Holm ends losing streak with knockout

SINGAPORE -- American MMA fighter Holly Holm broke her three-fight losing streak in Singapore Saturday, knocking out Brazilian Bethe Correia with a kick to the head.

The bantamweight fight was the headliner on Saturday's fight card, Ultimate Fighting Championship's return to Asia after a 19-month absence.

The pair got off to a slow start with barely any contact in the first two rounds, prompting boos from the Singapore Indoor Stadium crowd.

Responding to a taunt in Round 3, Holm delivered a head kick that sent Correia crashing to the canvas and finished her opponent off with a punch.


"I picked the shot I wanted and got the finish... We figured she would get frustrated and that’s what opened up the opportunity for the head kick," Holm said in an interview after the fight.

Holm ended top star Rhonda Rousey's unbeaten run in 2015 with a similar move, a defeat she never bounced back from.

Since her upset of Rousey, Holm has also struggled, losing her subsequent three bouts. She previously had an unblemished 10-0 record in MMA.

In making its Asian return, UFC, the world's biggest MMA promoter, has its eye on the lucrative mainland Chinese market, initially scheduling two Chinese fighters on Saturday's card.

Top Chinese MMA star Wang Guan pulled out a week before the fight, citing injury.

But Li Jingliang, widely seen as China's best MMA prospect, roundly took down Guam's Frank Camacho in a three-bout fight, exhausting his opponent and winning by unanimous decision.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

LOOK: Rousey breaks silence after loss to Holm

SYDNEY, Australia -- Dethroned UFC world champion Ronda Rousey vowed Monday she would be back after "a little bit of time" following her stunning knockout defeat to Holly Holm in their title fight in Melbourne.

Holm pulled off one of the biggest upsets in the Ultimate Fighting Championship when she knocked out previously unbeaten Rousey in the second round to claim the world bantamweight title on Sunday.

Rousey, tagged the world's most feared female prizefighter, was hospitalised after Holm sent her crashing to the canvas in the second round of their bout with a savage kick to her jaw.

But the US cult figure assured her supporters she has no serious health concerns and would be back in the octagon before long.


"I just wanted to thank everyone for the love and support," Rousey said in a statement posted on Instagram. "I appreciate the concerns about my health, but I'm fine.

 "As I had mentioned before, I'm going to take a little bit of time, but I'll be back."

There were reports after the fight of a re-match between the newly-crowned champion Holm and Rousey.

Rousey's nutritionist and conditioning expert Mike Dolce said he expected her to rebound after her unexpected defeat.

"She will be back, absolutely, she is an amazing athlete," Dolce told reporters in Sydney.

"Ronda has lost before, she lost at the Olympic Games and I think that was a great test for her and look at how she came back, she came back a multi-time world champion.

"So I will be expecting the same type of rebound after this."

Rousey claimed a bronze medal in judo at the 2008 Beijing Olympics before fighting her way to the top of the UFC and Dolce said she would draw on that experience ahead of a probable re-match against Holm.

"We go back to the gym, we go back to the basics, we go back to what made her a champion in the first place which is just hard work, sacrifice, dedication and focus on being the best in the world," he said.

"Last night was unfortunate but it doesn't change the overall goal which is being the best athlete on the planet."

"We knew going in that Holly would be a tough test and she certainly was," Dolce added.

"Holly is a great champion and you can't take that away from her."

Holm had Rousey staggering in the second round with some crunching left hooks, before finishing her off with a left-foot kick that landed flush under the champion's jaw.

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Holly Holm stuns Rousey to become new UFC champ

Holly Holm captures the UFC bantamweight title. Second-round KO of Ronda Rousey at UFC193 in Melbourne. MORE: www.7Sport.com.auVINE: https://vine.co/v/iBH9lFgQtqp Video: MAIN EVENT#UFC ##UFC193 #7News

Posted by 7 News Sydney on Saturday, November 14, 2015

Holly Holm put on the performance of a lifetime to dominate and eventually knock out the erstwhile unbeaten "Rowdy" Ronda Rousey in the main event of UFC 193 in Melbourne, Australia.

Holm, a massive underdog heading into the fight, stuck to her game plan, utilized her boxing skills, and used Rousey's aggressiveness to her advantage en route to becoming the new UFC women's bantamweight champion.

The end came in the second round, when Holm connected on a tremendous head kick that dropped Rousey to the ground. She followed it up with a series of shots, but the referee stepped in before she can do more damage.

The official time of stoppage was 59 seconds of round two.

"I'm trying to take it in, but it's crazy," said Holm, who burst into tears after her victory. "Getting in here, I had so much love and support. How can I not do this, with that much love?"

Holm, a former boxing champion who shifted to MMA in 2011, perfectly utilized her range in keeping the aggressive Rousey off balance, countering every time Rousey got too close.

She was in some trouble in the first round, when Rousey tried for a submission hold, but managed to recover and dominated the rest of the round by tagging "Rowdy" with shots to the face.

In the second round, Holm perfectly read a Rousey attack, ducking under a punch from the increasingly desperate champion. Moments later, Holm landed a huge punch that wobbled Rousey, followed it up with a perfectly placed left kick to the head, and Rousey went crashing to the canvas.

"Everything that we worked on presented itself in the fight," Holm said. "Everything we worked on happened tonight."

Rousey laid on the canvas for a while before Holm was formally announced as the winner. She was then taken to a local hospital, according to a report by ESPN's Ramona Shelburne.

Holm's MMA record improved to 10-0. She is the first fighter to ever beat Rousey, who dropped to 12-1 in her MMA career.

Rousey went into the bout as the most feared female prizefighter on the planet with a series of dynamic knockout victories that earned her comparisons to Mike Tyson's rise in heavyweight boxing during the 1980s.

Her previous three fights had lasted a combined 64 seconds, including a 34-second knockout of Bethe Correia in August. The UFC had ranked her as its No. 4 fighter, pound-for-pound.

Rousey and Holm both earned additional $50,000 for putting on the Fight of the Night, and Holm earned another $50,000 bonus after claiming Performance of the Night honors.

In the co-main event, Joanna Jedrzejczyk remained the UFC strawweight champion after a hard-fought five-round victory over tough contender Valerie Letourneau.

Jedrzejczyk took control of the fight in the second round, using leg kicks to wear down her opponent. Her output increased in the third and fourth, and by the fifth round, Letourneau was clearly having trouble maintaining her attack.

Jedrzejczyk won with scores of 49-46, 49-46, and 50-45.

Meanwhile, Mark Hunt knocked out Antonio "Big Foot" Silva in the undercard to win their rematch. -- With Agence France-Presse

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