Holly Holm shocked the world when she beat previously undefeated Ronda Rousey at UFC 193, and she now has an opportunity to really begin to shape her legacy with a fight Saturday against Miesha Tate at UFC 196 in Las Vegas.
It’s the first bantamweight title defense for Holm, and she’s deservedly the favorite entering this much-anticipated bout.
The key for Holm will be her striking, an area in which she has a huge advantage because of her impressive boxing background. It helps her defend well and counter-attack when an opponent makes a mistake, and also allows her to unleash powerful combos that inflict a lot of damage.
Tate’s only path to victory is on the ground, especially when 87 percent of Holm’s successful strikes have come from a standing position.
But Holm has shown an ability to prevent that sort of action with a 100 percent success rate against takedowns. If Holm was able to stay upright against someone with Rousey’s strength, it’s difficult to envision Tate finding success in the grapple game. Holm also has successfully avoided 70 percent of strikes.
Tate is experienced, though, and punches with plenty of power. Her ground game is strong, and all it could take is a good opening round for her confidence to spike. It that happens, it would become a much different fight.
That said, Holm should overpower Tate to win this fight and inch closer to a potential rematch with Rousey later this year. Tate has failed in her previous title fights (twice against Rousey), and there’s nothing from her last four bouts (all wins) to suggest this one will be any different.
Thumbnail photo via Matt Roberts/USA TODAY Sports Images. All stats via UFC.com.
