5 Competitive Strategy Lessons We Can Learn from Holm vs. Rousey

I have always had a great deal of respect for the art of professional fighting whether it was martial arts, boxing, or combination of the two.  The physical and mental discipline coupled with the endurance and athleticism is fascinating to me.  I've watched fights or highlights of the greats in boxing and martial arts like Ali, Frazier, Sugar Ray, Foreman, Rocky Marciano, Tyson, Manny, Mayweather, Bruce Lee, The Gracie's, Chuck Norris, etc.. They all possess a certain strategic prowess that was very prevalent in the Rousey vs. Holm fight.

I have never taking the time to really watch a UFC/MMA fight until I started hearing and seeing more and more press about Ronda Rousey in the news and social media.  I began to watch her fights on YouTube and see the dominance she was having in the sport. Coincidentally, it was just before she was about to fight Holm, which led me to look up Holm and her career.  As a new contender, and now Champion in the UFC I didn't see a lot of footage, so I started watching some of her championship boxing career.  

The two Holm boxing matches that peaked my interest to watch was her loss and win against Anne Sophie Mathis.  She got knocked out in the first fight, but in the rematch devised a game plan that made her a clear winner.  At that point I started to think that this may not be a :30 second fight for Rousey.  I observed that there was something different about Holm skill set in comparison to the other opponents that Rousey faced in previous fights.  Not only that, her demeanor and approach during the build up of the fight was the complete opposite to Rousey, which made it even more interesting.   I knew then that I had to see who would be hailed "the champion".

So what does this have to do with competitive  strategy or strategic planning? Well as you may already know Holm decisively won the fight :30 seconds into second  round.  After reviewing the fight from start to finish (a few times) and combining both fighters preparation and approach to the fight I have learned five (5) competitive strategic planning lessons.

1. Know yourself.
Understand what you do really well and what you don't.

2. Be willing to learn from others.
Experts can help you hone in on your strengths and improve as well as leverage your weaknesses.

3. Study and know your competition.
Understand their strengths and weaknesses, and the best way to defend and exploit them respectively.

4. Focus and stick to your game plan.                                                         Don't change your strategy to try adapt and beat your competition. If you don't change, they will have to strategically try to dissect your game plan.  

5. Lead with humility, wisdom and channeled emotion.                                Execute your strategic plan with consistent precision, not ego and emotion.

What other constructive business/life tools can we learn from the Rousey vs. Holm fight?

Thank you for taking the time to read this post.