This Saturday, the UFC is putting on another huge event. With two title fights on the card, one of which contains the ‘Notorious’ Conor McGregor, UFC 196 offers us a night of fantastic fights, not least are the two headlining bouts at the top of the card. Over the next two days, GetMoreSports will be looking at the event, and it’s biggest fights. Today, we start with our Holly Holm vs. Miesha Tate preview.
It’s been quite the year for Holly Holm. Making her debut against Raquel Pennington in February of 2015, Holm fought just twice in the UFC before fighting for the Bantamweight title just a few months later, facing Ronda Rousey in November.
Most had (including Holm herself) speculated that she was being put up against the champion as another lamb for the slaughter. To be turned into another thirty second long GIF by the tenacious superstar Rousey. Instead, if was Holm who sent the result around the world, her head kick knock-out which won the fight forced itself into highlight reels everywhere.
In that fight, Holm showed a completely different level of fighting than her two previous appearances. Her footwork, her control of distance and range made the previous unbeaten (and unchallenged) Rousey look amateur. In winning the title, Holm didn’t just take it from Rousey, she took it with ease.
After Rousey, it’s likely that Miesha Tate currently represents the biggest challenge to Holm’s new title in the division. Tate, whose last loss was to Rousey in 2013, has been on a solid streak of late, winning her last four fights.
All of those fights have come via unanimous decision, the last of which was an impressive comeback, after being dropped by Jessica Eye. That bout took place in July of last year, after which Tate was publically promised a title shot by UFC brass… that was then taken away and given to Holly Holm.
Since then, Tate has stated her case for the shot, even going as far as to mention retirement as a possibility should she not receive a title fight. Now, the UFC have given fulfilled her wish, and we’ll see the two fight in the co-main event of UFC 196.
To determine how this fight will go, we must look at the last performance of Holly Holm.
Holm danced and avoided Rousey’s clinch, forcing the fight to take place on the feet. Once there, no one in the women’s Bantamweight division can touch her. What was most surprising about that fight, and what Tate could perhaps find herself to be concerned with, was Holm’s strength. Rousey, an Olympic level Judoka, who has shown time and time again (including, for that matter, against Tate) that she can hurl people to the ground with ease.
Against Holm though, Rousey was simple unable to hold onto her opponent in the manner she had been so previously used. Even when the two fell to the floor, Holm was able to free herself from Rousey’s grasp with pretty little difficulty.
Tate’s chance in this fight is, as she’s said herself, to make it a grind. To turn it into a dogfight, which will negate Holm’s footwork, and minimise the risk of her lengthy strikes. If Tate succeeds in getting Holm in the clinch, or in taking her down, then her chances go up dramatically. Her issue would then become being able keep Holly shutdown, and to keep forcing clinch exchanges for twenty five minutes.
When asked about her method of victory on Wednesday, at the events open workouts, Tate suggested that Holm may be unable to take a solid punch.
“I think that Holly’s chin might be a little bit suspect,” Tate said, Wednesday. “I have seen her wobbled a couple times. There were some punches that didn’t look like they were anything more than I could deliver, that’s for sure. I think that’s a little bit questionable, too.”
“I’ve watched some of her fights and I’ve seen her chin get tested, and I think it’s a little bit suspect,” Tate said. “I saw Raquel put her down with a shot and actually even Ronda caught her with a left hook and she wobbled. So it just leads me to think that she might have great striking, but maybe a glass chin, too. I don’t know.”
While Tate is perhaps accurate about Holm’s being dazed by Ronda and Raquel, it’s important to note that in 51 bouts across boxing, kickboxing and MMA; Holm has only been KO’d twice.
If the champion Holm shows early on that she can out muscle Tate, if she shows she is stronger (as she did in the Rousey fight), then Tate is in trouble. Stand-up wise, the challenger has nothing to offer Holly. Holm’s striking is too precise and her control of distance is too elite for Tate to beat her there. Even if Holm didn’t get the knock-out, Tate would be at the end of the jab all night.
Regardless who wins, the division will be presented with interesting options, particularly when considering the eventual return of Rousey.
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