Holly Holm gives Ronda Rousey advice on UFC return

At UFC 193 Holly Holm defeated Ronda Rousey via 2nd round KO to claim the UFC women’s bantamweight championship.

While the UFC wanted to book a rematch between the two as soon as possible, preferably at UFC 200 in July, Rousey’s busy Hollywood filming schedule will make it so that she is unable to compete at the event.

The UFC went ahead and booked a co-main event scrap between Holly Holm and Miesha Tate at UFC 196 on March 5th instead, with Rousey facing the winner of that fight.

Holm spoke to Albuquerque’s CBS affiliate to discuss what she went through after her brutal KO loss to Anne Sophie Mathis in the kickboxing world, and pass some advice along to Rousey.

“When you from being at the top to people thinking you should retire, it’s a really hard thing to swallow. Obviously, somebody’s seeing something, and if you’re being honest with yourself, you’re thinking. ‘Why are they saying this?’ … But there’s a reason they don’t fight and I do. I’m going to come back from this (loss to Mathis).

“And that’s what she needs to do, is believe in herself and realize that she’s her own person, and be honest with the things that got you a loss are the things you need to work on. It doesn’t mean that it’s over; it doesn’t mean that it’s the end.”