One Year Ago Today, Holly Holm Shocked the World by KOing Ronda Rousey

One year ago today, the UFC took over sunny Melbourne, Australia’s Etihad Stadium with UFC 193. In the evening’s main event, transcendent MMA star and women’s bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey sought to make another defense of her title against Holly Holm. By all accounts, it was expected to be a blowout for Rousey, who was identified by some oddsmakers as as much as a -1650 betting favorite.

The fight was not the blowout we expected.

Instead, Rousey was immediately outclassed by Holm on the feet, charging into her range where she absorbed punch after punch after punch and landed little in the way of return fire. Round one ended with a bloodied and bewildered Rousey stumbling to the stool, where her coach Edmond Tarverdyan infamously told her she’d done “beautiful work.”

Things only got worse for Rousey in the second. Nearly a minute into the round, she was wobbled by a punch. From there, Holm sent her careening to the floor with a perfectly timed left high kick, before polishing her off with a series of hammer fists. Just like that, Holm had registered one of the biggest upsets in UFC history, and the Rousey era had come to a skittering halt.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1sZw1jHMe1Y

Since then, things have not gone especially well for either woman. Holm followed her career defining defeat of Rousey with a submission loss to Miesha Tate, which would mark the end of her title reign. From there, the former champion gave up a decision to Kyrgyzstan’s Valentina Shevchenko, which would push her onto the first two-fight skid of her career.

Rousey, meanwhile, has not been seen in the cage since her loss to Holm. Luckily for her fans, that will soon change, as she’s poised for a comeback fight opposite reigning women’s bantamweight queen Amanda Nunes. The two fighters will duke it out in the main event of UFC 207 this December 30.

Do you think Rousey can bounce back from her loss to Holm this December, or is her time at the top over? Sound off, PENN Nation!