Despite being a former world boxing champion, Holm came into the fight as a huge underdog, and her victory over Rousey is the biggest upset in UFC history. In the second round, a noticeably exhausted Rousey again attempted to chase after Holm, before slipping several times and getting caught with a powerful head kick that ended the fight. “This is insane!” Holm said immediately after the fight.
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“I think a rematch makes sense for sure”.
The fight-ending kick came in 57 seconds into the second round, striking reigning women’s bantamweight champion Rousey in the neck and sending her tumbling to the floor.
Winkeljohn and Holm both expect an immediate rematch with Rousey, who with her loss heads back to the drawing board after mopping up most of the competition in the UFC women’s bantamweight class. Redemption will drive storylines around the rematch. Such has been the case for previous contenders – or, in an instance or two, pretenders – to the Ultimate Fighting Championship throne of Ronda Rousey.
Holm, who executed her gameplan to perfection in Melbourne, knows a date with Rousey looms in the future. “In fact, a lot of it. It’s all about how fast is Ronda coming, or is she stopping, is she going to try to cut off the cage?”
“I just wanted to thank everyone for the love and support”.
“They probably did a little bit, but I think Ronda, she was the best in the world for a reason”, he said. “She’s completely bummed out and depressed”.
Organizers announced a crowd of 56,214 at Melbourne’s Etihad Stadium, which normally hosts Australian rules football matches. Holm’s win is considered by many to be the biggest upset in UFC history.
“They’re the scariest moments”.
“I made this fight”. “I have not spent this much time in the gym before any fight of my life”.
Rousey had stirred up a few bad blood with Holm before the fight, scrapping with her at the weigh-in, bad-mouthing her on Instagram, and refusing to touch gloves after the fighters were introduced in the ring.
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New Zealand-born Australian middleweight Robert Whittaker (16-4) earned a gutsy win on points over Uriah Hall (13-6), while Jared Rosholt (14-2) won a unanimous decision of towering Dutchman Stefan Struve (30-8) in a scrappy opening heavyweight bout of the main card.
