Even though UFC 195 is still months away, punters have heavily favored the reigning UFC world bantamweight champion to emerge victorious in the match up against Holly Holm.
Various news sources have reported on Friday that the opening odds heavily favour Ronda Rousey with the challenger a huge underdog at +825.
To anyone who’s always updated with the action at The Octagon, the current odds at the betting lines come as no surprise because of Rousey’s undefeated streak. In an article published by MMA Junkie dated 22nd August, “Rowdy” is currently 12-0 at the MMA and 6-0 at the UFC, beating her last three opponents and defending her title. According to the article from FanSided published on 22nd August, Rousey dominated in The Octagon during the matches against Alexis Davis, Cat Zingano, and most recently, Bethe “The Pitbull” Correia in a combined 64 seconds. In the news article published by FOX Sports on Friday, the reigning champion made the announcement about her next match on “Good Morning America”.
Rousey successfully defended her title against the Brazilian Correia during UFC 190 last August 1 at Rio de Janeiro. According to the article from ESPN dated 2nd August, Rowdy easily locked her sixth UFC title defense by knocking out the challenger within 34 seconds in the first round, making The Pitbull’s record 9-1. Since the defeat on that Saturday night, Correia has been asking for a rematch against the champion. In an article published by Youth Health dated 22nd August, it is rumored that a possible rematch between the two fighters will most likely take place next year.
In another article published by MMA Junkie dated 22nd August, the challenger may be a lesser known name in the bantamweight division, Holm certainly has the credentials to face Rousey at The Octagon for the bantamweight title next year. She made her debut in professional boxing in January 2002, earning multiple championships and “Female Fighter of the Year”. In March 2011, Holm made her professional MMA debut and earned her first title in April 2014. The former boxing champion is currently 9-0 at the MMA and 2-0 at the UFC, never been knocked down or taken down in the MMA. Holm would be the fifth challenger in the history of the UFC to bring an undefeated record into a championship bout.
With track records like these, this is one hell of a match-up to look forward to. According to FOX Sports, Rousey expressed her excitement about the match up on her guesting at “Good Morning America”. The bantamweight champion said that Holm is actually the most decorated striker they have in all of mixed martial arts. She added that the 19-time boxing world champion was the Ring Magazine pound-for-pound female fighter of the year and definitely her biggest challenge to date.
However, not everyone was too excited with the announcement of the bantamweight championship match last Friday. In an article published by Sherdog.com on 22nd August, former challenger Miesha Tate wasn’t too happy about Rousey’s announced on “Good Morning America” as she has already been preparing for another rematch with the reigning bantamweight queen. The news source reported that Tate wrote about the surprising news on Instagram, saying that she was extremely disappointed with the announcement that she will not be fighting Rousey even if she was told after her last win that she had earned a shot at the bantamweight title. She added that she regrets this not only for herself, but for her team, sponsors, and fans as well who have been looking forward to her next fight for the title.
As reflected on ESPN’s website, Rousey’s fight results shows that Tate was the reigning champion’s only opponent who got past the first round. Rousey first faced Tate at Strikeforce in March 2012, winning in the first round and dethroning the former bantamweight champion by submission with the use of her signature armbar. The second match up between the rival fighters was held during UFC 168 in December 2013. Rousey once again used her armbat on Tate, winning via submission 58 seconds into the third round.
No one knows for certain if this match up will be another less-than-a-minute fight for Rousey or if Holm will emerge with a surprising victory. But if we are certain about anything, any Ronda Rousey match is always highly anticipated and will be watched by millions of fans around the world.