Holly Holm puts everything together to shock Ronda Rousey in Australia

By Case Keefer (contact)

Published Saturday, Nov. 14, 2015 | 11:10 p.m.

Updated Saturday, Nov. 14, 2015 | 11:43 p.m.

When the UFC announced Holly Holm as the next opponent for Ronda Rousey, many questioned whether the former boxing champion was ready for such a stiff challenge in mixed martial arts.

She was ready all right — ready enough to pull the biggest upset in UFC history. Holm, who closed as high as an 8-to-1 underdog, stunned the sports world Saturday night in Melbourne, Australia, at UFC 193.

Holm knocked out Rousey with a head kick 59 seconds into the second round of their women’s bantamweight championship bout in front of a record crowd at Etihad Stadium.

“Everything we worked on happened tonight,” Holm said between tears while still in the octagon. “I didn’t want to kick her in the body because we didn’t want her to grab on it, so we went high. And it was just there.”

Rousey collapsed to the mat unconscious with referee Herb Dean rushing in to call the fight as Holm followed with ground-and-pound. One of the world’s most popular fighters was silenced.

Rousey congratulated Holm but exited the cage before speaking in the traditional post-fight interview.

“Getting in here, I just had so much love and support,” Holm said. “I just felt like, ‘How could I not do this with all that love?’ I had the best coaching from stand-up to grappling to wrestling.”

Renowned coaches Greg Jackson and Mike Winkeljohn, who run arguably MMA’s most successful gym in Rousey’s native Albuquerque, N.M., solved the Rousey riddle with a flawless game plan. They were content to let Rousey, who had three knockouts in her past four fights after starting her career with eight consecutive arm bars, trade on the feet and take shots from Holm.

When Rousey tried to close in, Holm employed a famous strategy from training partner Jon Jones with knee kicks to maintain distance. Social media erupted and the cavernous venue quieted after the first round, in which Holm bruised Rousey face and clearly handed the champion her first-ever losing frame.

Rousey’s coaches consoled her during the pause, reassuring her that everything would work out. They were wrong.

Holm out-struck Rousey to a larger degree in the opening seconds of the second, spinning her around before finding the finish.

Holm’s considerable combat-sports skills hadn’t previously appeared to fully translate into mixed martial arts. They ended up making the transition at the perfect time.

Holm shared an emotional anecdote about the toll of training up to five times a day over the past two months since the fight got pushed up to Saturday from an original date in January. Despite what anyone might have thought, she was never going to come at Rousey unprepared.

“It was a lot of blood, sweat and tears, I’ll tell you what,” Holm said. “But it was worth it.”

Check below for results from the rest of UFC 193.

• Joanna Jedrzejczyk achieved what Rousey couldn’t in defending her championship belt. The women’s strawweight champion busted up challenger Valerie Letourneau’s face in a fight mostly made up of kickboxing exchanges that Jedrzejczyk won by unanimous decision (50-45, 49-46, 49-46).

• The sequel to arguably the greatest heavyweight fight in UFC history didn’t live up to the original. Mark Hunt knocked out Antonio “Bigfoot” Silva with a right hand to the temple at 1:19 of the first round.

• The highest-billed Australian fighter gave the home crowd much to celebrate. Robert Whittaker picked apart Uriah Hall by unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28) in a middleweight bout.

• Jared Rosholt, a former collegiate standout at Oklahoma State, treated the foreign crowd to a dose of American wrestling. Rosholt controlled Dutch kickboxer Stefan Struve in a unanimous-decision victory (29-28, 29-28, 29-28) in a heavyweight bout to open the pay-per-view.

• Jake Matthews threw hard enough ground-and-pound to deeply lacerate Akbarh Arreola above his eye, forcing the cageside doctors to stop the fight after the second round and award him a TKO victory.

• Kyle Noke scored a TKO victory over Peter Sobotta with a front kick to the body followed by punches at 2:01 of the first round.

• Gian Villante knocked Anthony Perosh out cold with a right hand at 2:56 of the first round in a light heavyweight bout.

• Danny Martinez opened the Fox Sports 1 portion of the preliminary card by beating Richie Vaculik via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27) in a flyweight bout.

• Dan Kelly defeated Steve Montgomery via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28) in a middleweight bout.

• Richard Walsh won every round on all three judges’ scorecards to take a unanimous-decision victory over Steve Kennedy in a welterweight bout.

• James Moontarsi knocked out Anton Zafir with a spinning back kick at 4:36 of the first round in a welterweight bout.

• Ben Nguyen submitted Ryan Benoit via rear-naked choke at 2:35 of the first round in a flyweight bout.

Case Keefer can be reached at 702-948-2790 or [email protected]. Follow Case on Twitter at twitter.com/casekeefer.