Where were you when?
When Holm arrived in the UFC earlier in the year, this was the fight everyone was waiting for, but very few people predicted it going the way it did.
Rousey was coming off another blowout victory, having successfully defended her bantamweight title against Bethe Correia just a couple months earlier and was in the midst of her mainstream media breakthrough. Holm was a decorated boxer, undefeated in mixed martial arts, and a deserving challenger, but she was the calm counterpart to the more fiery champion.
All week leading up the fight, Rousey seemed more fired up than usual. She carried that into the Octagon and Holm used it against her, expertly picking her apart with counters and sniper fire as the out-gunned titleholder marched forward. In a flash, the invincible Rousey was shown to be human, and even more surprisingly, was clearly on the way to losing her title.
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The final moments of the fight will remain etched in my memory forever: Holm ducking out of the way of a charging Rousey, who turns around, bloodied and stunned; the straight left hand that puts the champion on shaky footing; the high kick that dislodges her from the bantamweight throne, and Holm instantly breaking down into tears, covering her face.
If you were watching at the time, you remember exactly where you were this night.
(Note: I was at home in Abbotsford, shouting at my television, much to the dismay of my wife and dog.)
Neil Magny vs Hector Lombard (UFC Fight Night 85)
Certainly not the biggest or most memorable fight on this list, this was one of the wildest reversals of fortune we’ve seen in the Octagon.
In Round 1, Lombard, the compact Cuban power hitter who only had one gear and threw everything with murderous intentions, went one-for-one with his takedowns, accumulating more than three minutes of control time and landed 50 of 62 significant strikes. In simple terms, he dominated Magny, who was stuck on bottom, desperate to survive.
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But all that drubbing without a finish tired Lombard out, and in the second, Magny flipped the script.
The former Ultimate Fighter contestant and the man with the most wins in welterweight history landed a preposterous 114 significant strikes in the second, matching Lombard’s 80 percent hit rate from the first, to not only draw level, but make it clear that he was going to win the fight. It probably should have been stopped at some point towards the end of the round or once the bell sounded and Lombard struggled to get to his corner, but it was mercifully halted less than a minute into the third when Magny resumed bombing away with impunity.
This was an absolutely wild fight and a crazy change in momentum from one round to the next.
