Down Goes Ronda
The ground shakes and the crowd erupts. Some are speechless and frozen with disbelief. Gasps are heard and cheers explode from the supporters of the underdog. Holly Holm has taken the featherweight championship title away from Ronda Rousey, and she has done it in only about a minute into the second round. The world is shocked, and one of the biggest upsets in UFC history has just occurred. On November 15, 2015, this highly anticipated fight between Rousey and Holm took place. Rousey, known by everyone throughout the UFC world, had the understood expectation to win this fight. She was undefeated at 12-0, and she had won most of her fights by knockout. She felt that she was untouchable and that nobody could possibly defeat her. Holly Holm, however, came along to knock her off of her high horse. Holm was a title holder as well, but not for mixed martial arts. Instead, she was a title holder for boxing. Holm was an amazing athlete just like Rousey and had started her career in the UFC with a 9-0 record. But even with these impressive stats, Rousey was still believed to be the easy winner in this fight. What happened next was expected by few. Rousey was knocked out 59 seconds into the second round. The main event for UFC mixed martial arts fights have five rounds that are five minutes each. Not only did Holm defeat the undefeated champion, she did so in a quick and embarrassing fashion. The final knockout came from a strong kick to the head from Holm. This happened after Holm gave Rousey a beating in the first round. Holm was declared the new champion, and Rousey was put to shame.
Unfortunately for Rousey, this wouldn't be the end of bad news. After the fight, Rousey was immediately taken to a hospital. She was beaten so badly that she suffered injuries that would take an extensive amount of time to heal. The UFC requires that every fighter undergoes the state athletic commissions regulations to evaluate their health after a fight. It's customary for most fighters, even if they won an easy fight, to have to wait about a week before going back into training and taking anymore punches. But because this specific fight was in Australia, the UFC went ahead and did the regulations itself. Holm, to no surprise, received her report and was forced to wait seven days before returning to training and taking hits. After Rousey got her medical report back from the UFC, it was determined she would have to wait 180 days before getting cleared to fight again. She couldn't start training for another fight for another 60 days. The only way she could shorten this medical suspension is if her CT scans show no more brain damage. This put Rousey to shame and set her back on her UFC career. Also, this exposed the mortality of a seemingly unbeatable giant. This is truly an embarrassing and unexpected defeat for the highly proclaimed mixed martial artist, Ronda Rousey.
