I'm going to give you the benefit of the doubt and say you didn't watch this before your post. If you didn't props to you for being such a technical observer of the sport. You went into great detail in your post almost matching Firaz Zahabi in your breakdown. Below is great 13 minute breakdown of how Holm did it.
VALIDATION~!
But no seriously, I'm a Judoka, so... I'm not going to toot my horn that much. What he points out and what I talked about... that's pretty basic stuff. Like it's literally impossible to do anything without hip position in Judo. And hands wrapped around the waist stuff is literally S.O.P. for luring someone into an arm bar in Judo. Watch some of the Olympic matches and it rarely ever gets picked because players know how to defend it. It's almost kind of like a nutmeg in soccer. You don't want to be the dope that has that happen to them.
I'd hardly call myself even a skilled fighter (I'm a pretty casual practitioner) but Ronda's so robotic and repetitive in her fights that I'm honestly shocked no one's caught on to this point. Even if you watch Firaz's video - he shows a million clips of her doing the SAME THING in every fight and literally all her opponents - even pre-UFC - fall for the same trick. I'm not ragging on her skill because her days as a Judoka player were much better in the Olympics - and her offense was wide ranging. But you could literally count the number of major judo practitioners in mainstream MMA on one hand - if that. She just shot a judo hold over and over that most people have never seen or considered. Holly had a crack coaching staff and I've got a feeling they pretty much picked it off right off the bat.
But again, while coaching made a difference here - it's not the reason Ronda lost. Holly broke her guard frequently and obliterated her in the clinch. Ronda took as many hits heading INTO the clinch, INSIDE the clinch and separating from the clinch as she did with Holly dancing around and popping her. Judo's a horrible style match up with a boxer because one - you're kept at extreme range and even when you close space, Boxers are better than anyone in a standup clinch - which is the real estate where a Judoka needs to exist to apply their craft.
So really - the whole thing was a perfect storm:
-Bad coaching for Rousey
-Crack coaching for Holm
-Horrible Styles Match up for Rousey
-Holm was stronger
-Holm was *a lot* faster
-And don't forget - Holly took some SHOTS (one knocked her mouthpiece out) and she wasn't ever rocked of phased. Ronda couldn't hurt her)
-Knew how to stuff all of Ronda's offense
-Had a big reach advantage
-Was in *superior* condition
I know some people were commenting on her camp - but Ronda dropped weight to chase Holm. She was gassed in two minutes. To me it's not a skill, training or coaching issue - it's a professional athlete vs. a very good amateur. I just think it got exposed. Now as more of the best women's fighters make their way into MMA, I think you'll see Rousey go the way of the Chuck Lidell's, Rich Franklins and Tito Ortiz's of the world. Somewhat competitive - great for solid draw mid card fights - but utterly outclassed by elite fighters.
