How did Ronda become so dominant?

[honzo]

Judo then armbar

 

[Pacemaker Joe]

She is arguably a one-trick pony. I'm very surprised she got any wins at all. Her boxing is some of the worst I've ever seen.

Or are Amanda and Holly just that good?

Nunes and Holm are legit, disciplined strikers. Ronda has been deluded by her coach into thinking she could/should stand with them... "dropping world champion boxers!". The ring rust certainly didn't help vs. Nunes, though I don't think it changed much.

 

[Hard To Tell]

It's fair to say that up until Holm (and now Nunes) all the girls Rousey fought (and Rousey herself) barely had boxercise level striking.

 

[Darkart]

Honestly the best management decision in the history of MMA goes to the guy that stopped the Rousey vs Cyborg fight in Strikeforce.

 

[Corleone187]

dana protected her

 

[JustforBROCK]

People think the mental part of this shit is a joke. Rousey had her moments, no doubt -- but she did it against a bunch of low quality opponents and a bunch of dear in headlights. Mentally she was broke -- and as soon as Nunes touched her her mind went to shit. If she had a chance, it went out the window as soon as she got popped. She was a product of the hype machine bro ... Only difference between her and Carano was class.

 

[BigMuffler]

Her style is specialized and finally ran into the wrong matchups for it (see: Conor vs Diaz).

 

[Lucifer Alpha]

 

[Bob Gray]

She knew where her strength was and prioritized it. Now she's at the same point Matt Hughes was at the end of his career. Your striking improves and you think you can start banging with people that have been doing it longer than you have. It doesn't go well.

I mean seriously, Edmund is a striking coach. I can't see him improving her ground game, so why stay with him? She probably thinks she can start knocking em out left and right.

 

[Devout Pessimist]

It's WMMA.

 

[threelions]

She was a top level athlete fighting women smaller than herself until she met Holly and Nunes one of which was very experienced and both women she couldn't physically bully.

 

[KeepItRealist]

Because her opposition was weak in all areas of MMA (Ronda is still the strongest on the ground) and they were intimidated by her reputation and went into panic mode from the outset.

I bet Cat Zingano in particular is kicking herself for charging at Ronda the way she did after seeing how poor her striking is.

 

[Jon Lock]

Physically larger than her opponents (pre Holm and Nunes)

Was really really really good at her bread and butter move (think a knuckleballer in the majors)

The only correct answer

 

[Super Grover]

Same way Lesnar became dominant. Fighting people who posed very little threat to her.

Eventually you have to fight out of your comfort zone though.

 

[dontlaugh]

Favorable matchup. Still, anybody willing to go to the ground with her will most likely lose. They just never kept it on feet and exposed her before, Bethe Correia had the best chance, got so shook with the pressure of a main event that faceplanted.

The aura around a fighter can scare their opponents, until Holm, Ronda had that and kept going. Now she's exposed, everyone already picked on her flaws and will always explore that.