Freddie Roach: Holm Embarrassed Ronda Rousey

By Rick Reeno

Mandalay Bay, Las Vegas - Veteran trainer Freddie Roach was among the many who watched Holly Holm's shocking two round knockout of UFC superstar Ronda Rousey on Saturday night in Australia.

Rousey, undefeated and crushing the completion in every fight, was a massive favorite to beat Holm, a former boxer who captured world titles in two weight divisions. Holm mad a full-time transition to Mixed Martial Arts in 2013. She now holds a 10-0 record in MMA and finished her boxing career with a respectable record of 33-2-3, 9KOs.

Roach, like countless others, picked Rousey to take the fight to the ground and beat Holm very quickly.

But that never happened. Instead, Holm kept the fight on her feet and used her accurate punches to pick Rousey apart before landing a KO kick in the second.

I picked Ronda to win that fight because I thought it would go to the ground and be over quickly, like when James Toney [fought Randy Couture], because I wasn't sure how good [Holm] was with the grappling. But she has 33 wins or 31 wins as a pro boxer and so forth, and she did very well," Roach told BoxingScene.com.

"She made her look like an amateur boxer because [Rousey] doesn't have any boxing ability pretty much, but she does have a ground game. In MMA you have to have both. If you don't have like three different sports, you can't make it in MMA. She embarrassed [Rousey] a little bit I think."

For the last two days, Roach's phone has been blowing up - because someone started a rumor that he was going to start working with Rousey to become a better boxer.

"I'm getting a lot of calls and stuff and they are saying 'Are going to train her? Are you going to train her?' I haven't talked to anybody. Nobody has contacted me I promise," Roach said.