Seeing their poster child brutally knocked out… how could that possibly be a positive thing?
Money, you fools. Loads and loads of money.
It’s not exactly a crazy conspiracy theory to say that a rematch between Holly Holm and Ronda Rousey is more lucrative for the UFC than any fight on the horizon in the women’s bantamweight division.
But there is much more than a one-off payday on the cards for the UFC after Holm perfectly timed a left high kick that put Rowdy‘s lights out in the main event of UFC 193.
Holm’s knockout was the key that opened the door to a division that would have been all but locked until Rousey’s retirement if not for the outcome of Saturday night’s Melbourne card.
Let’s don our hypothetical hats and postulate about what would have happened if Rousey had hip-tossed Holm to the mat and arm-barred her into obscurity, like many of us had anticipated.
More than likely, Rousey would have been matched up with Cyborg next which would have been too soon for casual fans to engage with then, presuming she wins, she would have probably taken on a fresh opponent in Julianna Pena or Amanda Nunes (depending on how their next fights had gone) and, with a win over one of those, Miesha Tate would have probably been next as the UFC seem to have an issue with awarding Cupcake another shot at Rousey any time soon.
While the order of those completely hypothetical bouts could be changeable, none of them (bar Cyborg) would have been all that interesting if Rousey had submitted Holm in the first round.
If Rowdy had kept on winning then it would have just begun to make her match-ups seem pointless, just a bell being rung before an elbow was hyper-extended shortly thereafter.
But she lost.
And it’s the best thing that could have happened to the UFC’s women’s bantamweight division.
No longer can Ronda Rousey be considered unbeatable, invincible or matchless.
I can guarantee that every fighter in the top 15 of her division was focusing on padwork more than any grappling technique this morning because the former champ looked absolutely terrible on her feet at the weekend.
While she will certainly be favourite when the inevitable rematch with Holm takes place, Rousey will be considerably less so as the chinks in her armour were made to look like tunnel entrances that the former pro-boxer danced through.
And that rematch is going to be one of the biggest fights in 2016, if not the biggest. So Rousey’s first professional loss is already much more valuable than a victory would have been.
With a defeat for Rousey in the rematch, the realisation of the long-discussed fight with Cyborg would have been a gamechanger for the UFC with the promotion able to keep two simultaneous storylines going in their women’s bantamweight division for the first time since its inception – Holm could continue facing challengers while their former queenpin would be drawing in viewers elsewhere.
With a rematch victory over Holm, presumably next summer, Rousey would continue to take on challengers but that cloud of doubt, which didn’t exist before Saturday, would forever hover above her head and give a fighting chance to any 135 lber whose striking could be considered superior to her’s.
And fighting chances equal viewing interest.
Essentially, my argument is that Holm’s win has guaranteed the UFC at least three sell-out events more than they would have been afforded with just another Rousey victory.
After all, predictability is the enemy of the fight promoter.
This is not like Silva v Weidman I because Silva was around the age where his skill level was expected to start dropping… Rousey is just 28.
This is not GSP v Serra I because, to be fair to our good friend Matt Serra, that was much more of a fluke than Holm’s knockout.
And this is not Barao v Dillashaw I because, in all honesty, the UFC seemed to drop all interest in Barao shortly after his loss to the former Alpha Male bantamweight… That is just not going to happen with Rousey.
Rousey’s stock is at a level where she is going to continue to be backed to the hilt and the UFC can’t ignore new champion Holly Holm so this is the result that they needed to set their women’s bantamweight division alight. A win/win if you’ll forgive the cliche.
Previously, it was a weight class in which 20+ fighters were climbing a cliff in the hope of reaching the summit – a title shot at Ronda Rousey which would inevitably lead to a loss and a toss back down to the jagged rocks below, armless.
But now the UFC have got a division in which there is more than one narrative.
That means there are more meaningful fights to be made which translates directly to money in the form of attendances and pay-per-view buys.
Holm v Rousey II, Holm v Tate, Rousey v Cyborg, Rousey v Pena, Holm v Nunes, Rousey v Nunes, Holm v Pena, Rousey v Tate III, Holm v Zingano, Rousey v Correia II.
Every one of those potential fights could headline a pay-per-view and there doesn’t need to be a belt on the line in any one of them now that Holm looks like a worldbeater and Rousey looks conquerable.
Understandably, being close friends with her, Dana White would have been devastated to see Rousey unconscious with her lip busted open on Saturday night.
And this isn’t to suggest that he, nor any other UFC executive, was celebrating the crushing knockout in any way.
But friends come and go in the fight game and there remains only one constant… Money.
Actually, make that two constants… Money and John McCarthy.
