New Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) women's bantamweight champion Holly Holm is expected to give former champion Ronda Rousey are rematch and chances are this will happen at UFC 200 in July 2016 if UFC President Dana White's plans stay the course.
On one end, this seems like the logical path to go. But as far as Holm's mixed martial arts coach Mike Winkeljohn is concerned, a rematch between Holm and Rousey will still turn out the same result as what people saw at UFC 193.
He points out that Rousey was already bothered before the fight even took place. He cites that weigh-in incident where Rousey charged Holm and made a big fuss about the "fist to the face" issue in an effort to get a mental advantage.
Unfortunately, that didn't work and everyone, of course, saw the domination of Holm against Rousey when the two got it on.
Working on that thought, this is what Winkeljohn is pointing out. He believes that Rousey should work on her weaknesses first before thinking of a rematch.
"To be honest I don't see a rematch being much different to the first fight, I think Holly is evolving and getting even better every day so I think Holly would be very comfortable in a rematch and Holly would be victorious," says Winkeljohn when he spoke with James Edwards of MMA Latest.
On that note, it may be best if Holm face prior Rousey opponents like Miesha Tate.
Tate, of course, holds the distinction of being the only fighter to have lasted beyond one minute against Rousey before Holm did the unthinkable. Although she lost to Rousey eventually, the fact remains that she stands to be a formidable opponent to get first crack at Holm's belt.
As far as Winkeljohn is concerned, this is what makes sense for now. Of course, the final word still falls in the hands of White, who is apparently more concerned about which fight sells.
Right now, it seems like a Holm vs. Rousey rematch will fall under that niche. However, if Rousey fails to rebound, then maybe it would be time to consider Winkeljohn's pitch of seeing Tate get a crack on Holm next.
