Why Holm Makes More Sense Than Tate

It seemed like we had the Woman’s Bantamweight title picture set. With Miesha Tate beating Jessica Eye and Ronda Rousey destroying Bethe Corriea it seemed it was all set for a third go round with Rousey and Tate. Than the UFC threw a curve ball when it was announced that instead Rousey's next challenger will be Holly Holm. Of course this has set off a flurry of reaction. And well in my honest opinion giving Holly Holm her first title shot makes more sense than giving Tate a second UFC title shot and a third fight with Rousey.

Lets start with the fact this would be a third fight with Rousey and Tate. Rousey won both fight making Tate submit to an armbar both times. In the first fight Tate admits she was angry and felt disrespected as a result she charged in got taken down and became just the latest victim of the arm bar to go less than a round. In the second fight Tate entered much calmer and became the only fighter to ever get past the first round with Rousey. The fight lasted until the third round until again she got caught in the armbar and tapped out. Since that fight to Tate's credit she's won five in a row. With other potential challengers falling short and Cyborg refusing to drop to 135 (no matter what she says she always changes a week later about it.) Tate has earned a title shot.

But Holly Holm is the more interesting title fight! Lets with the fact its a fresh fight. We have no idea what a Rousey vs. Holm fight will be like. Since UFC 168 Tate, team, and fans have regularly hyped up the fact she went more than one round with the champion. However it could be argued that Rousey was more dominate in the rematch than she was in the first fight. Tate's game plan for that fight might have been one of the worse I have eve seen. Time and again Tate clinched with Rousey and got tossed. In the two previous encounters Tate hasn't shown an ability to stop Rousey's judo. Rousey though has shown she can stuff Tate's wrestling style takedowns. It appears to me that Tate believes she is the better striker than Rousey or believes Rousey has enough holes in her stand up to take advantage of.

In the first fight I would Tate was the better striker. She had much more experience and when Rousey was hit she turned her head. A common reaction for inexperienced strikers who haven't been hit before. In the second fight Tate did have her moments in the stand up but Rousey had shown great improvement. She no longer turned away from being hit. Also since that second fight with Tate, Rousey has shown knockout power. She got Sara McMann with a knee, Alexis Davis with a takedown and than ground and pound, and than brawled with Corriea and made sure she would never forget when Straight Outta Compton came out.

Now let's look at the second fight. Since than well Rousey's has only gotten more dominate she finished three fight in less than a minute and two of of them in less than twenty seconds. Hell the fight with McMann was just over a minute. Tate again to her credit has won four in row including two very strong wins over Sara McMann and Jessica Eye. But Tate hasn't really show any new tricks or improvement. All of those wins went to decision. Tate remains a wrestler based fighter with good stand up. She always remains a fighter willing to take punishment. To me it's Similar to Jon Fitch. The former Purde wrestling captain got one shot at GSP during his UFC career. After the loss to GSP he did have a long winning streak that some felt should have given him a rematch. But Fitch style of winning always remained the same. Get a takedown and grind it out. GSP already showed he could stop Fitch from doing that. Fitch was never much of finisher so he never got another title shot. Its the same for Tate she's not shown any sign that a third fight would be different.

But what Holly Holm? What could she do that would make this a more interesting fight? For one Rousey has never faced such a great striker. Yes Rousey has faced power strikers before such as Kaufman or Corriea but Holm is a great technical striker. And well I would remiss if I didn't point out Holm's great boxing career with 33 career wins in the ring and 18 world titles. In recent fight Ronda has been much more willing to exchange on her feet. Why she's better there are holes in her defense. If Rousey tries to prove a point and exchanges we could see her take some real damage. I don't see Holm getting into the wild exchanges we have often seen Rousey have with Tate, McMann or Corriea. If Rousey comes out guns a blazing Holm has the technical skills to avoid hit her and take control.

Another key part of Holm's game is her kicking. After moving into kickboxing and MMA Holm found she has great power in her legs. Of six career MMA knockouts five come from Holm using kicks. Rousey has faced some strong strikers she's never really faced a strong kicker. Plus Holm isn't just using roundhouse kicks. In her fight with Marion Reneau we saw Holm make use of sidekicks, kicks and front kicks. Also in that fight with Reneau Holm showed great timing using her kicks. Just the kind of attack that could stop a charging Rousey or keep the champion from getting a clinch. And given Holm stand up ability this might be the first time in a while that Rousey might need to get the fight to the ground.

I'd also be remiss if I didn't bring up Hol'ms team. She fights out of Jackson Winklejohn. She's worked with renowned striking coach Mike Winklejohn since she was a teenager. And Greg Jackson along with Winklejohn have coached numerous fighters to world titles. Along with this comes elite training partners several of which are also getting ready for upcoming title shots. Holm's going to have potentially great training camp. And it will be interesting to see what such a high profile corner will do game plan wise against such a force as Rousey.

Long before Holm was even under UFC contract people wanted to see this fight. Hell I would say Rousey vs. Holm was brought up about as often as Rousey vs. Cyborg. As dominant as Rousey was even early in her career combined with her successful Judo career was similar to Holm. The great boxer who was tearing through competition on the local scene of MMA. While the demand has cooled off due to Holm rather sluggish performance against Raquel Pennington and again going to decision against Marion Reneau. Now against Pennington it's important to keep in mind that it was Holm's UFC debut and plenty of fighters look off in that UFC debut. While Pennington does not have the best record she is a very tough veteran fighter. She did dominate Reneau who was coming off several strong performances. And given a little more time I think Holm could have finished Reneau as she had hurt late in the third round.

Finally the thing factor that will make this an interesting fight is Rousey will motivated for this fight. While Rousey Tate still have an intense dislike for one another the fact remains Rousey has already beat her twice. Plenty of fighters talking how hard it is to get motivated for rematches epically when they won. With Holm its a fresh challenger that brings a skill set Rousey has never seen before. And I think a motivated Rousey will led to a more interesting fight.