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Following her loss in the biggest upset in MMA history, former UFC women’s bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey is expected to get a rematch against her tormentor Holly Holm.
Biggest Underdog
Holm knocked out Rousey in the 2nd round of their title bout at the main event of UFC 193 last Saturday at the Etihad Stadium in Melbourne, Australia before the largest crowd in UFC history at 56,214. In beating Rousey, Holm became the biggest underdog to score an upset. At -800, she was a bigger underdog when T.J. Dillashaw (+575 ) upset Renan Barao last year for the men’s bantamweight title. In beating Rousey, Holm also became the first athlete – man or woman – to win major world titles in both boxing and MMA.
Immediate Rematch
UFC President Dana White spoke to reporters after the fight and said that while they “don’t book fights immediately after one”, a rematch between the two “makes a lot of sense”. White is correct because prior to her loss, Rousey was considered as the most dominant combat sports champion of All-Time, having stopped all of her first 12 opponents with only one going past round one. Rousey’s last three title defenses lasted less than two minutes in total fight time and she had already virtually cleaned up her weight class before running into Holm on Saturday night. Holm also acknowledged that she has to fight Rousey again and she is cool with that. As a former champion boxer, she said that she also experienced painful losses in the past which she wanted to avenge via rematch.
Taking Time Off
Prior to the fight, Rousey was already considering taking time off from the Octagon. Saturday’s bout was her third in nine months and it was one that was supposed to be on January 2nd but was moved forward after UFC welterweight king Robbie Lawler suffered an injury. Rousey has also been busy with movies and TV appearances in the last few months and she has had to juggle her busy schedule with her fight career. If indeed she takes some serious time away from the Octagon, we could see the rematch between the middle to late of 2016 as Rousey has a movie with Mark Wahlberg coming out in the first quarter of next year.
Rousey was taken to the hospital after the fight to have her lip sewn and for precautionary measures. A loss like hers will lead to mandatory injury suspension and she should be ready to fight in July. Having said that, it will be interesting to see what happens when the two square off again. Holm exposed a lot of holes in Rousey’s striking game and instead of taking Holm to the ground and grappling with her, Rousey made a mistake of boxing with a former world champion. She paid dearly for her mistake.
