It certainly isn’t exclusive to MMA, but if you are a fan of a football team, like the Cowboys for example, you are less likely to drop them as your favorite team just because they lost, or even if they have a losing season. I guess in MMA it is a really easy thing to do, change your entire opinion of a fighter once they have lost a fight. In Mixed Martial Arts it is very clear that people on the bandwagon will quickly abandon you if you lose. People love to say “I told you so” when it comes to a fighter losing. Conor losing to Nate, Ronda losing to Holm. How quickly people will share meme when a great fighter suffers a loss.
I am a fan of McGregor so when he lost to Nate Diaz, it wasn’t much for me to see the probable reasons why. Nate is way better on the ground, he is physically bigger, he is way more experienced, and he is tough as can be. Conor fought him hard and was murdering him until the round of his demise. I certainly didn’t drop McGregor as one of my favorite fighters because he suffered a loss to Nate. I know that is part of the fight game. They say styles make fights and they are right. Just because fighter A can beat fighter B nine out of ten times and fighter C has beat fighter A, does not mean fighter C automatically beats fighter B. I don’t want to be confusing but you should get the point. The main thing about this blog is you should appreciate the skill and enjoy the show when rooting for your favorite fighter, don’t let your own ego get in the way just because you were in support of the “loser” in a bout.
Taking into consideration the Rousey vs. Holm fight, the fight had to be seen to be appreciated. Now, the aftermath is the most interesting thing about this fight. There were a lot of “quiet” Ronda haters out there. Well, it could be that these Ronda haters were actually fans that didn’t want to be wrong. You can know MMA news, Martial Arts styles, MMA training techniques, and anything about Martial Arts that you want to, but something that had been obvious before Ronda changed the game was that Judo was not in itself a great base for MMA. Ronda changed all of that. Here aggressive approach included big take-downs and the arm-bars heard around the world. Like I say about most fighters that are confident (borderline arrogant), I may not like them, but they are enjoyable to watch. If it means watching Cael Sonnen take a beating because of all of the things he called an opponent, or Conor McGregor predicting his own dominant victories, it draws curiosity from the fans. Whether you are paying to watch someone win or lose, you are still paying.
To draw the conclusion best suited for this blog, I would say that when a fighter loses, it is easy for our egos to say “I knew it.” But keep in mind that the loyalty you show to a fighter if you truly enjoy their style, should be the same that you show to any other sports team you support. You don’t stop liking the Los Angeles Dodgers because they lose an embarrassing game if you’re a true fan. I have personally always been a BJ Penn fan even though he didn’t end his career on many high notes. So to all of the “fair weather” fans, you were never a fan in the first place. I hope humble Holly reigns as the champion for a long time and I hope Ronda does whatever is necessary to regain the confidence of her true fans.