5 Things We Learned From UFC 196 - McGregor Vs. Diaz

5. Holly Holm Is Overrated

There's been quite a bit of revisionism at play since Holly Holm walked away with the title at UFC 193, in an attempt to frame her stunning victory over the undefeated Ronda Rousey as an ascension to greatness that we all should have seen coming. The UFC promotional machine did their best to sell Holly as an unstoppable striker who was going to be a challenge for anyone to dethrone. While "The Preacher's Daughter" is clearly a respectable fighter, that was never the case, and astute observers saw through the hype despite her impressive win over Rousey. Going into that fight, Holm was coming off two underwhelming decision wins over average fighters - Raquel Pennington and Marion Reneau - and looked to be another easy notch in Ronda's belt. The only reason she was even granted the shot was because Dana White saw nothing to be gained from a third Rousey/Tate title fight and allowed Holm to leap over her in the standings. The end result was surprising to everyone, especially Ronda Rousey, who can be accused of being many things but humble isn't one of them. In Miesha Tate, Holly was facing an opponent who didn't share Rousey's only real weakness - hubris - and who would be more capable of crafting a sound strategy due to the fact that she didn't employ Edmund Tarverdyan. Tate went in there and capitalized on her areas of strength and made use of her advantages in scrambles and exposed Holm as the mediocre fighter that she has been all along. That's not to say that she wasn't a deserving champion or that she'll never wear the belt again. It's just that in an effort to protect the mythical status that had been awarded to Rousey, the UFC went out of their way to push Holly Holm as something much more than what she actually is.