It seems like Holly Holm's win over Ronda Rousey was a pretty cut and dried thing. Rousey could get little of her usual clinch game working, couldn't find the armbar when she did get the fight to the ground and then got pummled on the feet for a round and change before getting KO'd by a head kick. A case of one fighter being supremely prepared for their opponent and their opponent failing to prepare for them. But as with any massive sporting upset, some fans didn't see it that way. Some thought the fight might have been fixed.
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The most vocal proponent of that view came in the form of former pro-wrestler Taz, who took to his CBS radio show "The Taz Show: Bodyslams and Beyond," to call the fight, in his own words, "the work":
"I'm telling you right now, that whole series, was the work. And I'm not sure who was in on it and who wasn't but I know this much: the ref probably wasn't in on it. Maybe he was I don't know. Rousey was in on it - and again, this is all my opinion. Holm might not have been in on it."
Now, during a recent interview on Larry King Live, Holm has responded to those allegations, saying (transcription via WrestleZone.com):
"No. No MMA fighting, especially with the UFC is going to be set up. These fighters go in there, and there's a reason Dana (White, UFC President) gives out those performance bonuses."
I don't know if that will be enough to soothe everyone's doubts, especially since Taz himself posited that Holm may not have been in on it, but as far as the UFC champion is concerned, Dana White and Co. aren't fixing fights.
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