Rousey started believing her own press or advertisement. Especially the part about her boxing skills compared to Floyd Mayweather or even taking him on. Rousey is a bully and was bound to be beaten hard. Cyborg would have beaten her just as badly. Rousey faced an opponent that can hit harder than she can and Rousey could not last barely a round with an equal in the ring.
I agree with the bolded. Ronda said that she had fallen in love with the sport of boxing, and had been training with boxers, in boxing gyms, to prepare for her fight with Holly. I think Dana White had made that crazy statement about Mayweather, and Ronda had agreed with him, so many times that they actually started to believe it.
Ronda had been featured on the cover of Ring magazine, the "bible of boxing". Dana White and Oscar De la Hoya, one of the biggest promotors in boxing, were talking about co-promoting Ronda in boxing matches.
Matching her with Holly Holm, one of the best known female boxers in the world, before she switched to MMA, was meant to set the scene for that.
And Ronda, of course, was meant to beat Holly, and beat her with stand-up punches, not her usual trade mark hip toss and arm-bar.
I read many articles at boxing sites saying that if Ronda tried to stand up and trade punches with Holly, she would get slaughtered. Surely she wouldn't be crazy enough to try it?
But that was exactly what she did. She and her team believed their own hype, and by the time Ronda realised her game plan wasn't going to work, it was to late.
I don't agree with you say about Ronda being a bully though. Bullies crumble when their bluff gets called and a percieved victim turns out to be tougher than they expected.
Ronda didn't crumble. She kept going after Holly, trying to turn the tide, even though she was being hurt badly by those vicious southpaw straight left hands Holly was catching her with over and over again.
If nothing else, she proved she has heart and a take a punch well.
