Prior to this past weekend, Holly Holm had never suffered back-to-back defeats in her Hall of Fame boxing career. But after her first match against Stephanie Han ended prematurely due to a cut caused by an accidental head-butt in January, Holm lost a controversial majority decision in the rematch Saturday in Han’s home of El Paso, Texas.
Holm, 44, has yet to rewatch her latest loss to Han, but still believes she should have been the rightful winner after the 10-round clash for the WBA lightweight championship. On Wednesday’s edition of “The Ariel Helwani Show,” Holm expressed that the loss is especially frustrating after the events of the first Han encounter.
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“Life always goes on. You always have to just keep fighting and pushing forward, and life is really blessed,” Holm told Uncrowned. “I can’t change the path. You can only go forward. So I’m definitely frustrated. It’s just, both fights having controversy at the end, it’s frustrating. Two fight camps, putting all the work in and not getting that result I wanted — and I do feel in my heart I won, but on paper, that’s just not what it is.
“I do think that there’s still opportunities possible — not everything’s just lying on the one fight. But the fight itself, you put so much work in, and it’s just kind of disheartening.”
Saturday’s rematch was closely contested in the eyes of the judges, but ultimately the verdict went to Han, who was awarded two 96-94 scorecards, with the dissenting judge scoring a 95-95 draw. Holm acknowledged the pace was competitive early on but believes she pulled away as the fight wore on, leaving her baffled by the decision.
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“I felt like the first few rounds, it started a little closer, and then I just started to take over and took control of the fight. I felt in control, for the most part,” Holm said. “Anything can happen. And obviously, there’s some [punches], like if I pull out [and pull away], and it almost looks worse than what it is. It’s a 10-round fight. It’s not like she didn’t land any shots. I never felt any hard shots that really did a lot, and I know that I was dictating the pace. I know I was the one with more action. I felt like I threw more punches.
“I know I was in her hometown, but you still have to trust that maybe these judges are going to be professional. There’s a lot of things I felt during the fight, things that were frustrating, even from the first fight. I keep my mouth shut because if you say anything too much, the ref’s there, you don’t want to be on their bad side and stuff like that.”
Competing in enemy territory wasn’t necessarily a deterrent for Holm ahead of the bout. But as the action unraveled, it reminded her of past instances when she was treated bizarrely, citing her first fight with Han in Puerto Rico. That wasn’t a case of favoritism, Holm said, but one where she was treated more as an MMA fighter than a boxer, despite her Hall of Fame credentials.
In the rematch, Holm noticed what she considered strange officiating from the referee, who focused more on the little things she did than on Han.
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“The whole fight, I feel like the ref was just constantly like, ‘Watch your head, watch your head, watch your head,’ and telling me stuff,” Holm said. “Stephanie’s over here, kind of doing some rabbit punches. Not that they hurt — it’s a fight, I don’t really care. But just stop pointing the finger at me for things.
“There was one time I thought, ‘I’m going to pretend just to see what the ref does.’ I didn’t even hit her. I just pretended, and sure enough, the ref was on my case. I’m not saying it’s the ref’s fault. It’s obviously the judge’s [fault] more. But when you have a ref that’s constantly telling one fighter more than the other … there’s just frustrating things sometimes.”
Holm spoke openly about the idea of retirement before her latest in-ring appearance. Despite the Han rematch not going her way, she’s not quite there yet. But Holm is sinking deeper into accepting the reality that the end of her run is near, sooner rather than later.
The potential for a blockbuster Katie Taylor match next may have been blown up by the loss. Regardless, Holm sees maybe one or two fights left for her — whether it’s MMA or boxing — before she puts a bow on her legendary combat sports career to end 2026.
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“If I’m being really honest, I just want big fights. All of them are big fights for a title. But I’m definitely like, within the year and I’m done. That’s where I’m at,” Holm said.
“I definitely want it to be fights that people want to see. I want it to be something big like that, and that’s where I’m at, whether it be MMA or boxing. I don’t want to be one of those people who’s like, ‘It’s my retirement fight. Ha, ha, not really.’ The only time I ever did that was when I went from boxing to MMA. I said, ‘It’s my last boxing fight, I’m going to MMA full-time.’ I wasn’t retiring from fighting. I was just done boxing at the time, and that was true. But I’ve never actually been like, ‘I’m just done fighting for good.’ Not saying I couldn’t say that then come back if i change my mind, but I definitely am getting closer. I’m not ready quite yet, but I would say within the year, I’ll be done.”
Holly Holm’s rematch against WBA champion Stephanie Han ended in controversy.
(Ed Mulholland via Getty Images)
With MMA remaining a possibility for Holm to close out her storied career, it leaves unique options on the table for her even in defeat — especially if that opponent is someone like Gina Carano, who recently returned to MMA for her clash against Ronda Rousey on Netflix.
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Carano was complimentary of Holm in the wake of the latter’s loss. Taking to social media, Carano called Holm “the hardest-working female athlete I’ve ever been around.”
Similar to Rousey ahead of her Carano bout, Holm made it clear that the idea of a fight against Carano would be incredible, purely out of the respect the two share.
“Her and I, just through social media, message here and there,” Holm said. “There’s just a very high mutual respect, and she always has such good words. I never have enough good words to say back, but all that is mutual. I have so much respect for her and who she is and what she’s done. She’s done a lot for the sport. She stands on her ground as well, and she’s an honest person and a straightforward person and stands for what she feels is right at times, even receiving a lot of backlash and things like that. As a person, I really respect Gina. I really do. She’s a great individual. She’s got a good heart and done a lot in this sport.
“People do ask about that fight. If I ever fought Gina Carano, it would be out of pure respect for two of us just loving this sport and wanting to put on a good fight. So there’s that. So I would only if it was mutually agreed. … I have a lot of love for Gina Carano.”
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