UFC bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey has revealed she was willing to die in the Octagon to win a previous bout, as her lucrative showdown with Holly Holm at UFC 193 edges ever closer.
Rousey has blitzed her way through the bantamweight division in her previous few fights, winning her last four inside the first round. Her first fight in the UFC was also a Round 1 triumph, against Liz Carmouche, but the American revealed she was in immense pain after her opponent attempted a choke early on.
It was then, Rousey revealed, she knew she was willing to do whatever it took to win a fight, per Lance Pugmire of the Los Angeles Times:
I dislocated my jaw, broke my sinuses, was coughing. When her hand went across my jaw, my mouth was ripped open. That's the only fight I got a bruise in.
The worse-case scenario is you break your neck, and my neck was past the place where it shouldn't have gone.
It was in that moment I realised I was willing to die to win this fight. I was willing to be a quadriplegic to win that fight. It was that important to me. I didn't care. The thought of giving up never happened. You have to want it more than the other person.
That’s the size of the challenge facing Holm at the Etihad Stadium in Melbourne on Nov. 15. Not only does Rousey possess a variety of skills to beat opponents inside the Octagon, there’s previous for her coming through in the face of adversity. That marriage of talent and tenacity has made her a truly formidable opponent.
Perhaps that’s why Holm is seeking advice from one of the greatest MMA exponents of all time, in her Team Jackson-Winkeljohn stablemate Jon Jones.
The former UFC light heavyweight champion is revered as one of the greatest natural athletes ever seen inside the Octagon, defending his title eight times in succession before having it stripped earlier this year. Holm revealed the man known as Bones has offered her some great advice in the build-up to UFC 193, per Damon Martin of FOX Sports:
I love to hear his input on it and he has been very helpful and very instrumental in this fight camp, a lot of things that sometimes he'll just brainstorm on that works really well for me, he's been great, been a great help. …
There's been times where he might even just come to my mitt session and have some ideas on things that he feels works with my fighting style and just ideas that he has. He's got a very, very good mind about fighting and I always appreciate his advice.
Holm will feel as though she has the weapons to go long into this fight. With her boxing background, Rousey may think twice about coming forward quite so aggressively in this one. While the champ has the chin to take some shots, she’ll be a little wary of being caught off guard early and may bide her time a little more as a result.
As we can see courtesy of the UFC Twitter, Holm is adamant she can spring what’d be a remarkable upset:
While Holm has the tools to take this fight beyond the first round, getting the better of Rousey is surely beyond her. There are simply too many ways in which the favourite can hurt her opponents and eventually Holm will likely be powerless to the grappling of her rival.
Rousey is no stranger to the big occasion anymore and will relish performing in front of what’s set to be a massive crowd at the Etihad Stadium. It’s clear the same desire that burned so brightly in her first fight under the UFC banner is still prevalent today and she’s a force of nature that’ll be impossible for Holm, even with some assistance from Jones, to contain come Nov. 15.
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