British boxer Chantelle Cameron has encouraged Ronda Rousey to hold off on an immediate rematch with Holly Holm, insisting the former UFC bantamweight champion has a lot of work to do on her boxing first.
Rousey lost to Holm in shock circumstances in November, with the former world boxing champion dominating the early stages of their UFC 193 showdown before finishing the fight with some brutal shots. There has been suggestions of a possible rematch in the months to come, but Cameron has encouraged Rousey to work on the sweet science first, per Sky Sports:
It was a bad knockout, a really bad a knockout.
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.
As noted in the piece, Rousey suffered broken teeth and a concussion in the bout with Holm. Nevertheless, it’s also relayed that Dana White, the UFC president, told the Los Angeles Times he’s tentatively scheduled a rematch between the pair at UFC 200, set to be held in July next year. Rousey told TMZ Sports recently she is keen on a rematch with Holm further down the line.
If the two were to face off again, you suspect Rousey would adopt different tactics. During the loss to Holm, the former champion sought to fight upright and trade shots with the former boxer; quickly, it became apparent this was a strategy that would not fare well, although by that point, plenty of damage had been done.
As Jonathan Snowden of Bleacher Report noted in the aftermath of the bout at UFC 193, Holm was superb in executing her own plans on the biggest night of her career:
Parallels w/ Tyson and Douglas are staggering. Like Tyson, Rousey was in the midst of personal chaos. And like Douglas, Holm was perfection.
— Jonathan Snowden (@JESnowden) November 15, 2015
Rousey is a tenacious competitor, though, and she will be keen to avenge her loss. In a peculiar way, having been defeated, the pressure will be off of her going into any possible rematch further down the line, and as such, we’d be more likely to see the bullish fighting style that won her so many admirers once again.
Indeed, Cameron herself also expressed her admiration for the bantamweight star, per Sky Sports: “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. She is such an amazing fighter, and I was gutted when she lost.”
Still, the point remains pertinent that some work on striking and fundamental defensive skills needs to be done. Even so, the Heelbook Twitter feed expressed concerns on whether Rousey's striking will ever be good enough to match up against someone like Holm:
Even if Rousey goes off to train striking for 1-2 yrs, can she cover the gap she showed vs. a world championship boxer/kickboxer?
— Heelbook (@Heelbook) November 16, 2015
A second bout would surely be a much different affair. Rousey was reckless in her tactics in the previous encounter and likely will not adopt such an upright stance in any rematch. If the judoka can tighten up her defensive shape, move in smartly and get Holm down onto the mat, then the result will be a very different one.
The biggest issue facing Rousey could be overcoming the mental scars that will be left by the devastating first loss. However, a subsequently more aware and composed approach would serve her well in trying to prise the belt back from her rival.
