Up until yesterday, Ronda Rousey and Holly Holm had been very respectful to one another, but that all changed in an instant during their UFC 193 weigh-ins staredown.
The champion strode purposefully towards the challenger for the photo-op, but then for reasons that weren’t immediately apparent, the two suddenly clashed and Dana White had to step in and separate the two, with ‘Rowdy’ shouting, “That sweet chick act is all fake, I see through it!”
What did cause Rousey to suddenly flare up like that out of the blue? The UFC Embedded camera angle offered up the best view of the action and showed that Rousey had put her left fist close to Holm’s face during the staredown. Holm responded by doing the same in kind with her right fist. The two then jostled for arm position which caused Holm’s fist to graze Rousey’s face.
Holm tried to play off the incident when asked immediately afterwards by Joe Rogan what had just happened, cooly replying with a shrug, “I was just having a drink, you know?”
Rousey on the other hand was absolutely seething and went on a rant when she was asked for her side of events.
“I just wanted to get in her face and show her that I was there for a reason,” Rousey told Rogan. ”She’s the one that put the fist on my face. I didn’t touch her.
“She’s the one that touched me and I told her that fake, sweet act … I can see right through it. I really do. It was all fake. All until now. All that respect, all that everything, all that you being sweet, I can see right now that it’s fake and you’re gonna get it on Sunday.”
Later she continued to vent her fury on instagram.
“Fake ass cheap shotting fake respect fake humility b-tch – “preacher’s daughter” my ass – I see through your fake sweet act now – you’re getting your ass kicked tomorrow, and I’m really going to enjoy the beating I give you #andSTILL,” Rousey wrote.
So, the whole dynamic of tonight’s fight at the Etihad Stadium in Melbourne, Australia tonight where as many as 70,000 fans are expected to be watching live.