Rousey to take on Holm at UFC 195
Holly Holm will meet Ronda Rousey at UFC 195 for the women’s bantamweight title.
Published on Saturday, 8/22/15, at 10:37 a.m. Eastern.
In a surprising turn of events Friday morning, the UFC announced that Ronda Rousey (12-0 MMA, 6-0 UFC) will face Holly Holm in the main event for UFC 195 at MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas on Jan. 2.
When Miesha Tate defeated Jessica Eye at UFC on FOX 16, the promotion announced that Tate would get a third shot at Rousey. However, Tate is being snubbed in favor of Holm, a former boxing champion who has won her first two UFC fights.
UFC President Dana White explained the decision change, “We were talking about Miesha from the start, then as we started sitting around we were saying, ‘Everyone has seen the Miesha fight already.'”
“A third fight in a rivalry usually comes after the stuff we’d see in [Arturo] Gatti-[Micky] Ward. With Miesha, the result has been the same twice. Everyone’s already seen that fight.”
The opening numbers Friday were all over the place. The cheapest number (to bet Rousey) came from Bovada (-1000), leaving Holm as a +600 underdog. 5Dimes opened Rousey at -1400 with Holm as a +950 underdog. The most expensive number was at Sportsbook.ag, which had Rousey at -1800 with Holm at +850.
The total is 1.5 rounds (‘under’ -400, ‘over’ +280). Only one of Rousey’s 13 career fights have gone beyond the opening round. That was in her last fight against Tate, who was submitted by armbar early in the third round at UFC 168.
Tate has won four consecutive fights since dropping that bout to Rousey. Now the UFC is targeting a fight between Miesha and Amanda Nunes, who is off her best career performance in a first-round KO win over Sara McMann earlier this month.
Tate released this statement through her manager late Friday: “I am extremely disappointed how all the events unfolded this morning regarding news that I will not be fighting Ronda Rousey. I was told after my last win that I had earned the title shot,” Tate said. “I’ve already begun training for Rousey and I was shocked to hear the announcement this morning. I regret this for not only myself, but my team, sponsors and the fans who like me believed my next fight was for the title.”
