Holly Holm was already in the middle of a late-career resurgence under Jake Paul’s Most Valuable Promotions (MVP) banner. But after MVP’s successful first foray into MMA with its Ronda Rousey vs. Gina Carano event on Netflix, more doors of possibility than ever before have suddenly opened for the former UFC bantamweight champion.
Before she started her MMA career in 2011, Holm was already well-established as an all-time great boxer. She has since returned to her pugilistic roots in life after the UFC, debuting under the MVP banner with a unanimous decision win over Yolanda Vega last June. She’ll rematch WBA lightweight champion Stephanie Han this Saturday in El Paso, Texas, after their first meeting in January ended prematurely due to a Han cut.
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A win for Holm could line her up for a matchup with pound-for-pound great Katie Taylor, who’s expected to cap off her legendary career with one final fight later this year. Holm acknowledged the possibility when speaking Wednesday on “The Ariel Helwani Show.”
“That’s why I want to make a statement this Saturday, because a fight like that would be amazing,” Holm told Uncrowned. “I’ve got Irish heritage, and there was talk about it before I even went to MMA. I wondered if I’d ever actually fight her, you know? It might be a full-circle thing. Maybe that comes to fruition. We’ll see.
“I think everybody can see that being an amazing fight, so it’s not anything we’re overlooking. That’s something that’s a possibility, but that’s as far as I’ve thought about it. … That would be the top [goal.]”
Despite her success across multiple sports, Holm, 44, will always be remembered most for being the one to topple the aforementioned Rousey at the height of her powers in 2015. As one of Rousey’s final two opponents before her Netflix return over Carano, Holm didn’t ever expect a Rousey comeback to be in the cards. But that also doesn’t mean she was surprised to see it happen, along with Rousey’s 17-second armbar win.
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“I wasn’t shocked when she came back with this fight,” Holm said of her former rival. “I think maybe deep down, there’s just always this hunger she had to get back in there and get a win, and didn’t surprise me that she wanted to. She’s been active, still doing physical things. She’s still been performing and doing her thing, living her life.
“Any fighter has it in them, especially if they’ve been a champion. With her, she’s been an Olympian, she’s been a champion, and if you have that in you, any fighter that says they’re retired or done, I don’t ever really believe them because they have that in them.
“Because of how her last two fights ended in knockouts, it’s so easy for people to forget everything before. The reason why she was so dominant with everything before was because she was good at it. She’s very good with her judo, and she’s very obviously a master with the armbar. So I wasn’t shocked that she came in and was able to win like that. She’s a threat for anybody with that armbar. … She went in there and did her thing.”
A Holm vs. Rousey rematch would have been as big as any fight in combat sports history after the pair squared off a decade ago. Initially, that was the hope too, Holm said.
Holly Holm and Ronda Rousey will forever be linked together after their 2015 fight.
(PAUL CROCK via Getty Images)
Instead, Rousey took her time while recovering from the vicious head-kick knockout she sustained to drop her UFC title. Holm, on the other hand, wasn’t willing to wait around; she went on to suffer a last-second Hail Mary loss to Miesha Tate at UFC 196 in early 2016.
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No matter how much time has passed, Holm still loves the idea of locking horns with Rousey one more time.
“I’ve always been open to a rematch with her since the day the fight was over. So if she wants to rematch, I’m game anytime. I’ve always said I’m good with a rematch,” Holm said.
“Right after the fight, it was, ‘Hey, do you want to wait for the fight with Ronda?’ I said, ‘Well, sure, how long are we going to wait?’ There was no answer because we had no answer from her. She didn’t say yes, she just — nothing. And I was, like, ‘Well, I don’t want to just sit and wait, because I don’t know if she’ll ever want to fight or ever want to rematch, or if she does come back, will it be with me? I don’t know.’ There was no answer. So I chose to keep fighting, and then it was over a year after we fought, and she fought [Amanda] Nunes and was done.
“But I’ve always said I would rematch her, and I still would to this day. I just think that she wanted to come back, have a fight [with Carano] and then be done. No hate on her for that.”
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Since Rousey’s return win over Carano, and even before it, Rousey was adamant that she only had that one fight left in her. Now her plan is to grow her family with her husband, Travis Browne, while potentially continuing to contribute to MVP in a promotional role.
That still leaves Carano, though. The women’s MMA pioneer hasn’t shut the door on another fight, and even spoke after the Rousey loss about how getting to strike in her own long-awaited MMA comeback would have been nice. That sentiment makes Holm sound like a prime option — and it’s certainly one Holm would be open to.
“I wanted to be able to see her get out there and do more, because I know the hours that go into training,” Holm said. “When you can’t really put everything into practice and actually let it go on a fight, I definitely wanted to see more, and I wanted that also for Gina.
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“Gina is a very good person, and I wanted more for her as well. I watched the fight to watch it. I have respect for both of them. Maybe [we could fight], I really do have a lot of respect for Gina. Not that her and I sit down and have coffee, but we’ve been friendly over the years. We did train for a little bit in Albuquerque together when she came down, and she was great. And just here and there, just through messaging or social media, just positive things for her life, I’m like, ‘Yeah, hell yeah, go get it.’ And the same thing from her side there.
“We have a lot of mutual respect between each other, and I do consider her a friend. But also, would [I] look to share the cage with her? It would be an honor.”
First things first for Holm, and that’s the Han rematch after their first encounter ended unceremoniously via head clash in January.
Having competed professionally for 25 years, Holm is finally seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. She isn’t completely embracing the notion of retirement, believing that would set her back as a fighter, but she now knows the road has almost reached its end.
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So, why not compete in the biggest fights possible while she still can?
“I definitely know I’m not fighting a crazy amount longer,” Holm said. “Maybe [a year]. It’s just — not that I’m not capable, I just really want to keep fighting. And I do want to get a couple more fights in. So we’ll see what that means, how far that goes. I know I’m still healthy, capable, can beat the top girls, and so I want to keep fighting, but I know I’m not going to fight forever. So it’s just sooner than obviously it was five years ago.”
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