Ronda Rousey will "destroy" Holly Holm at UFC 193 in Melbourne on Saturday despite not being the best boxer in the world, according to Freddie Roach.
Rousey is looking to defend her UFC women's bantamweight title at the Etihad Stadium on Nov. 14. In Holm, 34, she is up against a former 19-time boxing world champion who is 9-0 in her MMA career.
Roach, trainer of Manny Pacquiao, Miguel Cotto and UFC legend Georges St-Pierre to name but three, is backing Rousey to extend her record to 13-0 against Holm, but he does not believe she is a great boxer, per the MMA Hour (via Adam Guillen Jr. of MMA Mania):
Ronda is just huge right now. The thing is, she knows the ground game so much better than boxing. I like Ronda to win that fight pretty easily...Ronda is on top of things. People like her and I used to do mitts with her a long time ago and it was a lot of fun. But she has stepped up and is high up there right now and I wish her the best of luck.
She's not the best boxer in the world, but she is good. She is very competitive and she tries really hard. I mean, it's not probably the best thing she does, I think she is better at the ground game. But again, she is more experienced there. But her boxing is good. The girl she is fighting is a good boxer, also. While they stand up it will be a good fight, but once it goes to the ground, I think Ronda will destroy her.
The 28-year-old Rousey began her fighting career as a judoka and won a bronze medal in judo at the 2008 Beijing Olympics before making her move into MMA.
Her trademark armbar is a judo technique which she honed as a youngster, and it has subsequently been responsible for nine of her 12 professional victories in MMA.
However, she has become remarkably adept as a boxer recently, her fast and powerful hands responsible for two of her last three victories.
Most recently she pummelled Bethe Correia in a 34-second victory at UFC 190 in August, as can be seen below:
As a former professional boxer, Holm will offer Rousey a significant challenge in the stand-up department.
But, as Roach noted, the New Mexico-born fighter stands little chance in the Octagon if and when Rousey takes her to ground.
She may well last longer than Rousey's previous three competitors—who managed a cumulative 64 seconds—but Holm is a significant underdog.
