One of the big storylines coming out of Ronda Rousey's historic loss to Holly Holm last month is a question: Can Rousey come back and be the same after being knocked out with a head kick in the second round in front of more than 56,000 with another million or so watching on pay-per-view?

Sara McMann thinks any insinuation that Rousey cannot is a joke.

McMann, who lost to Rousey by first-round TKO in 2014, has been fired up in recent weeks. She is not the biggest fan of the former UFC women's bantamweight champion. But she carries something major in common with Rousey: They are both Olympic medalists. McMann won silver in wrestling and Rousey owns a bronze in judo.

So when people say Rousey was broken in defeat and won't be back, McMann gets a bit incensed.

"As somebody who is an Olympic athlete, who is also an Olympic medalist and a tournament athlete, it's completely insulting to me," McMann told MMA Fighting. "It shows that people do not even understand what Ronda has actually done before. She got a bronze medal in the Olympics. That means she lost her Olympic dream, had her entire world crushed knowing she wasn't going to be an Olympic gold medalist and she rallied the troops and came back and got a bronze. In a matter of hours, she got herself back together.

"That's how you get to that level. It was really, really frustrating to me. Don't think that she's not resilient and she can't adapt to those circumstances."

There was one particular interview with Holm that didn't sit well with McMann. In a Q&A with the New York Times, Holm was asked how many times out of 10 she would beat Rousey.

"Ten, Holm said. "Because if I tell myself that there is one that I might not get, then I'll be vulnerable.

"I also know that I'm beatable, so I'm going to train twice as hard. She's going to come back. She's mad that it's not her title anymore. I've got to be twice as ready as last time."

McMann thought Holm, who she readily says is classy and seems like a good person, missed the mark on that answer.

"Really?" McMann said. "Really? I don't care how many ways you say it. Unless she is better on the ground than Ronda, she has to be better than her in every area and have no bad luck. I'm sorry. People lose a fight on a fluke cut over their eye when they're winning. People get poked in the eye and can't continue.

"No offense to Holly, but she's probably more unfamiliar with loss than Ronda and I are. We're tournament competitors and we've had thousands of competitions. Not 50-something competitions. We could do 50 competitions in a year. I'm not saying anything bad. But you have to look at how Ronda handled her previous losses to show how she handles loss and comes back."

Rousey told ESPN The Magazine that she got hit with a hard punch in the first 30 seconds of the fight at UFC 193 in Australia and was out on her feet from that point on. McMann believes her.

"Did you see her?" McMann said. "Did you see her face? Did you see her focus in her eyes? Look at that and look at it compared to her highest level judo matches. Look at her other fights. You could see mentally she was different. Now, maybe Holly created that. Or maybe Ronda brought it into the fight. There's no telling. Either way, she was different. But I can guarantee you it's not gonna happen twice."

McMann doesn't know how the rematch will go. UFC president Dana White has said this week that the promotion is targeting it for UFC 200 in July. Whenever it happens, McMann is sure that Rousey will be better.

"This next one? That's not going to be the fight that she's in at all," McMann said. "With Ronda more composed, she doesn't have to be a better striker to beat Holly. Because Holly beat her and she definitely wasn't a better grappler. I'm excited to see where this chess match goes. I think it's going to be an unbelievable fight."

Rousey had won her first 12 MMA fights coming into Nov. 14. She had beaten her last three opponents in a combined 64 seconds. Only one other fighter (Miesha Tate), besides Holm now, had lasted into the second round with Rousey.

Nevermind all that, though. McMann says that Rousey's lifetime of being an elite level athlete and competitor is paramount. Rousey kept coming at Holm even though she was getting picked apart and McMann believes that speaks to the fact that Rousey was not broken at all.

"That says something about the mentality she still had in that fight," McMann said. "She still believed she was going to get a hold of her and that she was going to break her arm -- 100 percent, until she went unconscious."

McMann doesn't really like how Rousey carries herself and the words that come out of her month. She's not alone there if you look at the comments or tweets on every Rousey article. However, McMann doesn't think it's fair Rousey has gotten all this venom from fans, either. Losing to Holm doesn't take away anything Rousey has accomplished in both judo and MMA.

"As an athlete, she has earned a certain amount of respect for what she's already done," McMann said. "Don't you dare take that away from her. There's a lot of blood and sweat and tears and surgeries for her to get where she's gotten. Don't discredit where credit is due."

And don't question Rousey's resilience. At least not with McMann in earshot.