“You know, it’s funny because all the people that were talking smack about the fight, everybody thinks they’re an expert and everybody thinks they know about fighting. Very few people really do. If Ronda went out there and ran after [Holm] like a maniac and knocked her out? ‘Ronda’s the best ever. Ronda’s this, that.’ Ronda goes out and this happens tonight, ‘the gameplan was all wrong; this was all wrong.’ It’s easy to sit back and criticize when you’re watching the fight. That’s exactly the way Holly was going to fight this fight. That was no secret there. The question is, ‘Is Ronda going to go in there and try to stand with her? Is Ronda going to try to take her out?’ Or is Ronda going to go for double legs, try to get her in the clinch and throw her?’ To sit here now and question the gameplan is just as stupid as the people who thought this wasn’t a good fight.”
-Dana White lashes out at critics of Ronda Rousey’s gameplan at UFC 193 during the post-fight press conference (transcribed by MMAFighting.com).
Penick’s Analysis: What’s really funny about these comments is White has been critical of so many fighters’ gameplans throughout the years, and has on numerous occasions gone off and criticized those who have lost when they weren’t expected to lose. But because here it happened to Rousey, he thinks no one else can say anything about it. As to the gameplan itself, it’s fair to be critical of her attempting to prove she was as good a striker as Holm. That’s an error in the way she and Edmond Tarverdyan approached this fight. They made public comments saying that’s what they believed of Rousey, and he talked up her striking significantly in every outlet he could. She’s not that level of striker. That was proven when she ran up against the best striker she’s ever faced. That’s not to say she could have gone in and had success shooting for takedowns. She has to be able to cut angles, and has to be able to get in to work the clinch much more effectively than she did on Saturday. She might not be able to do that. Holm effectively blocked a throw attempt and quickly got separation. She took Rousey down and avoided a brief attempt from Rousey to attack. Rousey got hit early and didn’t react well, that threw her game off, and she eventually was in desperation mode to make something happen. Holm capitalized. Regardless of what Rousey did Saturday, she was beaten by a better prepared fighter who executed her gameplan perfectly.
[Photo (c) Jayne Kamin-Oncea via USA Today Sports]
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