5 Steps to the redemption of Ronda Rousey

#2 Develop basic striking mechanisms

Rousey has appeared in a few Hollywood movies.

Now, let’s be clear on one thing- Rousey is not a bad puncher. Her striking power with her punches and knees in the clinch is decent. However, she lacks the basic striking mechanisms that allow a powerful striker to throw, connect and land consistently.

This is a huge part of the reason behind her getting tagged repeatedly on the feet even by mediocre strikers like Liz Carmouche. This technical flaw in Rousey’s striking also played an important part in her UFC 193 KO loss to Holly Holm.

Most fans would recollect Holly being touted as one of Rousey’s easiest title defenses. This was partly due to Holm’s high volume striking style. Before fighting Rousey, Holly was criticized for her lack of power, especially, in her punches.

After transitioning to MMA from the world of boxing, Holly mainly used her punches to set up her deadly head kicks. Now, Rousey’s rudimentary footwork had never been tested by an opponent with good boxing angles. Although Rousey has faced decent strikers like Cat Zingano and Miesha Tate in the past, they did not possess the circling and pivoting footwork skills necessary to capitalize on Rousey’s own under-developed footwork.

Against Holm, Rousey could not coast on her raw punching power as her opponent would simply use her feet and circle away- simple but effective, old school boxing footwork. There was one occasion on which Rousey was able to use, what I still believe, is a power advantage in terms of raw punching, over Holm.

Rousey caught Holm with a left hook that had Holm visibly shook. This sequence occurred whilst they were rising to their feet after a brief scramble on the ground. However, apart from that, Holm soundly out-struck her owing to her superior footwork.

Now, we mustn’t confuse the aforementioned footwork skills with ring generalship. Mind you, Rousey is, despite being bereft of basic boxing footwork, actually good at cutting off the cage and trapping her opponents. She does have a good understanding of the striking arts, in general, but just hasn’t conditioned her feet enough to use that understanding and capitalize on it.

Here, conditioning one’s feet does not imply a Strength and Conditioning routine. In this case, I’m referring to the co-ordination between her eyes and her feet. That co-ordination comes from drilling footwork drills right from scratch.

Basically, Rousey needs to start striking from square one. An excellent example regarding a fighter reinventing himself comes from that of Wladimir Klitschko. Wlad has tasted defeat multiple times over his long and illustrious career, however, for him, each fight camp marks the beginning of a new journey.

Every fight camp starts with him drilling the most basic of boxing techniques, techniques that even a beginner would consider too easy. However, this laser sharp focus on the basics and excellent foundation allows him to use his incredible power so consistently come fight night.

It is this focus on the basics and drills that are focused on helping her move like a striker that will enable Rousey to complement her natural athletic ability and raw punching power.

Yet another example of Rousey’s bad footwork impeding her overall game is her most recent fight against Amanda Nunes at UFC 207. Rousey came out in her usual aggressive style looking to land a few punches that are mainly a cover for grabbing hold of her opponent and taking them down to the mat into her world of grappling wizardry.

However, this time, she was facing a more powerful striker than Holm. Amanda’s power is as good as, if not better, than Rousey’s. Plus Amanda generates power in her strikes through excellent striking mechanics and doesn’t simply rely on brute force and raw athleticism to do that.

Rousey tried to grab the clinch on several occasions but Amanda pushed her away, stayed on the outside and pot-shotted her. The finish came incredible quick at 48 seconds of the first round, however, it had more to do with Amanda’s footwork, distance and pivoting than just punching power.

Now, let’s assume that Amanda possessed the same footwork as Rousey, their power being equal. In that case, this fight would played out like a phonebooth brawl and not the technical striking display that Amanda showed at UFC 207.

It was Amanda’s quick feet that helped her roll away from Rousey’s strikes and angle away from Rousey’s clinch attempts.

Rousey should take note from both her aforementioned rivals and channel her energies on developing a level of footwork and movement that is, at least, serviceable in the cage. She doesn’t need to turn into Floyd Mayweather or Stephen Thompson or Muhammad Ali; Rousey simply needs to drill her boxing body movement and footwork drills to the level that enables her to move around the cage without losing her stance and making herself vulnerable to strikes.

That brings us to the point of her non-existent head movement. Head movement is something that is essential not just to improve one’s defense but also to enable one’s offense. Now, head movement and footwork are closely inter-related.

Once a boxer develops basic footwork along with a decent understanding of the concept of head movement, he/she can then successfully implement their other skills such as power, accuracy, etc.

What is important here, is that she drills basic head movement techniques. For that, Rousey doesn’t have to turn into a striking savant. By understanding the nuances of head movement and old school boxing methodologies that help you implement the timeless art of slipping punches, Rousey can develop a strong technical base around her already fantastic athletic base.

By not having to constantly eat shots in order to enter the clinch, Rousey can add an excellent new wrinkle to her game, thereby keeping her relatively fresh when she enters the clinch. This signifies a very pivotal aspect of her fight against Holly Holm.

At UFC 193, Rousey did, in fact, get Holm in the clinch. She also managed to take Holm down, however, the punches that she kept eating before the clinch and ground scrambles had her visibly shook and arguably had a tremendous impact on her failure to submit Holm, when the fight went to the mat.

This lack of a basic striking foundation is what cost Rousey dearly, in her two losses to Holm and Nunes. Two basic lessons- 1. Footwork 2. Head movement.