Five talking points after Ronda Rousey was stunned by Amanda Nunes at UFC 207
Questions raised about UFC star's preparation, skill-set and future
Saturday 31 December 2016 17:35, UK
What did we learn about Ronda Rousey after her UFC comeback was thwarted by new champion Amanda Nunes?
Was Rousey always a myth?
Consecutive knockout losses may tempt critics to goad Rousey as nothing more than hyperbole. Her loss a year ago resulted in online condemnation, with Donald Trump and Lady Gaga among those to throw stones at the formerly unbeaten star.
Like plenty of fighters before her and countless more in the future, Rousey's style never changed through her glory years to her brutal downfall. Opponents adjusted to her, excellently in the case of Nunes, who knew she held an advantage if she kept Rousey at an arm's length.
Rousey's difficulties in dealing with crisp punchers are now the worst kept secret in her sport. Should she continue fighting, future foes know exactly how to target her. But that doesn't mean Rousey's talents through her 12-fight win streak are null and void - at her peak, three consecutive opponents lasted a combined 64 seconds are failing to find an answer to the grappling skills that earned the American an Olympic medal.
Those skills were a breath of fresh air. Look closely at her finest moments, and her flaws were always there to see. But her strengths made her one of the most dominant UFC champions ever, and two bad results cannot rewrite the history of her thrilling run of victories.
How did she only last 48 seconds?
In virtually all of her fights, Rousey has shown a tendency to brawl before eventually grabbing hold of her opponent, a tactic that was exposed by her first conqueror Holly Holm last year. Nunes, who specialises in first-round stoppage wins, knew she could blow away the former champion if she won the inevitable exchange of punches.
Sure enough, Rousey willingly threw fists hoping it would lead to a chance to drag Nunes to the ground. For the second consecutive fight, it became clear that Rousey was boxing with a superior boxer. Before she had a chance to readjust, the whirlwind of punches coming at Rousey became too intoxicating.
Issues with her coach?
Edmond Tarverdyan, the trainer who has been in Rousey's corner since she first demanded to be taken seriously in a male-dominated gym, has come under fierce criticism in the past year.
Rousey's own mother, herself a former judo world champion, was scathing about Tarverdyan's abilities even before her daughter's unbeaten streak went up in a puff of smoke. The perception was that he had accidentally stumbled across a gold mine that didn't require any major coaching.
Rousey's performance against Nunes will again raise questions about what Tarverdyan is teaching her. His assertions during her heyday that she could become a boxing world champion have attracted ridicule, and his chance to redeem his own reputation took a serious hit every time Nunes landed a punch.
In Tarverdyan's defence, fighters don't improve overnight. Much of the past year has not been spent inside the gym for Rousey, and even if it had been, she may not have sufficiently corrected her boxing flaws. But her apparent game-plan to swiftly trade punches with Nunes, a notorious big-hitter, must be attributed to what Tarverdyan asked Rousey to do.
Was her mind-set right?
When Conor McGregor, who has usurped Rousey as the UFC's biggest star, lost dramatically to Nate Diaz last March his reaction was impressive. He swiftly admitted his errors, demanded a quick-fire rematch, then completely overhauled his outdated training methods to beat Diaz. It put Rousey's reaction, to seclude herself out of the public eye, into perspective.
Rousey was intentionally silent throughout the latest chapter of her career, offering minimal insight before the fight and nothing afterwards. It could be seen as petulance but it offered an insight into the differing mentalities between sportspeople at the top of their profession, scrapping to stay relevant. What do us mere mortals know about how these athletes should mentally prepare?
Will she fight again?
Even before the crushing loss to Holm in November 2015 that initiated Rousey's spiralling decline, she had been spending more time on Hollywood movie sets that gym mats. It always seemed her long-term future would be alongside Vin Diesel rather than Amanda Nunes.
She has fought professionally 14 times but a lifetime of judo competition that peaked with a 2008 Olympics bronze medal means her physical decline may arrive sooner than her 29 years suggest. Rousey's knees are a particular source of vulnerability, stemming from her teenage years.
What more can she accomplish inside the cage? She remains the most important figure in the short history of female fighting, and one of the figureheads of the modern UFC. Her legacy does not require another fight.
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