Again, born a female. Holly took fight knowing that Cyborg had a PED altered body. Holly's kicks and punches had little to no effect while Cyborg punished her. Comical to hear folks say fight was competitive.
I DID NOT watch the fight; wouldn't have if I could have.... but analyst's (hired and paid by UFC) all used the word "competitive" - which I guess is fight jargon - shorthand for "finished upright on one or more of her feet."
I expected Holm to "expire" somewhere in the third round, at best. So her finishing the fight could be chalked up to her gritty determination not to allow herself to be KOed. Or to her gritty determination to stay as far away from Cyborg as humanly possible. Or to her gritty blind luck.
Of course, Cyborg would have been, and likely was, more than happy to take her win and move on. Knocking out/submitting Holm, was doubtlessly in her plan, but probably not something she was willing to risk losing to accomplish.
Now, the UFC has positioned (fill in the name of the "only logical contender" here, because I drew a blank when they put it on the screen) to be the next
BIG MONEY FOR PROMOTERS challenger!
I'm glad Holm didn't get killed and we can all move on. The longer I live, the more I appreciate fantasy over reality in "combat sports" - and, really, in "combat" too!!
I'll be happy with football, hockey, basketball.... even baseball - who doesn't need a good seven inning snooze after a hard day at the office... then to wake up and watch the last couple of innings to see who's going to win!