At some point, even the greatest fighters will lose. Last night, it was Ronda Rousey’s turn to face the harsh reality.

UFC 193 will go down as one of the iconic events in the company’s history. Holly Holm knocking out Ronda Rousey to become the new women’s bantamweight champion was a result that left many people across the world in disbelief as to what they were watching.

I wasn’t shocked that Holm won, but how she won definitely took me by surprise. The hype surrounding Ronda Rousey before the fight had become larger than life. She was undefeated, had a 100% finish rate and her last three fights lasted a combined 64 seconds.

The match-up was very interesting stylistically, Holm was a former world champion boxer and Rousey an Olympic bronze medalist in Judo with a lethal arm bar. She dominated her opponents and had never looked in trouble inside the octagon.

A minute into last night’s fight, everything changed.

Holm looked calm, focused and prepared when Rousey pushed forward and came at her. This was not new for Rousey, who likes to be the aggressor and push the tempo. The difference this time was that Holm had the perfect gameplan to use Rousey’s aggression against her.

She moved around very well and created distance to prevent Rousey from getting close and be able to use her Judo skills to get the fight to the ground.

Holm demonstrated her elite boxing skills and was able to hit Rousey repeatedly with hard straight lefts that split open Rousey’s bottom lip.

Rousey was able to get Holm down to the ground and looked to get her trademark arm bar, but Holm slipped out and got the fight back on the feet. It was Rousey’s best chance to win the fight as there was no way she would be able to win a stand up war with Holm.

Early in the second round, Holm continued to hit Rousey with hard shots. When Rousey fell after an exchange, Holm delivered a well timed head kick that knocked Rousey down and she finished the fight with two vicious hammer fists.

At that moment, Rousey’s legendary status of being undefeated and the most dominate female fighter in the world changed.

Not only did she lose the fight and the UFC women’s bantamweight title, but it was the manner in which she lost, knocked unconscious in the middle of the ring that will make this fight so memorable.

The critics believe Rousey got exposed and that she never was the fighter she was hyped up to be. They will also question her victories and whether the opponents she faced before were just so inferior that it made her look better than she really is.

I personally believe that she is a great fighter, but she simply lost to a better one last night. Ronda Rousey isn’t perfect. Like most fighters, she has her strengths in the clinch, on the ground, submissions and she has some weaknesses including wrestling and striking. Her stand up game is still very solid and constantly improving, but she had never faced someone like Holly Holm with world class striking skills.

Perhaps this loss will be a good thing for Rousey as the media and fans might back off a bit and ease some of the pressure and demands she was facing as the champion. It might give her more time to just train and focus on herself and her fight game, so that she can come back stronger then ever, which I have no doubt she will do.

Holly Holm is a deserving champion and this could be the start of her dominate reign as she was very impressive and showed a lot of skill and heart in the fight.

A rematch seems destined to be the next fight for both women and it should be even more highly anticipated because of how long the fight lasted and the fact that Rousey got knocked out.

Both fighters are going to train harder than ever before and I’m expecting an even more exciting fight.

I can’t wait too see it!