UFC women’s bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey has mowed down the competition to the tune of a 12-0 career record, but in order to triumph for the 13th time, she must get past champion boxer Holly Holm at UFC 193.
Rousey will headline the Melbourne, Australia-based card in one of her most highly anticipated fights yet. No challenger has come close to defeating Rousey thus far, and only one has made it out of the first round, but the undefeated Holm is unique because of her size and background.
Before Rousey and Holm weigh in and take care of the final particulars before their clash, here is everything you need to know about the UFC Women’s Bantamweight Championship bout, as well as a prediction for who will reign supreme Down Under.
Where: Etihad Stadium in Melbourne, Australia
When: Saturday, Nov. 14 at 10 p.m. ET
Watch: PPV
Updated Odds
What Rousey’s Saying
Rousey enters all of her fights as an overwhelming favorite, and that is once again the case leading up to UFC 193. Although Holm has accomplished a lot in several different fighting styles, Rowdy has yet to be truly tested.
The 28-year-old Rousey has quickly developed into the biggest draw in MMA, and there is always a great deal of hype surrounding her fights. UFC 193 is no different in that regard, and it is something Holm must find a way to handle.
In Rousey’s mind, however, her opponents are never fully prepared for what they have to deal with, both inside and outside of the octagon when they face her, according to Damon Martin of Fox Sports:
Nobody’s ready. They all think they are, though, and that’s why they show up, but then they leave and they are quite aware that they were never ready and they will never be ready. …
The thing is they have to deal with a lot more than they ever have before when they have a fight with me, but the thing is I still have to do 10 times more work outside of training than they do.
Once they get to be No. 1 contender, they get a peek into what kind of workload I have and when they go through that process when they get ready to fight me, they realize what they’re fighting for is something they don’t even want.
Rousey has had her fair share of verbal sparring sessions in the past with opponents such as Miesha Tate and Bethe Correia, but that hasn’t been the case when it comes to the reserved and well-liked Holm.
There seems to be a mutual respect between the two fighters, but as Rousey explained, she has some disdain for everyone she steps into the octagon with regardless of outside factors, per Martin:
There’s a lot of mixed emotions that go into fighting. I need that other person in there, I can’t fight by myself, I need them to be there. I appreciate they’re there but this person is trying to piggyback off of all the work I’ve done my whole life. They’re trying to steal that from me and in that sense I’m offended by their presence. I hate them for trying to hurt me. They’re trying to take away something I care so much about.
Rousey’s attitude toward fighting has led to unprecedented success, and it is likely a big reason why she has such a big advantage over her opponents.
There is undoubtedly pressure on Rousey to perform and win, but she seems to handle it with ease as she comes off as being right at home on the big stage.
What Holm’s Saying
The 34-year-old Holm is a veteran of the fighting game, but she is still fairly new to MMA with nine career fights to her credit and just two UFC bouts under her belt. Although she is undefeated, she has never encountered anything close to the level of competition she’ll be up against Saturday.
Rousey is the unquestioned cream of the crop in women’s MMA, and she is arguably the most dominant athlete in the world today. Few believe Holm has even the slightest chance of pulling off one of the biggest upsets in recent memory, but that doesn’t seem to faze her.
According to Rick Maese of the Washington Post, Holm truly believes she has what it takes to chop down the champ: “I respect her more than you can imagine, but I’m not going to put her so high on a pedestal where I feel this is an unattainable feat. Everybody’s beatable. Everybody.”
Observers are seemingly always trying to come up with a formula to defeat Rousey, but plans are rarely ever able to be executed in her fights since most of them end in mere seconds.
Holm is fully aware of that fact, which is why she plans to take a simplified, adaptable approach rather than going in with a hard-and-fast strategy, per Lance Pugmire of the Los Angeles Times:
All I care about is to win. … I don’t want to go into the fight thinking too much. A fight is unpredictable. I want to go in with an open-ended plan and adjust along the way, not panic. I visualize this person coming into the gym to practice with me…it takes the intensity level down. … I know it’s going to be insane—breathtaking energy—but I just want to focus on being level-headed.
The fact Holm is doing everything possible to avoid psyching herself out is a good sign in terms of her chances of being at least somewhat competitive, but all the preparation in the world may not truly prepare her for what awaits at UFC 193.
Prediction
Rousey and Holm are two very different types of fighters who are likely to do everything within their power to sway the fight toward their preferred respective styles.
Although Rousey has won three of her past four fights by knockout, she is a submission artist who boasts what is essentially an inescapable armbar.
Holm, on the other hand, has a boxing background, and she has won two-thirds of her fights by way of knockout.
Rousey is as intelligent as she is physically imposing, so look for the champion to go for a takedown immediately rather than engaging Holm in any kind of fisticuffs.
Assuming Rousey is able to get Holm on the mat, it won’t be long before she finishes off her opponent since Holm is nowhere near comfortable in ground-based situations.
Holm has the striking ability to make the fight interesting if she can stay upright, but look for Rousey to take control early and the end bout via submission within the first couple minutes.
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