Holly Holm News

Justin Golightly - November 30, 2017

After a long time of negotiations and build-up, we finally have the UFC women’s featherweight title fight that many believed we should have gotten all along. Cris Cyborg will defend her title against Holly Holm in just a month to also contend her status as the best female fighter in the world. Cyborg’s coach thinks Holm’s last fight is telling on how the scrap at UFC 219 will go, but thinks even the best Holly Holm will have no choice but to fall at Cyborg’s hands. “When I watched Holly Holm’s last fight against Bethe Correia or whatever it was, that Bethe girl, Bethe, her level of striking is at the lowest level of the game, the lowest level of the game! And I watched her f-cking batter around for three rounds, Holly trying to get her out of there. Did she finally get her out of there with the head kick? Yes. Should that have happened in the first minute of the first round of the level that both of them are at? Yes. She should have knocked her – look at what Ronda Rousey did to that girl. Ronda Rousey, again, the lowest level of striking in the MMA game, went out and knocked Bethe Correia the f-ck out in the first fucking minute of their god damn fight. And styles make fights, there’s no math on that and I get it, I get it, but Bethe Correia is very ordinary, very ordinary with a low skill-level in striking. Sorry Bethe if you hear this interview, it’s no disrespect to you but it’s just a fact. It is what it is. And I didn’t see the Holly Holm that fought Ronda Rousey out there when she fought Bethe. If there was, she probably would have smoked her a little sooner now wouldn’t she?”

Justin Golightly - November 24, 2017

Back when Holly Holm was pitted against Ronda Rousey at UFC 193, Rousey seemed like an unstoppable juggernaut and was heavily favored against the former boxing champion. At UFC 219, the odds will be no different. No one can deny the dominance of Cris Cyborg, especially now that she’s in her proper weight class. With a lack of contenders, it looks like Cyborg could be UFC women’s featherweight champion for a long time. That is, unless Holm has something to say about it. Miesha Tate recently weighed-in on the match-up and thinks Holm has all the righ tools to get the job done. “Of anybody that I can think to fight Cyborg to right now, that has the best chance, I honestly, truly believe that it’s Holly [Holm]. The reason I say that is, if Cyborg cannot get ahold of Holly, if she recklessly chases her down — similar to how Ronda [Rousey] did, not using the correct angles — if she follows her like a missile, which she does in every fight I’ve ever seen before. That’s how she hunts girls down because she can. With Holly, that’s not a good idea. She can cut through those angles. She’s an amazing counter striker and if she lands that head kick, I think she can put anybody away. So stylistically, this makes for a really, really interesting fight.”

Justin Golightly - November 15, 2017

Ever since her victory over Tonya Evinger at UFC 214 to become the new UFC featherweight champion, Cris Cyborg has been on a warpath to try and defend her title against Holly Holm. There was a whole social media campaign for a fight that seemed like the only option, at least with Invicta FC featherweight champ Megan Anderson’s UFC status still up in the air. The match-up went from being a no-brainer on UFC 219 to dead in the water. Don’t lose hope yet though, Cyborg’s coach Jason Parillo recently just revealed that she will be fighting soon. “Well, I mean I happen to be sitting here with [Cyborg] right now at lunch and her manager. Something is going to be happening. It’s not my job to open my mouth about it, but there’s definitely something exciting in the works, for sure. Cris Cyborg’s a champion. Gun to my head, we’ll see her fight very soon.” — Jason Parillo speaking to the Extra Rounds Podcast.  

Justin Golightly - October 17, 2017

This morning, USADA paid a visit to Cris Cyborg today for her third test in a month. There was no problem, except for Cyborg wants the same testing frequency for her potential opponent Holly Holm, or any opponent for that matter. Does this mean they’re still in negotiations? Either way, Cyborg took to Twitter to make her request known and eventually drew out a shade-filled response from Holly Holm herself. I’ve actually just wasted a minute of my life on this video.

Justin Golightly - September 14, 2017

While a new UFC women’s featherweight champion is crowned and in waiting, Holly Holm has options in front of her for two titles. She could be eyeing a rematch with Valentina Shevchenko to see who will challenge Amanda Nunes yet again for the bantamweight title, since the rumors are Raquel Pennington will get the next shot. If the a title is the goal, Holm may have a quicker path at featherweight. She’s willing to fight Cris Cyborg to make that happen, the UFC just has to make it worth her while according to Coach Winkeljohn on Submission Radio. “Holly [Holm] will take [the fight with Cyborg] if they make the right offer, if they will do that. I mean, right now we’re looking at, do we fight Amanda Nunes for the title? They really want to give that to Raquel Pennington, I think they’re saying. Holly’s not one to sit on the shelf, she wants the world title. She really wanted to get back at Shevchenko, so I know she was hoping Shevchenko would win the title, but this is where we’re sitting right now and Cris Cyborg is out there and Holly I think wants to knock off another legend. She’ll step up and do it again, so it all comes down to money and what the UFC’s willing to cough up to have Holly fight her.”

Justin Golightly - September 8, 2017

Although Demetrious Johnson’s quest for MMA history will be postponed, Amanda Nunes and Valentina Shevchenko are good to go this time. It’s a rematch between two of the top women in the sport right now, with the UFC bantamweight title on the line. Another former UFC champ, Holly Holm, knows exactly what it’s like to be in Nunes’ position. In July of last year, Holm tested Shevchenko’s toughness and lost a decision to the Polish striker. It’s one of the reasons she is picking Shevchenko over Nunes tomorrow at UFC 215. “I think Amanda Nunes is a very tough girl; Valentina [Shevchenko] is far more technical. I think everyone knows Amanda likes power shots, and Shevchenko is a lot more technical. I think Shevchenko can take the belt away. Anything can happen in a fight. Don’t get me wrong, but I think Shevchenko can do it.” — Holly Holm speaking to MMA Junkie.

Russell Ess - September 1, 2017

There has been a bit of a debate regarding the 10th round TKO stoppage in the Floyd Mayweather and Conor McGregor money fight. McGregor said after the fight was over that he would have liked it if the ref let the fight go on as he claimed he was more fatigued than hurt.

Tom Taylor - August 28, 2017

Conor McGregor did better against Floyd Mayweather than anyone imagined. In fact, the Irish UFC star even seemed to win the first few rounds. There are, however, skeptics out there who believe McGregor’s early success was simply due to Mayweather’s strategy – a clever ploy to get McGregor’s timing down and simultaneously let him punch himself out. In the opinion of Holly Holm, however, who is a former champion in both the UFC and the boxing ring, this is a ridiculous suggestion. Holm broke it down on Monday’s edition of The MMA Hour.

Justin Golightly - August 15, 2017

After the hard reset of the UFC’s women’s featherweight division, things still don’t seem like there will be smooth sailing moving forward. Technically, there is only one fighter even in the division, that women being the champion Cris Cyborg. Germaine de Randamie gave up her title and ran all the way back to bantamweight, and it seems like Holly Holm did the same. That won’t stop Cyborg from going after Holm to pursue a real, 145lb contender to fight her in a title defense. Cyborg makes a point to MMA Fighting that no matter how much Holm runs, she will find her. “She’s never KOed one girl. Her last punch with Bethe Correia. Three rounds, maybe six punches. They had to stop the fight and say, ‘Hey girls, I don’t know what the plan is but let’s start fighting.’ I don’t think she’s very aggressive. I don’t think she’s going to be really dangerous. I think it would be an exciting fight because I like to fight and I’m going to find her. She’s going to run in the ring, but I’ll find her. She’s already run three times. I was supposed to fight her in Curitiba, I agreed to fight her 140 and she did not want to fight. Then, I said fight in Brazil, and she said she’d fight me at 138, not 140. And after this fight, when Megan Anderson pulled out of the fight, I said I’d like to fight Holly, she said no. […] Three time she run from this fight.”

Chris Taylor - August 8, 2017

Cris Cyborg captured the UFC’s vacant women’s featherweight title at last month’s UFC 214 event in Anaheim, defeating a very game Tonya Evinger via third-round TKO. The most feared women’s fighter on the planet now has her eyes set on former UFC women’s bantamweight champion Holly Holm.

bjpenndotcom - July 5, 2017

To date, Holly Holm remains the only fighter, male or female, to fine both a boxing world championship, as well as an MMA world championship. Holm was awarded a Guinness World Record for the accomplishment back in 2016 after her defeat of Ronda Rousey to capture the women’s bantamweight title. This of course arguably makes Holm the most qualified person in regards to weighing-in on Conor McGregor making the transition to boxing for his highly anticipated fight with Floyd Mayweather, given that Holm made the transition from Boxing to MMA several years ago, after also having a rather successful professional kickboxing career.

bjpenndotcom - June 17, 2017

Saturday morning, American fight fans tuned into ‘UFC Fight Night: Singapore’ for a very early, but very exciting, morning of fights. In the main event, former UFC women’s bantamweight champion Holly Holm picked up an impressive KO win over Bethe Correia to snap a 3-fight skid going back to March of 2016, when she lost the women’s bantamweight title to Miesha Tate at UFC 196. Following her loss to Tate, Holm dropped a unanimous decision to Valentina Shevchenko in Chicago before then dropping another unanimous decision to Germaine de Randamie in a failed bid for the women’s featherweight title. Now however, back in the win column, Holm will be looking to once again climb the women’s bantamweight rankings once again.

bjpenndotcom - June 16, 2017

Saturday night in Singapore, former UFC women’s bantamweight champion Holly Holm, and women’s bantamweight title challenger Bethe Correia will square off in a highly anticipated bantamweight showdown. Ahead of the fight, the two women actually shared a sauna while attempting to make weight for their highly anticipated showdown Saturday night in a showing of good sportsmanship before a fight:

Tom Taylor - June 12, 2017

This coming weekend, in the main event of the UFC’s upcoming trip to Singapore, former women’s bantamweight champion Holly Holm will collide with former title challenger Bethe Correia. In advance of this fight, Correia has made no secret of her opinions on Holm. Her latest criticisms of Holm occurred in a Monday interview with Daily Star, during which she called the former champ “overrated,” among other things.

Tom Taylor - May 2, 2017

In a few short weeks, in the main event of the UFC’s June 17 trip to Singapore, former UFC bantamweight champion Holly Holm will attempt to rebound from a three-fight losing streak when she takes on former title challenger Bethe Correia. In advance of this key bantamweight showdown, Correia has had plenty to say about Holm, most notably telling MMAFighting that she was overrated, and that she planned to knock her out.

bjpenndotcom - April 26, 2017

Former UFC women’s bantamweight champion Holly Holm has hit a bit of a rough patch since her iconic UFC 193 knockout win over Ronda Rousey. Following her win over Rousey, Holm stepped into the Octagon with Miesha Tate in the co-main event of UFC 196, where she hoped to make her first successful title defense. Tate played spoiler to Holm’s plans as she picked up a 5th round submission win to claim the UFC title. In her next fight, Holm fought fellow elite level striker Valentina Shevchenko, who handed Holm a decision loss. Most recently, Holm stepped into the Octagon with Germaine De Randamie at UFC 208 to compete for the inaugural women’s featherweight title. Ultimately, despite some controversial blows from De Randamie, the Dutch striker was awarded the unanimous decision, and the inaugural UFC women’s featherweight title, handing Holm her third straight loss.

Chris Taylor - April 12, 2017

Holly Holm vs. Bethe Correia set for June 17 in Singapore A women’s bantamweight bout between former division champion Holly Holm and former title challenger Bethe Correia will headline UFC Fight Night 111 on June 17 in Singapore.

bjpenndotcom - April 11, 2017

There has been speculation for quite some time regarding when former UFC women’s bantamweight champion Holly Holm would be returning to the Octagon following her UFC 208 unanimous decision loss to Germaine De Randamie in a failed bid for the inaugural featherweight title. This week, MMAFighting confirmed reports that Holm is being targeted to return at June 17th’s ‘UFC Fight Night: Singapore’ event against Bethe Correia in a highly anticipated and very pivotal showdown.