5. Greg Jackson’s Game Planning
It’s no secret that Greg Jackson is a wizard when it comes to drawing up a game plan. Of course Holly Holm showed that in her last fight, but I’m not just talking about her. Jackson is an inspiration for dozens and dozens of coaches. The MMA Lab’s John Crouch and Syndicate MMA’s John Wood both listed him as a mentor and the smartest guy in the game today (you can listen to their interviews on Top Turtle MMA Podcast). You have to imagine that when Holm steps into the cage tonight, it’ll be no different. She’ll have a blueprint of exactly what will break Miesha Tate down and she’ll put it to work.
4. Takedown Defense
Part of that game is going to be to stop the takedowns from Tate. Tate has one of the highest levels of wrestling in the women’s bantamweight division. It’s the part of the game she most often relies on and in many cases it’s the heart and soul of her attack. That being said, Holm is excellent at preventing the takedown. FightMetric currently lists her takedown defense in the UFC as 100% and I can’t ever remember seeing her get taken down outside of the UFC. This is partially because of her strength, but her counter grappling is also on point.
3. Footwork
One of the reasons why it is so hard to get Holm to the ground is her footwork. “The Preacher’s Daughter” expertly moves in and out of range and makes it near impossible to get a hold of her. In addition to that, there are other advantages to her footwork. Because she is so long and she moves in and out it makes it hard to hit her too. Essentially, these two aspects makes her a defensive riddle. When people can’t solve it, they make mistakes which leads to her offense. Speaking of offense…
2. Power
I’m sure everybody out there knows that Holm has amazing power thanks to the Rousey fight. That fight brought this fact into light and made it so that those who had only seen her previous UFC fights finally saw what power she possessed. However, that power was on display long before it sent “Rowdy” Ronda crashing to the mat. She previously had knocked out six other women in MMA fights, five of which came via a kick of some sort. She’s knocked out women with body shots, with leg kicks and obviously with head kicks. Not to mention, her boxing background makes her hands pretty powerful too.
1. Hitability
Okay, so I made up a word here. Sue me. But I needed something that captured what seals the deal for me in picking Holm to win this fight. Miesha Tate is not exactly the most elusive striker out there. She’s been tagged plenty of times. Cat Zingano knocked her out. Jessica Eye had her fairly wobbly with some punches. While both of those women have decent power and technique, they are not in the same class as Holly Holm. So, with Tate being so hitable, you have to imagine that this is going to end badly for her.
Prediction: Holm via KO in the first with her dangerous and often underappreciated hands.
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