If It Bleeds, You Can Beat it; Holly Holm Destroys Ronda Rousey (And What This Means for the UFC)

On the off chance you've been able to avoid hearing everyone talk about it for the past 12 hours, underdog Holly Holm defeated UFC Bantamweight Champion Ronda Rousey with a convincing head-kick KO, giving Rousey her her first professional loss.

Rousey was having quite the week up until last night. She had just been named the first female fighter to appear on the cover of a UFC video game (cover curse?) and seemed like her generally confident self. It seems that that confidence was ultimately her downfall. From the first minute of the fight, Rousey seemed like she had bought into her own hype, full out blitzing the multi-boxing champ, Holm. Holm was able to tag her and move away at will. During the exchanges, she was able to bloody Rousey. Early in the first round, Rousey was able to get Holm to the ground and go for an armbar, but Holm was able to escape. From that point, Rousey looked bewildered as to why this fight wasn't going the same way as her past few fights, with quick stoppages/submissions. Between rounds, Rousey's corner congratulated her with how the fight was going, which confused commentator Joe Rogan.

Round 2 was ultimately Rousey's undoing, as she continued to blitz and get countered by the crisp boxing of Holm. This would lead to the end of the fight where Rousey would straight-up whiff on an attack, and Holm would be able to capitalize with a head-kick heard around the world. The amount of emotion that poured out of "The Preachers Daughter" after the victory was that of someone who had legitimately overcome insane odds (Vegas and otherwise) to defeat one of the most dominant fighters in UFC history.

This is probably the biggest upset I've seen since Matt Serra knocked out George St. Pierre back in 2008 or Forrest Griffin choking out Shogan Rua in 2007. It will be interesting to see what comes next for both fighters. Obviously, the "dream match" of Cyborg Santos and Ronda Rousey is off the table (even though it may not have ever actually been on the table). The main draw of that fight was Ronda being the dominant champion and Santos being the scariest female fighter in the world. One would imagine that a immediate rematch between Holm and Rousey is on the horizon. It'll be interesting to see how a rematch will go. After GSP got knocked out by Matt Serra, he came back and was able to win his belt back and go onto to further dominate the Welterweight division for years. Personally, I don't want to see a rematch right away. I'd like to see them run at least one different person at each fighter before signing the rematch. You could have Holly Holm take on some of the women that Ronda has fought and maybe have Ronda take on Meisha Tate again. Obviously, if either of them were to lose, that'd kill the momentum of the rematch so the liklihood of that actually happening is slim.

Overall, the entire event was solid and well worth the price. It's not every event that you get to see an amazing upset and set so many different storylines into motion for future events. Congrats to Holly Holm on an amazing fight and I look forward to see what the Bantamweight division has in store!