How can Ronda beat Holly?

Gun'n'Run

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Post how you think she could beat Holly. As in what she needs to do differently in her training and/or gameplan in order to win (or at least have the best shot at it.)

The biggest issue I see in the fight is that Ronda wastes too much energy. In pretty much every exchange, she uses explosive energy where it's not called for. Efficiency is huge in fighting, and Ronda absolutely wasn't.

I think she should just fight a more controlled pace next time. She can't be afraid to strike with Holm, or else the clinch/takedowns won't come. So she has to be willing to strike. She definitely could pick her shots better, and time her entries better, but she probably won't get in clean every time. So she needs to conserve energy MUCH better so she can keep the pace. Eventually she'll get where she needs to be, and if she burns less fuel each time, she gives herself enough chances to do it.

I think by the time she got the fight into her zone she was already dazed, rattled, and drained from the adrenaline dump of getting bonked and as I said of course generally wasting a lot of energy. For all those reasons, she was too impatient with the armbar attempt. She was close to getting it, but she hurried and didn't have as clean of technique as usual, so Holly defended. Of course, like I said she wasn't in a good mind frame. But next time, I think Ronda also needs to be more patient and precise when she does get to the mat. People seem to be concluding that Ronda can't sub Holly (especially those giving her no chance in a rematch), but I'm quite confident that she can. If she's not all jacked up already when it goes to the ground, I think it's quite possible she can sub Holly easily.

So I guess that's my take. Conserve energy and don't rush the ground positions too much.
 
Ronda could learn to shuffle and move sideways instead of running straight, stopping, turning and chasing again....
 
She cant, she won't, she never will
Holly is rondas kryptonite
 
by training to be better than Holly on her worst day :/
 
If Dana buys her this for Christmas she MIGHT have a chance to beat Holly

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easier said than done. Holly has been learning to move efficiently for 20 years. Crisp, effective, efficient movements. Ronda just bounced forward like playing hopscotch. Then on top of that making wide, energy wasting swings.

Look at Holly, every movement was necessary and nothing more. Ronda will have to close the gap and take her down
 
she could learn a bit of a touch jab and at least feign some doubles. Mix it up. Fight smarter.
 
watch that fight again. Ronda actually rocks Holly right before Holm takes her down. all she needs to do is stay calm, get better coaches, setup her exchanges and get that submission. she needs to get some stem cell shot in her knees and pick up wrasslin
 
1. Improve striking defense (hands higher, lateral movement, ducking, feinting, keeping left foot to the left of Holly's right foot, reading Holly's tells)
2. More patient in clinches and on the ground - less emphasis on punching more emphasis on holding
3. Not being so predictable - shift into a southpaw stance occasionally, retreat then surge, body work,
4. Don't run after her - cut of the ring with lateral movement - don't turn on the spot
5. Lots of practice against southpaws
6. Fantastic cardio

If she does these things, Holly will still be miles ahead standing but Ronda will get more takedown ops per punches in the face and the odds are that she will make one of them work. Even in the first round of this fight(with a terrible stand up performance), they were on the ground twice and she had a clinch on the net as well as a couple of other clinch ops. A reasonable improvement in stand up could get her to 3 or 4 times on the ground each round and with better defense and cardio, she could probably go 3 or 4 rounds.
 
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Easily the only undisputed match she could win against Holly.
 
She could bring a knife. Otherwise, no, she can't.
 
She needs to actually become well-rounded.
I don't know how doable it is, but the first thing I think she needs is to add more takedowns to her repertoire. Holly barely had to worry about grappling, because the only way Ronda knows how to initiate it is by lumbering forward and punch-spazzing her way into the clinch.

She should probably give some attention to her footwork, and also just being lighter on her feet. She was so bad at closing the distance and getting the clinch, that half the people watching the fight thought she didn't want to clinch.

Head movement. Her face was pretty much always exactly where Holly expected it to be.

Temper her aggression. She doesn't have the skills to allow her all-or-nothing style to work against a fighter that actually has a game plan and the professionalism to stick to it.

I would say she needs to get her emotions under control. She looked to get panicky/frustrated when it became apparent she wasn't just going to walk through Holly.


Honestly, unless something was very wrong with her the last time out, I don't see how she can close the gap between Holly and herself. There was no part of her game that didn't look like it would need to be improved to be able to win the rematch.
 
Follow Askren's lead:

Accept the fact that she will not win a striking contest with Holm.

Throw zero punches during her training camp.

Learn proper striking defense only to cut off the "ring" and set up a takedown.

Get her to the ground.
 
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