10 Legendary MMA Bouts Where Both Fighter's Careers Never Recovered
3. UFC 196: Miesha Tate Vs. Holly Holm
After pulling off one of the biggest upsets in UFC history against Ronda Rousey, Holly Holm found herself on the other end of the spectrum at UFC 196.
In her fight with Miesha 'Cupcake' Tate, Holm dictated the pace with her striking and heading into round five, appeared to be on her way to a decision victory. However, Tate had other plans.
With 2:30 left in a fight that was slipping away from her, 'Cupcake' managed to take her opponent down and secured a rear-naked choke, to capture the UFC women's bantamweight strap. Her effort would earn her Comeback of the Year honors.
As fate would have it, Tate would go from the biggest win of her career to retiring from the sport in roughly an eight-month stretch.
Following the Holm fight, Tate would lose her title to Amanda Nunes in a little over three minutes. In November 2016, the former champ appeared out of sorts in her loss to Raquel Pennington and retired after the contest. It looked as though the five-round war with Holm and the subsequent fight with Nunes might have taken their toll.
Despite the loss to Tate, Holm was still one of the sport's biggest stars due to her win over Rousey. However, she'd exposed a major hole in her game: takedown defense. Due in large part to her notoriety, 'The Preacher's Daughter' received three more title fights but came up short each time.
To be fair, Holm has fought a murderers' row since UFC 196, including Amanda Nunes, Cris Cyborg, and Valentina Shevchenko. Still, her 3-4 UFC record since the loss to Tate doesn't look good.