[quote]ZEB wrote:
[quote]HouseOfTulkas wrote:
I don’t know how I feel about the article. It seems like the writer expected her to win, wrote most of the article before the fight, but didn’t really bother to fix the tone of the piece upon Rousey’s loss.
Unfortunately it sounds like she didn’t really learn anything from the fight. Maybe she’ll correct some things once she gets healed up, but it doesn’t seem very likely. I think what I’m most disappointed in is that the only mention of Holm is in a negative light from the weigh-in. Regardless of whether or not she was off that night, she should at least acknowledge that Holm was the better fighter that night.[/quote]
Exactly right. You can’t lose a fight and walk away and not understand why you lost. The only way she can beat Holm in a rematch is to understand in fine detail why she lost and part of that is admitting that Holm was better than her that evening.
It doesn’t look like she’s changing trainers. Will she bring someone else in to help bolster her team? Will she actually be smart enough to bring in a wrestler, a take down expert to show her how to beat Holm, and get her to the ground?
If she doesn’t do that you will see almost the same fight as the first one. Rousey will never be able to out strike Holm. So, what is she to do? She can’t bully in and hip toss her she tried that and failed. She needs a new game plan one that offers her the opportunity to go in low as Randy Couture did against James Toney. As any fighter should do against a superior striker. We’ve all heard that most fights end on the ground, but all fights begin on the feet! This gives a superior striker a huge advantage if his opponent has no clue how to change the match from striking to grappling there are only so many punches that can be eaten before the fight is over.
If Rhonda doesn’t do this she will once again experience the same thing she did in the first fight and that is a really hard punch to the face early in the fight. And as anyone who knows anything about fighting will tell you one good punch to the head can turn a fight on a dime. Strategy goes out the window and you are suddenly in survival mode. Underestimating a good striker is a fools game. That bronze medal in Judo won’t stack up to someone who knows how to circle and strike with precision. So, she has to take that away from her and the only way to do it is to shoot low and take her to the ground.
I don’t think I would ever make Rhonda Rousey a favorite in a rematch. Not until or unless she hires that take down expert which will give her the only opportunity she has for beating Holm. Get her to the ground early, before any damage is done. Before Holm has the chance to knock her silly once again with one punch early on as she did in their first fight. Rousey must take her to the ground and then keep her on the ground until she can submit her or beat her into submission. Short of this happening you’ll see a repeat of the first fight with only slight variations.
Personally, I don’t think Rhonda Rousey will ever be the same fighter she was. Getting KO’d does more to your mind than it does to your body. There are those who can comeback no question. But, I don’t see Rousey as being one of those. She wanted to be the dominate bitch. She played that part in her life as well as in the cage. That is now gone and I doubt she will ever get it back. At least not the way Dana White is playing her. If she came back and fought a few fights won them and got her confidence back that might be another story. But Dana “The Manipulator” White sees dollar signs in a quick rematch, before Holm fights again and loses. And he doesn’t care if he flushes Rousey and her formerly great career down the toilet. He has surmised that there will be other Rousey’s perhaps even Holm will fit the bill. As long as his money making machine continues on so what if he loses Rousey. He’s that greedy and he’s that heartless.
My opinion, don’t bet on Rousey if her first fight back is against Holly Holm.
[/quote]
Like I said before, the article definitely has a pro-Rousey flavor to it. ESPN has their own agenda - otherwise why put her on the cover AFTER such a one-sided loss?
However, it wasn’t a straight Q&A piece. Maybe she did mention in the interview and either the writer or editor left it out. Or, she could still be in that grieving stage in which she’s too banged up physically, emotionally, psychologically to go into analysis.
First and foremost, she needs to get healed up. Then she can build a new team, watch tapes, fix flaws in her game.
At the same time, she absolutely needs to quietly work on an exit plan to movies and easy money.
Gina Carano did this AFTER getting her clocked cleaned by Cyborg. And although her film career didn’t exactly set the world on fire, as an unimpassioned observer, I concede that Rousey had reached a much higher level of fame prior to her loss than Gina did. So yeah, with the right people pulling the strings, I wouldn’t be surprised to see her do well in Hollywood.
Some guys here hate her guts. I understand that. A person like Rousey elicits strong emotions one way or the other.
As far as her being a favorite in the near-inevitable rematch, I can see why the books made such a move. I am surprised - very surprised - she opened as high as she did, anywhere from -160 to -190, so early after the first fight, when there’s not much inside info on either her or Holm. A more realistic number, factoring in things like the halo effect, imo would’ve been -135 to -140. And I still believe the line will go DOWN in time (unless Holm fights someone else first and things don’t go well for her).
I told Irish earlier I don’t care either way who wins but, for me, if I see a weakness to exploit…well, I’m a little more interested.