5 Talking points from UFC 196
Although the first three fights were rather subdued, the co-main and main event more than lived up to the pre-fight hypeIf the first three fights on the main card represented the calm, then the final two certainly ushered in the storm. The fight game in all its glory wrought its own measure of poetic justice on the night’s proceedings as a largely uneventful first three match-ups in the UFC 196 main card was followed up by not one, but two shocking upsets to cap off the night.Well, at least shocking for the rest of the world, should you happen to ask Nate Diaz.In a see-sawing main event slugfest, Nate Diaz tapped out Conor McGregor in the second round after being bloodied up in the first, thereby turning the MMA world as we have come to know it, upside down.Not that it was the right side up to begin with in the first place, as Miesha Tate had already set the tone for an evening of upsets by prevailing over Holly Holm in her first Women’s Bantamweight Division title defence.Cast in the backdrop of a mouth-watering string of upcoming match-ups announced at the Unstoppable Press Conference yesterday, here then are 5 talking points from the UFC 196 event that played out at the MGM Grand Garden Arena, in the fight capital of the world.
#5 One Hit Wonder?
Time and again, Holly Holm found herself at the mercy of the media flashlights following her dismantling of Ronda Rousey, although faced with effusive praise on her dominant performance and a new dawn in Women’s MMA.
And time and again, Holly Holm repeated that she was not getting carried away with her victory, instead merely reaffirming that she was training hard to not be a one-hit wonder.
It wouldn’t be the first time in the night that a poignant self-fulfilling prophecy would come back to haunt the perpetrator, but one has to ponder, if that is indeed what Holly Holm would be made out to be in the larger scheme of things.
Yes, she is a multiple time boxing champion, but with an abruptly curtailed reign sandwiched either side by former MMA champions in Ronda Rousey and Miesha Tate, Holly Holm may well go down in history books as a one-hit wonder after all.
Already 34 years old, the window of opportunity where her body is likely to hold up – especially after putting herself through a combined 52 professional bouts in various disciplines – is slowly but surely closing in on her.