Coach: After beating Ronda Rousey, 'no one will again' underestimate Holly Holm

MELBOURNE, Australia – You didn’t see Mike Winkeljohn overcome with emotion when Holly Holm knocked out Ronda Rousey, because to him, it was all part of the plan.

MMA fans are used to the sight of coaches streaming into the octagon post-fight, some shedding tears with their fighters.

“It’s a good group of guys and ladies at our gym that work together and help each other out, and I think that’s what it’s all about – putting together a good game plan and looking for the strengths and weaknesses that both fighters have,” he told MMAjunkie after Saturday’s UFC 193 pay-per-view headliner at Etihad Stadium in Melbourne, Australia.

And for the record, Winkeljohn said only his wife and kids can make him cry.

As evidenced by Holm’s (10-0 MMA, 3-0 UFC) shocking second-round knockout win (watch the Holm vs. Rousey video highlights), the coach and his longtime associates, Greg Jackson and Izzy Martinez, who run a pair of gyms in Albuquerque, N.M., exploited Rousey’s (12-1 MMA, 6-1 UFC) weaknesses like no other, concocting a game plan that made the now ex-champ look completely out of her depth against Holm, an ex-boxing champ who walked into the bout as an 8-1 underdog.

Holm, who 16 years ago entered Winkeljohn’s gym to learn the sweet science, executed to perfection the plan of attack, catching Rousey with a head kick that knocked her out before she hit the mat. But there were plenty of contingencies that Holm’s team planned for in case Rousey did adjust during the fight. It just so happened she never did, which was almost what the coach expected.

Holly Holm and Ronda Rousey

“A few things different, but quite a bit of it played out,” Winkeljohn said. “In fact, a lot of it. It’s all about how fast is Ronda coming, or is she stopping, is she going to try to cut off the cage? We had to have an answer for everything.”

Asked if he was surprised at Rousey’s inability to overcome Holm’s control of the cage, Winkeljohn quoted an old boxing idiom.

“Everybody has a plan until they get hit in the head,” he said. “I think Holly hit her a little bit and took her out of her thought process, and then people just don’t know how strong Holly is. We haven’t shown that card; we still haven’t shown a lot of Holly’s cards. And it played out where Holly could dominate.”

With such a one-sided fight, however, there’s bound to be speculation of whether or not Rousey and her camp underestimated Holm.

“They probably did a little bit, but I think Ronda, she was the best in the world for a reason,” he said. “She’s determined to win, and her striking has gotten better.

“She’s got some good people who have helped her out. But if they overlooked what Holly can do, no one will again in the future. That’s for sure.”

Winkeljohn and Holm both expect an immediate rematch with Rousey, who with her loss heads back to the drawing board after mopping up most of the competition in the UFC women’s bantamweight class. Redemption will drive storylines around the rematch.

The takeaway for Saturday’s bout, however, is that no one can ever truly be counted out. It’s not the first time Winkeljohn has seen an upset, but he’ll remember this one more than any other.

“It’s probably one of the biggest upsets ever in sports history,” Winkeljohn said. “This is the biggest one. We’ve won world titles with Jon Jones and Rashad Evans knocking out Chuck Liddell, but this far surpasses it.”

For more on UFC 193, check out the UFC Events section of the site.