Jack Slack: Is Holly Holm The Woman To Beat Ronda Rousey?

SuperNerd said:
Did you just try to put yourself over?

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fightdonttweet said:
I usually enjoy his articles on striking, but this one is shit. Not once did he mention her tendency to throw punches at air which we saw all throughout her last bout. Nothing but praise for her punching without mentioning the obvious weaknesses and how her kicks are telegraphed. I don't think this guy actually watched her mma bouts all the way through.
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... which bout?
 
Did he say Holm was revolutionary yet?
 
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Holm doesn't have a snowballs chance in hell of winning this fight and the UFC knows it.. The problem is that they have no other viable options at this point. Either we all watch Ronda uneventfully abuse Meisha for a 3rd time, simply because she has shown that she can "ALMOST" knock someone out in her last fight... Or they put her against an "Undefeated Former Boxing Champion" who, on paper, can say she may be the best striker that Ronda has ever faced. The reality is that outside of Cyborg, Ronda has no opposition... This is a fact!
 
Ronda bull-rushes through Holly's pillow punches, throws an overhand right, judo-throws semi-KOed Holly and armbars her or GNPs her to unconsciousness. 30 seconds max.
 
If you want a better read on Holm and her shortcomings in striking and clinching I suggest this:

http://www.bloodyelbow.com/ufc-184-pennington-vs-holm-technique-recap-2

Holly Holm had a lot of buzz coming into the UFC, riding a successful boxing career and a 7-0 MMA record into her Octagon debut against tough-out Raquel Pennington. Prior to the event I wrote about some of the limitations of her striking style, notably her lack of strong punching mechanics. Pennington provided a nice opportunity for Holm to prove herself capable of more and, unfortunately for the 33 year-old contender, she showed more of the same against a substantially higher level of competition, just squeaking by with a deserved but essentially unsatisfying split decision win as a result.


Let's take a look at one of the MMA-specific consequences of those flawed fundamentals, on which Pennington capitalized throughout the bout.

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1. Holm drops her weight, preparing herself to punch.

2. Her elbow flares as she drives forward with a straight left, parried by Pennington.

3. As she is wont to do, Holm steps her left foot forward, squaring her stance as she attempts a shift right hook. Pennington changes levels and bobs underneath this punch.

4. Holm now finds herself in clinch range, and extends both arms to shove Pennington away before she can strike.

5. Too late--Pennington cracks Holm with a right hook across the jaw as she struggles to back out of range.

Holm is an out-fighter in the purest sense. Her technique isn't perfect, but she is most comfortable on the outside, moving side to side and using her straight punches and kicks to keep her opponent at range. This desire to maintain range is so strong in Holm that she often finds herself flailing to reestablish her preferred distance. This wouldn't be such a problem if Holm's method of punching didn't put her right into mid or close range.

Take a look at the punches above (watch the GIF if you can). Holm telegraphs her cross by settling her weight and cocking her punch the moment before she attacks, doing nothing to disguise this movement with her lead hand. As she throws the left, her elbow flares, not only diminishing the power in the punch but making the strike even more obvious to Pennington, who parries the blow effortlessly.

At this point Holm wants to continue attacking, but she doesn't seem to know how to throw a technical left hook. She only knows how to shift, switching stance mid-punch and marching forward to land it. This can work at times--Holm managed to drop Katie Merrill with a shift punch to the solar plexus--but only when the opponent respects Holm's punches enough to back up as she comes forward. Against a stalwart bruiser like Pennington, the shift carries Holm, with her knees unbent and her hips square, right into close range, the last place she wants to be.

Pennington isn't the world's greatest wrestler, but Holm still did an admirable job of adjusting her hips and moving her feet to deny her opponent's takedown attempts on the inside. The troubling thing is how often she allowed herself to get into that position in the first place. Even worse, Holm found herself being outstruck by Pennington in this range, certainly not a smart look for a supposedly dangerous boxer.

Here's another look at that careless dive into the wrong range, which Holm carelessly replicated all night.

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1. Holm starts at very long range--far too long to initiate a punch without being timed and avoided.

2. A throwaway jab accompanies her advance, but does little to disguise her intentions.

3. Pennington's defense is nothing special, but she still manages to parry Holm's left straight . . .

4. . . . and she once again ducks under the shift right hook.

5. Now Pennington gets in on Holm's hips, and the two start battling for position.

Take a look at the position of Holm's body in frames three through five. Leaning forward, legs nearly straight, off-balance and feet squared. Pennington's level change isn't particularly strong, and her ability to finish strong on takedown attempts is virtually nonexistent. Holm was certainly more than capable of stuffing every one of Pennington's attempts. Still, the fact that she found herself fighting off takedowns so frequently is not a good sign. Once she does wind up in the clinch, there are more than enough flaws for a skilled clinch grappler (of which one just happens to rule Holm's division) to exploit.

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1. Pennington is in on Holm's hips, but fails to connect her hands.

2. As Holm slides her left forearm inside to crossface Pennington, the latter is forced to slide from double leg to clinch.

3. Keeping Holm in close with a left underhook, Pennington tries a right uppercut, but misses.

4. Holm tries a knee, but Pennington absorbs it with her right arm.

5. Now Pennington stands up straight and winds up for a right hand upstairs.

6. Holm has no control of Pennington's posture, nor the angle to avoid her right hand. She takes a short cross clean on the jaw.

7. Trying to get back, Holm charges forward, but leaves herself open, head forward and feet square.

8. Pennington easily stymies her assault with a quick, clean jab.

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Holm's clinch, by comparison, is a pretty slapdash affair. Rather than gripping the back of Pennington's head, she clasps her hands around her neck, giving her substantially less control over the other woman's posture. It doesn't end up mattering all that much, because Holm does very little to affect that posture in the first place, and Pennington still finds herself standing upright and in position to punch when Holm begins to load her hips for the knee. And that punch has no trouble connecting cleanly, given the foot of space between Holm and Pennington's heads.

For Holm, boxing was never about fighting on equal ground. Hers was a movement-based style, in which she would circle the ring, shoot in with quick and plentiful combinations, and then tie up, waiting for the ref to separate her from her opponent. With the exception of her newfound kicking prowess, she has adapted this strategy quite literally to MMA, changing very little about the way she approaches her fights.

Unfortunately for Holly, MMA refs are decidedly less eager to break up clinches, and MMA fighters are often quite keen to engage in that range. To enjoy a long and successful career in the UFC, Holm will need to either adopt a more fundamentally sound punching method--one that doesn't send her caroming into a range where she must outgrapple her opponent--or develop a more fundamentally sound clinch game to make up for the fact that she's going to spend a lot of time there. With Ronda Rousey licking her chops at the top of the heap, waiting for fresh meat, Holm would be best served to make this change sooner rather than later.
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*Credit to the phenomenal Connor Ruebusch, one of the absolute best mma analysts.
 
This fight is actually interesting to me.... RR is actually fighting an elite athlete who is close to her size. With her movement and strength Holly may just survive to the championship rounds.
 
Fight Professor said:
I can see Holly keeping her distance and countering.
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Exactly how does she achieve this against a hyper-aggressive judoka attacking at speed, using punches of her own as a means of getting to the clinch? Wishful thinking on your part.
 
If Holly win's it's by catching Ronda with a sweet left followed by more lefts.
 
Holm hasn't showed the tools to finish a high level fighter like Ronda. Ronda will smash her, I just wish they'd given Holm more time.
 
It's not Ronda's fault that she has no competition, but this fight is complete shit. Holly is a point-fighting manufactured hype and nothing more and anyone who thinks this fight goes to decision is out of his fucking mind. Ronda by ragdoll mauling. Until someone can land through Ronda's sloppy distance defense don't expect much of a challenge.
 
EliteLurker said:
Holm hasn't showed the tools to finish a high level fighter like Ronda. Ronda will smash her, I just wish they'd given Holm more time.
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I think the issue is that she is 33 and doesn't look like she's going to improve all that much. They are feeding her to Ronda now since in all likelihood Holm would get murked by top 5 of the division
 
EliteLurker said:
Holm hasn't showed the tools to finish a high level fighter like Ronda. Ronda will smash her, I just wish they'd given Holm more time.
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She's much older than Ronda, and she's been an mma fighter for as long as Ronda.

She's just not as talented as her. Mind you, womens Judo is much more competitative than womens boxing.
 
If Holly can avoid the takedown like she has in other fights, sure she has a decent chance. How likely is that? Not very.

If she were a KO striker, I would give her more of a chance. She hasn't been able to KO far lesser opponents than Ronda in matches that stayed on the feet throughout, so she clearly doesn't have KO power right now, even if she once did.

I don't think a striker who is a point fighter would ever beat Ronda; Ronda is too good at takedowns, and too good at finishing once on the ground.
 
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