Ronda Rousey’s return to fighting is coming up fast on December 30th, but we’d forgive you for not knowing because Rousey is no longer the media whirlwind she was during her first indomitable reign of terror as women’s 135 pound champion. She credits that to no longer needing to be ‘The Face Of Women’s MMA’ in order for it to survive. But Dana White admitted shortly after the fight was announced that Rousey felt like the media turned on her, and after hearing about her angry run in with Paige VanZant, it seems like she feels the same way about lots of people.
We’re not all that surprised. The internet didn’t exactly go easy on Ronda after her stunning headkick loss to Holly Holm at UFC 193. Memes were made, lulz were had, and many people starting tearing down the invincible monster that had been created in our public consciousness over the past few years. Since she’d just gotten outboxed by Holly Holm, her boxing and in turn the training provided by her boxing coach Edmond Tarverdyan received the brunt of that. A couple of clips come up over and over again whenever anyone wants to mock Ronda and her abilities:
And now fans have found a new clip of Rousey looking as sloppy as ever with her hands during a recent training session. From the official UFC 207 Extended Preview, Reddit users found this snippit of Ronda throwing … a cross? A jab?
Really, it’s not much of anything, and that’s ignoring the horrific twist of her arm that leaves her hand at a really terrible angle. Even as someone who used to defend Rousey’s skills in the first clip (at the end of a grueling training circuit, you can forgive a fighter’s form for getting sloppy), I still think this looks bad. And it’s certainly an indication that she may not have closed the hole in her game that Holly Holm exposed.
That’s bad news for Ronda in a sport where other athletes can hone in on a weakness and spend months perfecting their plan of attack. Holly Holm beat Ronda using her boxing footwork to stay outside of Ronda’s reach (and thus judo throws) while punishing her with quick and precise striking every time Ronda lunged in. Current champ and knockout artist Amanda Nunes would be foolish to stray far from this tried and tested method.
But maybe (just maybe) people are looking too much into a few seconds of footage showing Rousey doing something wrong. Possibly haters are blowing it out of proportion, especially considering how many things she does right — things which are very obvious below in the same UFC 207 preview video the new boxing clip came from. Whatever the case, it just makes her fight on December 30th all the more intriguing. We can’t wait!
