Never shy to share his unfiltered opinion, MMA veteran Ben Askren claims Ronda Rousey “bought into her own hype so much,” and that could be one of the primary reasons she was devastated by Holly Holm at UFC 193 in Melbourne, Australia earlier this month.
Askren spoke about the Rousey-Holm fight during his appearance on Monday’s “MMA Hour” with Ariel Helwani.
“I think she bought into her own hype so much, that this was just so devastating,” Askren said. “It’s going to be hard to come back from.”
Askren continued, “One of my favorite topics to read about my whole life has just been famous athletes, and a lot of those have been combat athletes. Sometimes when you buy into your own hype that much and the bubble gets bursted, it’s hard to come back from.”
Regarding what the UFC should do next with Rousey, Askren has a very specific idea.
“I think I depends on the athlete, but with Ronda, the way she reacted, 100-percent, I would say you’ve got to put her against a few people who she could beat up pretty easy and then see what happens,” Askren said. “Because Holly beat her everywhere. I mean, Holly really had a great game plan she executed, which, for us who know fighting, it was tough to predict because Holly didn’t look that great in all of her other fights. Whether it was her early fights or her UFC fights, she didn’t look that great. And then she just looked freaking amazing a couple weeks ago.”
