Buster Douglas was a one hit wonder.
He is the Young MC of boxers. Everything came together for him on one memorable night and that is what he will be forever known for.
He wasn’t that great before and he was terrible after he beat Mike Tyson. To call Holly Holm Buster Douglas is an insult to Holm.
In reality you could say Holm was more experienced than Rousey when it came to being a more all-around fighter.
Was she an underdog of course, but she had a lot of the necessary skills to dominate a fighter like Rousey. That is why she was so confident going into the fight.
“I was proud of the performance and my boxing background and everything boxing has taught me [but] I do feel like this fight I performed as an MMA fighter,” Holm said. “The kick is what sent her down to the mat.
“What I’ve taken from boxing is the footwork that helped set up the striking, but I felt like this fight, she pressed me to the cage, and I still was able to get off. There was a clinch and I wound up going for a body block takedown. So it had more than boxing in it.
“But boxing and striking set up everything. It definitely helped a lot, along with all the training.”
“I started training camp with a professor who made me learn every armbar,” Holm said. “I thought we were wasting time at the beginning of camp with not much time to get ready.
“But after we did that, every time anybody tried that, I stopped it because I knew what they were going for from the get-go. I could sense it coming before it was there. I didn’t want to be in a deep armbar before trying to get out of it. We want to prevent it from happening. That played out in the fight [in the first round]. We got into a scramble. I felt it coming and got out of it right away.”
“I felt like we didn’t let her clinch, didn’t let her do what she wanted to do,” Holm said. “She pressed me to the cage, went for the headlock, tried for the hip-toss, but I had her timing down.
“I don’t think she was trying to stand up all fight. I think our game plan worked well and I was able to control the ring.”
That is someone with a plan and talent. Not luck, not stars aligned, but someone who has a vast amount experience in several fighting techniques and the ability to exploit weaknesses.
Who knows where Holm will go from here, I think it is always easier being the challenger than champion. Now everyone including Rousey will be coming for her.
But, I don’t think she is going to get fat and lazy, she is no Buster Douglas.