Ronda Rousey has a lot of work to do before facing Holly Holm again, warns GB star
By Dev Trehan
Last Updated: 16/12/15 10:20am
Ronda Rousey has a lot of work to do before she can even consider a rematch against Holly Holm, according to GB boxer Chantelle Cameron.
Rousey lost her bantamweight title and suffered the first defeat of her career when she was brutally knocked out by a head kick from Holm at UFC 193 in front of a record 56,000 crowd in Melbourne in November.
She suffered broken teeth and a suspected concussion in the bout, but according to the LA Times, UFC president Dana White has tentatively scheduled a rematch for July 9 at UFC 200 in Las Vegas.
Conor McGregor, who beat Jose Aldo to become UFC featherweight champion on Saturday night, suggested Rousey's sub-par performance could be due to her commitments outside of the ring - Rousey has been in three Hollywood films since last year and is due to feature in two more in 2016.
But English lightweight boxing champion Cameron, who has previously won British and European kickboxing titles, thinks it runs deeper than that and says Rousey needs to make technical adjustments.
"It was a bad knockout, a really bad a knockout," Cameron told Sky Sports.
"Ronda's got a lot of work to do. She got outclassed and got her head boxed off.
"She'd be crazy if she just jumped straight back in there and I would say she needs six months on to work on her stand-up game.
"Maybe she needs a new boxing coach but she needs to work on her stand-up fighting before she faces Holly again because if she doesn't she'll get beaten again.
"When you look at the fight you could also tell she had done her weight management wrong and I felt she should have known better as a high-ranking athlete.
"You could see it in her shape at the weigh-in. I think she messed because she only just made the weight. I think she over-hydrated the next day and that can really affect your performance."
Cameron has just returned from Rio, where she made it three gold medals in a row at by winning the 60 kg title at the test event ahead of next year's Olympics.
But the 24-year-old from Northampton admits to being a huge fan of Rousey, who she believes has blazed a trail for female fighters across the board.
"I was pretty heartbroken after that fight because Ronda is a massive inspiration to me and she's one of my heroines even though she is a MMA fighter," Cameron said.
"She is such an amazing fighter and I was gutted when she lost.
"She got outclassed and was badly beaten on the night but she's still a legend because of what she's done for women's fighting as a whole - boxing, Thai boxing, kickboxing, MMA everything.
"Ronda's made women in the ring more credible and more recognised. Because of her I think there are now a lot more men watching women fighting. She's helped build a platform for women fighters."
