UFC 193: Rousey vs. Holm results and post-fight analysis

I came into UFC 193 not being interested in the main event bout between Ronda Rousey and Holly Holm. Despite Holm's standup creds, it seemed inevitable that Ronda would get her to the floor and sub her, just like everyone else. But that's not what happened.

That's not what happened at all.

What I saw was a Ronda Rousey that looked too interested in beating Holm at her own game. Instead of engaging the clinch early and often, she wanted to strike. And despite Holm's two UFC fights thus far, where she didn't look like a world beater, she showed that she's a far superior striker to Rousey. Holm survived her one time on the ground, and used a beautiful straight left to throw Rousey off. I was surprised that Rousey was beaten so thoroughly in the first round. Then came the sequence in the second where Holm hurt her. She handled it perfectly, waiting on the deadly head kick like a true pro does.

When she nailed her with it, the world of MMA changed in a major, major way.

We can expect a rematch, probably at UFC 200. But for now, the UFC's biggest drawing card just got knocked the hell out in the center of the cage. No controversy. No excuses. This is what I love the most about the sport - the unpredictable nature of it. As Ronda's late friend Rowdy Roddy Piper liked to say (I'm paraphrasing here) - "When you think you know all the answers, MMA changes the questions."

• I was really impressed by the co-main event bout between Joanna Jedrzejczyk and Valerie Letourneau. Letourneau came in as a huge underdog, but she took it to the champ early and showed that she is as tough as they come. Joanna took over from the third round on, but Letourneau fought through a leg that turned purple from Jedrzejczyk's kicks along with a badly damaged eye to still put up a fight right until the final horn. The scorecards made it look like a dominant win for Joanna, and maybe some would see it that way, but I just thought it was a great fight where both ladies had their moments. I was already a Joanna fan. I am now a fan of Letourneau as well. She most definitely earned my respect and admiration tonight.
• Mark Hunt vs. Antonio Silva 2 just didn't have the same atmosphere as the first fight. Maybe it was the stadium. Maybe it was because it wasn't the headliner. Maybe it's because there was no way for it to live up to the first fight. I don't know. But Hunto clubbed Silva behind the ear, Bigfoot went down, and that was that.
  
• I believe Hunt won the entrance music of the night award with Naughty By Nature. I think that means I'm old.
• Uriah Hall and Robert Whittaker put on the fight of the night to this point in the card. Whittaker beat Hall to the punch most of the time though, and showed that he's a real force to be reckoned with at middleweight. He hits hard, uses a variety of weapons, and has a really good chin. His post-fight quote was excellent too - "I have a default, use-all game plan - throw punches." I really like that.
• I didn't understand why Hall was turning his back on his opponent so much, and I thought it was pretty ugly at first. He explained after his fight that due to the shot to the eye, he couldn't really see anything and it was just how he reacted. That makes sense, and I guess I can't fault him for it in that case.
• Is Jake Rosholt the most boring fighter in the UFC? Yes, yes he is. Stefan Struve deserves some blame for their terrible main card opener though as well. He showed zero urgency, even when he was down two rounds. That was one of the worst fights of the year.
  
• Akbarh Arreola came out early and hurt Jake Matthews, almost picking up a major upset in the process. It was not to be though, as Matthews rebounded in the second and absolutely wrecked Arreola's face. His eye had some huge swelling over it, and it was enough for the doc to stop the fight. Would that have been stopped in Vegas, as Joe Rogan said? I hope so - they're supposed to err on the side of caution, and I thought it was a very good call.
• If Kyle Noke doesn't win a bonus for that crushing front kick to the liver that destroyed Peter Sobotta, it would be a travesty. That was deadly.
  
• Anthony Perosh got worked. I have a soft spot for The Hippo, because he's a warrior. But despite a camp in the US, he was never really in the fight with Gian Villante, who blasted away on him from the opening bell. The one-punch KO was a thing of beauty.
• Danny Martinez put forth his best UFC performance to date by far. His wrestling game was excellent, and while he's still winging punches way too much, he managed to make it work in the later rounds. Overall though, his grappling game got him his first UFC win.
  
• Dan Kelly got it done against Steve Montgomery despite being 14 years older than his opponent. His grappling was on point, and he was surprisingly vicious when he got Montgomery to the ground. The Creepy Weasel had a decent second round, but couldn't stay on his feet long enough in the third to have a shot a winning.
• The Creepy Weasel? Seriously?
• Rich Walsh showed some pretty weak fight IQ in his win over Steven Kennedy. Walsh was absolutely dominating the standup, but was willing to engage in grappling with his submission-specialist opponent far too often. It almost cost him in the first round, and it probably caused him a finish in the third round when his opponent was totally gassed out. He has some skills on the feet, but he definitely needs to work on his aggressiveness and fight smarts.
• James Moontasri really didn't look that great for most of the first round in his bout against late replacement Anton Zafir. But when he got his chance, he took it. A nasty spinning back kick to the body seemed to do some damage to Zafir's ribs, and his follow-up spinning backfist led to the end of the fight. I'm not sure Moontasri is going to do all that great at 170, but time will tell.
• Ben Nguyen totally dominated Ryan Benoit. He hurt him with his first two punches of the fight, then a knee, then schooled him on the ground. It took a little while from there to get a finish, but he still got it via submission about halfway through the round. It was a good start for the Aussie fans.