Ronda Rousey UFC 207 Defeat - 7 Things We Learned
An era could be over.
UFC 207 Friday night, serving as the MMA promotion's annual year end show, turned out to be an exciting card that saw a new men's bantamweight champion in Cody Garabrandt, a dominant performance from former champ T.J. Dillashaw, and the return of Ronda Rousey.
We all wondered what she would look like after over a year away from the octagon. How she would adjust to the powerful striking of champion Amanda Nunes. Whether the media blackout Rousey was given would make any difference in the fight.
In short - it didn't. Rousey was thoroughly beaten in her return, finished by punch after punch from Nunes. In short, it was shocking, and worse, it was embarrassing. The woman once known as the baddest woman on the planet looked anything but Friday night. It appeared as if she hadn't learned a thing from her previous loss to Holly Holm.
No one expected that, any more than they expected Garabrandt to win a decision against one of the best fighters in the game. The Rousey loss was most shocking of all, however. She was the favorite. She was the pioneer, the legend coming back. Yet she looked uneasy, rattled when hit, and was quickly out on her feet.
What did we learn from all this? Lets take a look!
7. The Media Blackout Didn't Help
Leading in to UFC 207, Ronda Rousey was permitted a near total media blackout, something unprecedented in the UFC. Generally, fighters are expected to fulfill all media obligations, which includes press conferences, media scrums, open workouts, face offs, photo ops, interviews with the MMA media, and for the bigger stars, the talk show and late night circuit.
This past Summer, Conor McGregor was yanked from UFC 200 for missing a press conference. However, according to Dana White, Rousey had asked for the press blackout, and was given it because she had historically done more media than any other fighter, without really asking for anything in return.
So Rousey got special treatment. It was probably the right call, possibly a condition to lure her back into action. Unfortunately for Rousey, it didn't work. While she looked focused - and in the best shape of her fighting career - walking to the octagon, before long it became clear that Rousey had no business having her comeback fight against the reigning champ. Rousey was out-struck, overpowered, and outclassed. She looked out of place, and lost the fight by TKO in 48 seconds after ref Herb Dean waved off the fight.
She probably won't be doing media for a while.