Ronda Rousey’s shocking loss to Holly Holm at UFC 193 reinforces the lesson that anyone is beatable on any given day, strawweight contenders Rose Namajunas and Paige VanZant told Breitbart Sports on Monday.
“Watching that fight it was exciting,” VanZant noted to Breitbart Sports on the UFC Fight Night 80 conference call. “It was neat to see what Holly was capable of and how she shut down a champion that has been so dominant for so long.” VanZant, possessing much of the star power Rousey exudes, added, “But also I think it will be really neat to see how Ronda comes back from it.”
The 6-1 VanZant takes on Rose Namajunas, runner-up on season 20 of The Ultimate Fighter, on December 10 in a match that puts the winner closer to a title shot against long and lean Polish striker Joanna Jedrzecjzyk, an undefeated champion who appears nearly as dominant at 115 as Rousey did at 135.
The 3-2 Namajunas seconds her opponent’s take on the upset in Australia. “Most people thought she was going to just steamroll through Holly,” the 115-pound fighter points out about Rousey. “It just goes to show that anything can happen. It doesn’t change anything for me and my training.”
Holm appeared in the books as a 20-1 underdog at one point before the odds settled down. The winner of December 10’s bout likely faces long odds should they take on Jedrzecjzyk. But the one-sidedness of underdog Holm’s victory over Rousey at 135 sent shockwaves so jarring that they reached the lighter women’s division.
“You always know anything can happen and everyone’s beatable,” VanZant explained. “There’s always someone out there that’s working harder than you and is better at something. You always have to remember that there’s always somebody that wants to beat you and thinks [she] can win.”
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