Report Card: Calling Rousey's strategy into question
— -- It's a long fall from the top, as they say -- but boy, did Ronda Rousey fall hard at UFC 193. There were plenty of other fights on the card (some good, some pretty awful), but quite frankly, this weekend was all about Rousey and Holly Holm, who was crowned the UFC's new bantamweight champion after a stunning upset. What happened? Why did it happen? What happens next?
To reflect that, this week's Report Card will dedicate a little extra space to UFC 193's main event, but still circle back with full fighter grades from the card.
The benefit of hindsight is an amazing thing. Looking back, Holm was a bigger threat to Rousey than she received credit for. She has always been terrific at controlling distance and that was magnified against a fearless opponent like Rousey, who was constantly adamant about trying to close that space. Any time Rousey did force her way in close, Holm's athleticism and size made her incredibly difficult to take down. All that said, you can have every answer to the Rousey test and that still doesn't guarantee you victory. Knowing what to do and actually doing it in front of a UFC-record crowd of 55,724 in an Australian stadium are two different things. Holm's execution was virtually flawless and her game plan proved to be airtight.
Well, Rousey definitely did not back down when things got ugly. While that may have ultimately contributed to her demise, you have to hand it to her -- fame and fortune have not softened her at all. She was determined to weather every round in Holm's chamber. That grit leads me to believe she will fully attack a comeback, even though I'm sure the temptation to permanently bounce for Hollywood will be strong in the coming months.
Guts aside, I do question Rousey's tactics in this fight. Her entire style is built on aggression and I'm not saying she needed to abandon that, but the lack of respect she showed for Holm's striking was pretty surprising. In her first two UFC fights, Holm landed 36 percent of strikes thrown. Against Rousey, that number doubled to 72 percent! It's a small sample size but that is clearly a problem. It was absolutely on Rousey to close the distance, but she did not approach it intelligently -- and she deserves blame for that, because Holm, despite being a massive underdog, also was unique in her size and her boxing ability. To treat Holm the exact same way she treated every other opponent, to me, shows some arrogance and some lack of preparation on Rousey's part. No one can blame Rousey or longtime coach Edmond Tarverdyan for sticking with what works, but to make zero adjustments when it doesn't? She was a deer in the headlights after the first few exchanges. If we're going to give credit to Jackson-Winkeljohn MMA for Holm's game plan (as we absolutely should), we have to assign some blame in the loss to Tarverdyan. Everybody loses, but it's impossible to say Rousey was well-prepared for Holm.
This was the most difficult title fight of Jedrzejczyk's short career -- and still, it was nothing short of dominant. Her unique combination of size and speed is just so difficult for opponents to deal with. She appears to be the fastest strawweight in the division, but she doesn't forfeit any size for that advantage. There is such a noticeable difference between Jedrzejczyk landing a strike and any of her other opponents. Given what we just saw with Rousey, it doesn't seem like the appropriate time to predict a never-ending title reign for Jedrzejczyk -- but at the same time, if she beats Claudia Gadelha again, who will threaten her?
Letourneau went up against a unique talent at UFC 193. That's it. Had she been able to find any sanctuary from Jedrzejczyk's crushing leg kicks, the second half of this fight could have been far more interesting. As it was, those leg kicks piled up and it crippled what Letourneau could do offensively. Letourneau might have taken a loss but in terms of her career, UFC 193 has to be considered a major win. It was an opportunity that many of us didn't see coming for the Montreal native and she responded by landing more strikes on Jedrzejczyk than the champion's previous four opponents combined. Admirable job.
Wait ... did Hunt have abs at UFC 193? That might be exaggerating a bit but there was no doubt Hunt looked positively svelte this weekend for the Aussie crowd (or, as he put it, "fit as a fiddle"). Silva didn't put up much resistance, but even so, it's clear Hunt still has an eye for the knockout and if he's in shape, as he seemed to be following a camp at AKA Thailand, he'll put fights away. Apparently Hunt asked to fight later this month at the South Korea event and as much as that sounds like a joke, I would be in favor of seeing the UFC book him to something quick. Hunt needs to get that momentum, and body, back in the cage.
Very good performance by Whittaker, one that should promote him into top-10 consideration at 185 pounds. He pressured Hall from the start, which has proved to be effective in the past. Only one thing to nitpick here and that was cardio. Whittaker is small by the division's standards, which means cardio should be (and needs to be) one of his strengths. Against Hall, it was clear he was tiring in the third round and that's when things got a little dicey. I understand he set a brutal pace in this one, but if he truly wants to ascend the ladder, he has to have a gas tank that holds up over 15-25 minutes.
An early eye irritation appeared to affect Hall even more than a severely (and gnarly) broken toe did back at UFC 175. Immediately, criticisms of Hall not letting his hands go hit social media, but that sometimes can be easier said than done, particularly against an opponent like Robert Whittaker, who was obviously intent on staying aggressive. It's a disappointing follow-up performance to his upset win against Gegard Mousasi, but I didn't think Hall was necessarily "off." Until he starts to look more comfortable against pressure, you can expect his opponents to attack him that way.
It's basically the same thing after every Rosholt win (and he has six in the UFC now, believe it or not). The guy does what he has to do to get a win, but it's always in the least-inspiring way possible. The third round of this fight essentially consisted of Rosholt's corner audibly counting down the time while Rosholt looked for ways to kill as much of it as he could. Rosholt is now seven fights (6-1) into his career in the Octagon, and it feels as though he's in the exact same spot he was when he started. It's because of reasons like that third round. Winning is great and you can't argue with Rosholt's results, but they're not taking him anywhere.
It gets hard to accurately grade a performance like this, as it sure seems as though Silva's ability to take a punch has been seriously compromised. His best bet in this matchup was likely a takedown, so it probably wasn't a good thing he never attempted one (not convinced it would have mattered). The number of fights I'd be interested in seeing Silva take is lessening by the minute. It might even be zero.
Just a bad, bad performance by Struve and he knew it. Immediately backstage, Struve admitted he had no killer instinct, which was a shame because Rosholt sure looked ripe for the picking in the final round of their main card bout. Since returning from his career-threatening heart condition, Struve has consistently looked timid and gun shy. Particularly in the heavyweight division, that's a death sentence, as offense rules and defense can often fall by the wayside as fatigue sets in for these big guys. Struve is still only 27. You hope he turns it around.
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