Holly Holm News

Justin Golightly - December 30, 2017

The main and co-main event of UFC 219 are some of the best fights all year, with the match-ups that we’ve had in 2017, that’s high praise. Cris Cyborg defending her women’s UFC featherweight title against Holly Holm is arguably the biggest female fight of all-time. Meanwhile, Khabib Nurmagomedov makes his triumphant return to fight against top contender and dangerous striker Edson Barboza in a war for title contention. It’s interesting to see Conor McGregor’s coach John Kavanagh’s outlook on the match-ups — especially the co-main event — seeing as how he could still be a future opponent for McGregor, especially if he does end up ever fighting in Russia. “Khabib [Nurmagomedov] by stoppage in the championship rounds. He will be hit in the first but wrestling, in particular his body lock, will break [ Edson] Barboza as fight progresses. Ground-and-pound stoppage in fourth or fifth round. [Holly] Holm by stoppage within three rounds. The lack of size advantage [for Cris Cybog] plus Holm’s technical ability in striking will decide this. Cyborg relies on strength and intimidation a lot, she wont have that here.” – John Kavanagh via his Twitter.

Justin Golightly - December 29, 2017

In the lead-up to UFC 219, there has been no way to miss the accolades of either Cris Cyborg or Holy Holm. Both have laundry lists of accomplishments and present unique challenges to one another, neither of which have ever faced in their careers. As far as Cyborg goes, she does boast something that Holm simply cannot claim. Cris Cyborg has been unbeaten in MMA since 2005. However, she has lost once since then in muay thai. Dutch kickboxer Jorina Baars won a unanimous decision over her back in 2014. Turns out, she’s just as big of a fan of the UFC 219 fight as you probably are. “I really want to see this fight. It’s such a great match-up. I think it’s the best women’s fight ever because Cyborg and Holly Holm are both great athletes and they fight stand-up and they can fight on the ground as well. Their technique is really good. I know Cris is working hard on her kickboxing and stand-up and I know Holly is working on her wrestling. I can’t wait. I think Holly is the better striker from her boxing background. Cris is working on her stand-up very hard and she worked with [Clarissa Shields]. It’s a very good fight.”

Drake Riggs - December 28, 2017

Holly Holm is no stranger to big fights. Whether it be in boxing or MMA, she’s been a championship level fighter where ever she’s gone. A win over UFC Featherweight champion, Cris Cyborg would be a record setter for “The Preacher’s Daughter” which is just extra pressure added onto her against an already tough task in the fight alone. Holm chatted with Ariel Helwani today about that, her fun and interactive open workout and more.

Justin Golightly - December 28, 2017

In a couple of days, Holly Holm will step into the Octagon to try and dethrone the dominant Cris Cyborg and take her featherweight title. Having beat Ronda Rousey at the top of her career, a win over Cyborg will put her as the best women’s fighter of all time and the first ever women’s two-division champion. Add that to her boxing accolades and it’s hard to argue for anyone else. However, there is one other fighter who has given Rousey a loss: Current UFC bantamweight champ Amanda Nunes. Who is also ready to cement her place as the best female fighter on the planet by beating whoever comes out on top this Saturday. “We have the utmost respect for [Cris] Cyborg and [Holly] Holm, it’d be a great fight with either one, but we believe Amanda [Nunes] could be champion in both divisions, because she has all the tools for that. She is an extremely well rounded fighter and has been showing that she does deserve to face the winner. That’s our main focus for 2018. Of course we know she has no way to defend two belts, but that decision would be taken after her fight against the Cyborg vs. Holm winner.” — American Top Team coach Conan Silveira speaking to Portal do Vale Tudo.

Drake Riggs - December 26, 2017

Gilbert “El Nino” Melendez knows a thing or two about fighting. He has been one of the Lightweight division’s very best for the better half of the last ten years. Primarily known as the king of Strikeforce, Melendez defended a Strikeforce title six times overall and was a three-time champion. He also was the very first ever WEC champion. Nowadays, Melendez has been trying his hand as an analyst and has been doing a great job. Since it’s the week of UFC 219 which is headlined by the big Featherweight title fight that pits Cris Cyborg against Holly Holm, Melendez took the time to share his thoughts with ESPN on how Holm can defeat the seemingly unbeatable, Cyborg.

Justin Golightly - December 22, 2017

There’s a serious chance for Holly Holm to shock the world once again at UFC 219. She’s confident she can do it, and her coaches believe she can do it as well. If she manages to take out Cris Cyborg, she’ll have beaten two of the number one female fighters on Earth. Knowing Cyborg’s track record and how long she has been dominant, if she does beat her, then Holly Holm is graciously willing to offer her an immediate rematch, just like she was going to do with Ronda Rousey. “Yes [I would give Cris Cyborg an immediate rematch if I beat her] and with Ronda [Rousey] I was open to a rematch as well, it’s just they didn’t know how long or when she would come back or if she would want to. And that’s when I said well I just don’t want to wait around. I’ll wait if you can tell me this is going to be within six months or whatever but I didn’t want to just be waiting around for that one fight. I want to be able to fight and train and live out my passion. I didn’t want it to be based around just one fighter. So I was welcome to the fact to rematch her, it’s just they didn’t have any answer if she really was going to come back and if she did, how long it would be.”

Drake Riggs - December 21, 2017

“Holly Holm can not knock anybody out with one punch… In boxing, she was wearing them down, throwing a lot of punches but she doesn’t have that one punch knockout. So, I told Cyborg, ‘do not underestimate her but that is something you may not have to be too concerned about.’. Of course, do not underestimate her because she is a great mover and she has a lot of ring intelligence. Also, beware of the southpaw, do a lot of sparring with southpaw as she is doing right now and always remember to try to lean more to the left instead of the right. Going to the right you can run into one of her strong weapons, which is her right. So think a little bit about that and I think she’s going to beat Holm. ” 

Justin Golightly - December 15, 2017

It’s a huge fight. A career-defining bout with big stakes. The title is on the line and Holly Holm is the underdog against one of, if not the best women fighter on the planet. Does this all sound familiar? Back at UFC 193, Holm hit the ‘kick heard ’round the world’ on Rousey and earned the biggest MMA victory of her life in front of a stunned audience. Those comparisons aren’t lost on Coach Mike Winkeljohn either. He recently broke down his thoughts on the fight and predicts Holm stops Cyborg to shock the world once again. “Oh, absolutely [there are comparisons to the fight with Ronda Rousey]. You know what, behind the scenes when we fought Ronda we were pretty confident that we had the proper game plan to beat Ronda. Everybody thought we were crazy, everyone thought Holly was crazy when she first fought Christy Martin back in the early days in boxing cause Christy Martin knocked everyone out, and Holly made that look easy, and she had what I call that ‘Christy Martin’ moment where Christy tried to throw a punch at her, Holly slipped under and then Christy almost went through the ropes. Guess what? Ronda did the same thing, and it’s gonna happen in the Cris Cyborg fight, she’s gonna have that same moment.”

Tom Taylor - December 6, 2017

Not long ago, UFC President Dana White announced that he and the UFC’s other top decision-makers were floating the idea of promoting boxing matches in the future. This news is likely to have sounded interesting to a number of the UFC’s boxing savvy fighters – particularly upcoming women’s featherweight title challenger Holly Holm, who was a boxing champion long before her UFC career began. While it would be fair to assume this news might interest Holm, however, it apparently doesn’t. Speaking to the media during the festivities for UFC 218 in Detroit, where she was a guest fighter, she assured that her boxing career is over.

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.  

Russell Ess - October 9, 2017

Many are wondering when we will see Cris Cyborg make her way back to the Octagon to defend the UFC women’s featherweight title. Cyborg won the women’s 145-pound belt in July after the promotion stripped the title from the inaugural champion, Germaine de Randamie, after she refused to fight Cyborg who was the number one contender at the time. Cyborg met former Invicta bantamweight champion Tonya Evinger at UFC 214 after de Randamie was stripped of the title where Cyborg was able to stop Evinger in the third round by TKO to win the vacant title.

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.

Justin Golightly - August 23, 2017

One thing has been on Cris Cyborg’s mind since finally winning the UFC women’s featherweight title: Holly Holm. Although, she doesn’t have too much choice. There aren’t any other girls in the division now that Germaine de Randamie has been stripped and left back to bantamweight. She’s done everything short of directly demanding a fight with Holm at the end of this year, even promising she will ‘find her’ no matter what. Finally, Holm has gone on record that she is willing to fight Cyborg. …Sort of. “This is me publicly saying, ‘Yes, I am open to the fight at 145 [pounds],'” Holm said. “[But] I’m not going to take a fight at 135 pounds one month, and then the next month it’s, ‘Oh hey, do you want to fight Cyborg at 145?’ This is me going outside of my weight class and that’s OK. I’m willing to take the fight. I just want to have a full training camp. My contract is at 135 pounds. So, if they came with a fight like that [at 145lbs], I would say, ‘Let’s negotiate.’ I truly feel that is one of, if not the biggest, female fights they can promote. I’m not in it for the priority of money, but I value myself. […] This is a huge fight and I’m sure everybody around it, the promotion, is going to make money. So, I would expect more money.”

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.”