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CBS sports.
By Lyle Fitzsimmons
The Ronda Rousey phenomenon is no more.
The brash UFC bantamweight champion talked her usual trash and ran to the cage with Joan Jett blasting from the rafters, but once she got there, Holly Holm was in no mood to genuflect.
The former three-division world championship boxer took the "Rowdy" one apart in every possible way through the first five-minute round, then landed a straight let hand and a thunderous left kick that sent the superstar crashing to the canvas at 59 seconds of the second round.
Referee Herb Dean immediately intervened, waving off what UFC announcer Joe Rogan instantly called "the biggest upset in mixed martial arts history."
It wasn't hard to compare it in magnitude to Mike Tyson's loss to Buster Douglas, when the unbeaten menace of a boxing champion went to Japan to face an unheralded challenger. This time, the scene was Australia, but the likelihood of an upset -- to anyone but Holm and her family -- was absent.
"I'm trying to take it all in, but it's crazy,” Holm said. "I got so much love and so much support here that I thought, 'How could I not do it?'"
In truth, once Dean waved the two women together, it never looked like Holm was wrong.
Her deer-like movement left Rousey exhausted and frustrated by the end of the opening five minutes, during which the challenger landed multiple left hands and, most importantly, was able to escape when Rousey pressed her against the cage and briefly got her to the floor.
Rousey's corner men tried to pump the champion up between rounds, but she went out for the second to more of the same. Holm landed several lefts as Rousey approached, eluded a rush that left the champion spinning toward the cage, then drilled her with a straight left hand and a follow-up kick to the side of the head that dumped her to the floor in a 134-pound heap.
By Lyle Fitzsimmons
The Ronda Rousey phenomenon is no more.
The brash UFC bantamweight champion talked her usual trash and ran to the cage with Joan Jett blasting from the rafters, but once she got there, Holly Holm was in no mood to genuflect.
The former three-division world championship boxer took the "Rowdy" one apart in every possible way through the first five-minute round, then landed a straight let hand and a thunderous left kick that sent the superstar crashing to the canvas at 59 seconds of the second round.
Referee Herb Dean immediately intervened, waving off what UFC announcer Joe Rogan instantly called "the biggest upset in mixed martial arts history."
It wasn't hard to compare it in magnitude to Mike Tyson's loss to Buster Douglas, when the unbeaten menace of a boxing champion went to Japan to face an unheralded challenger. This time, the scene was Australia, but the likelihood of an upset -- to anyone but Holm and her family -- was absent.
"I'm trying to take it all in, but it's crazy,” Holm said. "I got so much love and so much support here that I thought, 'How could I not do it?'"
In truth, once Dean waved the two women together, it never looked like Holm was wrong.
Her deer-like movement left Rousey exhausted and frustrated by the end of the opening five minutes, during which the challenger landed multiple left hands and, most importantly, was able to escape when Rousey pressed her against the cage and briefly got her to the floor.
Rousey's corner men tried to pump the champion up between rounds, but she went out for the second to more of the same. Holm landed several lefts as Rousey approached, eluded a rush that left the champion spinning toward the cage, then drilled her with a straight left hand and a follow-up kick to the side of the head that dumped her to the floor in a 134-pound heap.
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