crumpled Amanda Bell with a pair of left kicks and a right cross, broke Peggy Morgan’s face with right hands and smashed Charmaine Tweet’s nose with jackhammer punches. The James Krause protégée is aggressive and high-output, but she has relied overmuch on that power and her superior athleticism at times. Anderson doesn’t mind getting into a firefight, and her head stays more or less in the same place as she throws. Her inexperience is also evident at times. She can use her length to land hard knees inside, but opponents have had success stalling her out against the fence before, where she struggles to create space and maintain consistent offense. Anderson was also eager to stay on top of Bell to deliver ground-and-pound, despite her corner imploring her to stand. She had to fight out of an armbar a moment later.

Despite also being a striker, Holm is Anderson’s diametric opposite in terms of experience and effective offense. Since her earth-shattering knockout of Ronda Rousey, Holm has headlined four of the five cards she’s been on, only giving up top billing to Conor McGregor. But she has also lost four of those five fights. Granted, her competition has been stiff, but the drawbacks of her style have been on full display.

Holm prefers to counter, which is why she looked so sensational against the relentlessly aggressive but one-note Rousey. Every other UFC opponent she has faced has either been tentative to engage with her because of her pedigree or forced her to lead, where she is much less effective. “The Preacher’s Daughter” has a diverse arsenal of kicks and usually does a great job maintaining distance with them. Her vaunted left high kick is her most potent weapon by far, but she will score and frustrate with side kicks to her foe’s lead leg and body. The Mike Winkeljohn student will blitz with straight punches as well, darting in with a combination before hopping back out again. But her aversion to the pocket robs her punches of power and effectiveness. Holm punches her way into range but bails out before she can really punch through her target. So when she does land, the shots are often on the end of her reach and lack pop. The same is true of her kicks, which glance off hands and forearms more often than not. The result is a high-output but low-damage attack that makes it difficult for her to put her stamp on rounds. Almost every fight Holm has been in that she did not finish has been extremely close, and elite kickboxers like Valentina Shevchenko and Germaine de Randamie have been able to land the more telling blows to offset her activity.

The Jackson-Wink product utilized the clinch liberally in her fight most recent bout with Cyborg, crashing into a tie-up following her customary blitz. But she failed to land effective offense there as well, seeming content to hold Cyborg and minimize risk rather than actually engage. She may have more success against Anderson there. While the Aussie’s style is based on the clinch-heavy “Art of Eight Limbs,” she isn’t nearly as physical, technical, or dangerous in close quarters.

Anderson is a better matchup for Holm than she’s had in some time. A less-experienced, aggressive fighter with mediocre defense and still-developing ancillary skills is just what the doctor ordered for the slumping New Mexican. “The Preacher’s Daughter” stays on her bike and off the cage where Anderson can tear into her. Holm pot-shots her way to tepid but much-needed decision victory.

Continue Reading » Arlovski vs. Tuivasa