Many, us admittedly included, presumed that Holly Holm would have spent her Sunday icing a hyper-extended elbow.
But rather than nurse an injured arm, The Preacher’s Daughter would have seen out her weekend cuddled up next to a piece of hard-earned gold.
The former pro-boxer delivered one of the biggest upsets in UFC history to bring the women’s bantamweight title back to Jackson Wink academy, dethroning former champ Ronda Rousey in devastating circumstances at UFC 193.
Holly Holm leads the way in fighters who received some serious appreciation from us at the weekend.
Knockout of the Night – Holly Holm
Was it ever really going to be anyone else?
Holm dethroned the fighter that many believed to be undethronable with a perfectly timed left high kick that landed flush on the neck of Ronda Rousey.
But this wasn’t a lucky shot, far from it.
Holm clearly outmatched Rousey in the striking stakes in the first round and got the deserved knockout early on in the second round when Rowdy failed to keep her hands up after backing out of an exchange on wobbly legs
Shin met neck and down went Rousey in one of the nastier knockouts we’ve ever seen in a title fight.
Submission of the Night – Ben Nguyen
Ben Nguyen was nailed on for this as he was the solitary fighter to finish a fight via submission on Saturday night.
That’s not to take away from Nguyen, who many of you will best remember from a viral video which showed 10 knocking out a heavily-tattooed, arrogant opponent before being signed to the UFC.
It was Nguyen’s ground game, not his bully-conquering heroics, that was on display in Melbourne as he took Ryan Benoit’s back and patiently went through the stages of a rear naked choke – sinking both hooks in, flattening out, slipping forearm under chin and grabbing his biceps.
Beautiful.
Performance of the Night – Joanna Jedrzejczyk
Is there a better Muay Thai practitioner in the game than Joanna Champion?
The Polish fighter has managed to find the perfect balance of disciplined technique and relentless mercilessness and looks to be getting better each time she fights.
On Saturday night, it was the turn of Valerie Letourneau to get lit up by the strawweight champion and Jedrzejczyk never really looked in trouble as she landed the more damaging, troublesome shots throughout the 25 minutes en route to a unanimous decision.
It’s hard to see anyone in her division taking Jedrzejczyk’s belt away from her but, hey, we said that about Ronda Rousey on Friday.
One to Watch – Jake Matthews
He’s not as inexperienced as many of the “Ones to Watch” that we’ve selected in the past as Saturday night was actually the fourth UFC fight for Jake Matthews.
The Australian may not be too happy with his first-round performance this weekend as he was almost finished early on by Akbarh Arreola.
But, at 21 years old, Matthews displayed gritty toughness and wherewithal beyond his years as he rallied and forced the stoppage at the end of round number two.
The Celtic Kid thrilled the Melbourne crowd by battering Arreola from guard in the second, leaving his opponent with a huge cut over a swollen right eye that called a halt to proceedings.
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