Ever since Holly Holm signed up with the UFC, her name has always been connected with bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey. However, the hype turned down a notch when Holm had a split-verdict win over Raquel Pennington in her UFC debut fight at UFC 184. While Holly had her chance to shine when she given the chance to be the co-main event of the night, Rousey effortlessly won over Zingano in just 14 seconds.
Holm’s performance in her second appearance in the UFC is not as smashing as everyone expected, but she turned out way better in defeating Marion Reneau during the UFC Fight Night event last Wednesday. Holm did an amazing job of dominating the cage while throwing some powerful blows, which had her win by a unanimous decision against Reneau.
Even though Holm was able to defeat Reneau, the audience was not satisfied with her performance. She even got booed in San Diego’s Valley View Casino Center. However, for the record, Holm was not satisfied with her own performance either. “I feel like I could’ve been a little more aggressive in the fight, and I could’ve done a little more and been a little more happy with my performance. My goal is to keep improving,” she said.
With all the MMA achievements that Holm is having right now, she admitted that the conversations about eventually having to go against Rousay are not bothering her as much as it did five months ago. This is because she has the makings of a fighter that can be at the number one spot in her division.
During the conference after the fight, Holm said that she has a lot of respect for Rousey and she takes each fight as a challenge, not as a part of some sort of list to cross out in order for her to get to the top. “She’s the one with the belt, so I like that people put me in reference with that because that’s the ultimate goal. Here in this sport, that’s what you want. Ronda Rousey’s paved the way for a lot of us,” she added.
According to Holm, she wanted her mixed martial arts fights to be challenging because if it is not, then the success isn’t that great. She also mentioned that there are a lot of athletes, especially boxers, who are called paper champions. These athletes are called such because they are just trying to add the wins they have to their record. In the end, they just keep fighting on the same skill level over and over again and Holm admitted that she does not want that kind of mediocre thinking.
With the attention Cristiane “Cyborg” Justino’s getting about her possible match up with Rousey taking place soon, Holm is perfectly fine just being in the sideline for now. Holm also stood by her decision to not rush things. “My goal is to be there, otherwise I probably shouldn’t be doing this at all. Just one fight at a time; whatever [the UFC] throws at me,” she said.