Holly Holm Steals The Show At UFC 193 | Breaking Barriers
We Look Back At One Of The Most Iconic Moments In UFC History: Holly Holm Knocking Out Ronda Rousey.
I caught a lot of heat when I wrote it, but I stand by my statement that in 2015, Ronda Rousey was the female equivalent of a prime Mike Tyson.
Of course, the bantamweight champion’s weapon of choice was her armbar, but it was the same premise; it wasn’t if she was going to get you, but how long it was going to take. Unbeaten in 12 fights, the former Olympic judoka for the United States terrorized the 135-pound weight class, making good fighters look like they didn’t belong in the Octagon with her.
Liz Carmouche. Sara McMann. Alexis Davis. Cat Zingano. All gone in a round, with Carmouche the only one to make it past the 66 second mark. Miesha Tate made it to the third round of their 2013 rematch, but the result was the same – Rousey by finish.
In August of 2015, “Rowdy” Ronda traveled to Rio De Janeiro and showed off another wrinkle in her game as she scored the second knockout win of her career, needing just 15 seconds to end Bethe Correia’s night.
She was the sport’s undisputed superstar, complete with the Sports Illustrated cover describing her as “The World’s Most Dominant Athlete.” How visible was the Californian on the world scene? After the Correia fight, she announced her next bout on ABC’s Good Morning America.
The opponent?
Holly Holm.
Holly Holm of the United States holds an open workout for fans and media at Federation Square on November 12, 2015 in Melbourne, Australia. (Photo by Josh Hedges/Zuffa LLC)
“It was definitely a shock, but I was super excited right away,” Holm said on the day of the announcement. “I don’t want it to be any different than another fight. I don’t want to get too anxious or psyche myself out with stuff like that. It’s time to put a game plan together and train. So I didn’t get up necessarily to watch it, but when I got up, my phone was blown up from everybody that had watched it.”
At the time, Holm was unbeaten and two fights into a UFC career that followed a stellar run in boxing that landed her in the International Boxing Hall of Fame and the International Women’s Boxing Hall of Fame. “The Preacher’s Daughter” was a big deal in her former sport and was on her way to the same status in MMA. But Ronda? Now? There was the general consensus that Holm wasn’t the next test for the champ, just next. It was an opinion that didn’t deter Holm.
“I don’t let it really bother me too much,” she said. “I figure every fight is the fight I need to win, whether I walk in as the underdog or as the favorite, so the actual title of it doesn’t affect me mentally at all.”
Breaking Barriers | UFC 30th Anniversary
Breaking Barriers | UFC 30th Anniversary
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Rousey vs. Holm would headline UFC 193 at Docklands Stadium in Melbourne, Australia. The final attendance for the event would be a then-UFC record 56,214. This was a huge night for the sport, and the Aussie fans came out in force, expecting to see the armbar queen take another victim. Holm and her team prepared for that ground attack, but also for the possibility that after Rousey scored her big knockout of Correia, she might want to keep those standup vibes going.
“I feel like they might try something new,” Holm said before the fight. “They might try and go out there with striking because she’s obviously been very successful with it lately. She’s gotten a lot better and has obviously evolved into a very well-rounded fighter. She’s not known just for armbars. So she can easily go back to her judo if she doesn’t feel comfortable with the standup, but I think she’ll come out and try doing standup, knowing that she can always go back to what’s comfortable.”
Rousey did bring her standup game down under, and Holm was ready for it and ready to make the champion far from comfortable on the feet. Here’s how I saw it that night:
Ronda Rousey of the United States and Holly Holm of the United States compete in their UFC women's bantamweight championship bout during the UFC 193 event at Etihad Stadium on November 15, 2015 in Melbourne, Australia. (Photo by Scott Barbour /Zuffa LLC)
An offer of a touch of gloves by Holm was refused by Rousey during referee Herb Dean’s instructions, but “The Preacher’s Daughter” got even quickly, sticking and moving effectively in the early going. In the second minute, Rousey finally closed the distance and clinched with Holm against the fence, but the challenger got free and went back to using every inch of the Octagon real estate. Midway through the frame, Rousey got a takedown and it looked like it might have been over, but again, Holm eluded trouble, rose to her feet and went back to work. And as the round progressed, Holm’s left wasn’t missing the target, and she even scored a takedown in the final minute. By the end of the round, Rousey was bloodied and breathing heavy.
After the worst round of her professional career, Rousey came out aggressively for the second, but her porous defense was about to be her downfall. As the opening minute came to a close, a straight left rocked Rousey, and as the Californian staggered, Holm cracked her with a flush left kick to the head. Rousey crumbled to the canvas - her head hitting the deck hard - and after three follow up punches, Dean stopped the fight at 59 seconds of round two, capping off the stunning upset.
Holly Holm | Crowning Moment
Holly Holm | Crowning Moment
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The crowd, the fighters, the world…were stunned. There was a new champion. It was the MMA equivalent of Buster Douglas shocking Tyson in 1990. This time, it was Holm on GMA recapping her victory, and when I caught up to her the Tuesday after UFC 193 during her media tour, she was confident early on that she was going to ger her hand raised.
“After I was landing a few good straight lefts, I knew that I had it if I didn’t lose focus,” Holm said. “Anything can happen in there, and I didn’t want to let down my guard, thinking that this is going to be an easy task, because there’s no way that would be an easy task to take down Ronda Rousey. So I did feel confident in being able to time her, and I just needed to make sure to stay focused and not put my guard down at any time. I thought if there’s a good opening, just take it, and there wound up being the opening, so I went for it.”
Holly Holm shook up the world in 2015. And a new era in the sport began.
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