What’s the story?
Ronda Rousey’s one-time training partner and Olympic Bronze medalist in Boxing, Tony Jeffries, has pinpointed the American fighter’s multiple errors in her latest defeat at the hands of Amanda Nunes at UFC 207.
The 30-year-old was plastered by the Brazilian in the final fight of the last calendar year and the bout did not even last a minute as Nunes was successful in defending the UFC women's bantamweight title after defeating Rousey via TKO in 48 seconds.
Jeffries admitted that Rousey deserved to lose the fight to Nunes and suggested he would have offered the 30-year-old some help prior to the fight, which, according to him would have been crucial in improving her chances in defeating the “Lioness.”
Jeffries was quoted as saying:
"Her striking was really bad. We never really had a chance to see it, but it should’ve been her footwork that she was working on," Jeffries told Starsport.
"There was no footwork there, she was just walking forward. She should’ve been practising her footwork, trying to defend those punches and going for the takedown.
[She should’ve been] looking for the counter and taking her down, not running forward and trying to throw punches, that was silly. Now, I don’t know if this was down to a bad camp, or through Ronda’s mindset or what.”
In case you didn’t know...
Jeffries is a former Olympic boxer representing England and was inspired to take up the sport by his uncle and former professional boxer, William Young "Billy" Bryce. He took up the sport at a very young age, having joined his hometown academy, the Sunderland Amateur Boxing Club.
Also read: UFC News: Amanda Nunes explains why she watches the Ronda Rousey fight replay everyday
The 31-year-old helped Great Britain win the bronze medal in the light heavyweight division of the 2008 Beijing Olympics, which has been the highlight of his career. However, several injuries have since forced Jeffries to hang his gloves, with the fighter having eventually announced his decision to retire in September 2012.
Heart of the matter
Prior to Rousey’s defeat to Nunes, she had lost her first career fight at the hands of Holly Hom at UFC 193 in November 2015. She subsequently entered the octagon after a year of recovery and suffered a humiliating defeat at the hands of Amanda Nunes in just 48 seconds.
“Rowdy” suffering her second career defeat has led to speculation that she has already made her last appearance inside the octagon, a possibility which even the UFC president Dana White has acknowledged.
What’s next?
Rousey has been advised by her fans, friends and well-wishers to retire from mixed martial arts competition and to focus on her movie career instead, as she has acted in several Hollywood movies already and seems to have a bright future ahead there.
She is yet to break her silence on her future and there has not been a talk of another fight so far either.
Sportskeeda’s take
Rousey’s time inside the octagon seems to be up and should consider retirement from the sport. There would certainly be several opportunities open for Rousey to find an alternate career, she can either continue to act in movies or start up her own MMA/Judo gym.
This is likely to help her take her mind off the two defeats that she has suffered in the last two calendar years and would give her life some much-needed direction that it needs right now.
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