Issue 137

January 2016

New UFC bantamweight champion Holly Holm discusses that finish and how she derailed the Ronda Rousey’s phenom freight train

Exposed is perhaps the most accurate way to describe Ronda Rousey after Holly Holm knocked her out cold at UFC 193 in November. ‘Rowdy’ was outmaneuvered, out-thought and outgunned in front of a record crowd for the organization in Melbourne, Australia. 

Holm, formerly the best female boxer on the planet, is now on top of women’s mixed martial arts to boot. And based on a victory that sent shockwaves across the world, her reign at the top of the 135lb division could turn out to be a long and dominant one. Shortly after her devastating performance, Fighters Only checked in with the new first lady of the Octagon.

Against the odds

It’s probably for the best that Holly Holm’s stunning knockout of Ronda Rousey took place thousands of miles away in Australia. Had it gone down in Las Vegas it’s likely the new UFC bantamweight champion would have been run out of town. Her sportsbook-busting performance left more than a couple of the Strip’s oddsmakers reaching for the Xanax.

Holm was as high as +900 during UFC 193 fight week, and despite a deluge of cash on the underdog she still closed as high as +500 in most casinos. At those kind of odds it’s no surprise plenty of folks took a gamble. But there was good reason why ‘The Preacher’s Daughter’ was at such long odds.

After two mediocre decision victories since joining the UFC little more than a year ago, the former boxing champion looked like she would be out of her depth against a grapple-savvy superstar like Rousey. But then UFC fans hadn’t imagined Team Holm had been holding her back. And ‘Rowdy’ was on the receiving end of it.

Holm says: “Even before I arrived in the UFC I had my eyes on Ronda Rousey, just like I’m sure she had her eyes on me. In my first two fights we were working on different things, always preparing, and perhaps that gave fans a false impression of my fighting style.”

Holm adds: “Winning by head-kick knockout wasn’t necessarily the game plan. The plan was to use precision and accuracy. Obviously, if the kick was there we were going to take it, we were working on it in practice. But she’s really good with sweeps and clinch so you really have to be careful. But when they’re open they’re open.”

Starting as the underdog too never phased Holm in the slightest, she admits: “I’ve been the underdog before and I’ve faced opponents with a lot of people doubting me before, so that definitely prepared me. Believing in myself is huge – that’s all that matters.

“Confidence makes any fighter good, and Ronda felt confident in her punching. Obviously she has power when she lands that shot, as three knockouts on her record prove, but we saw holes in her game. Just like there are holes in everybody’s game. So it was just about us exploiting that and performing. Anything can happen in MMA, so I was prepared to handle her hands and her ground game.”

“We knew she would come forward,” she adds about Rousey’s approach. “She likes to do that, she likes to impose her will. She’s not one to sit back and that’s what’s made her a great champion. But we were ready for anything. 

“We had days when we trained in the center of the cage, days when we trained off the fence, days when we trained just armbars, then days when we trained all of it – five hours in a row. There were days when I was so mentally exhausted when I thought. ‘You know what, if I can stay focused right now then I’m going to be able to do it.’ And all that hard work definitely paid off.”

History in the making

Holm, who became the first fighter in history to add a UFC world title to legit boxing world titles, reveals she celebrated her performance in Melbourne with nachos and fries “with her family” – including coaches Mike Winkeljohn, Greg Jackson and Izzy Martinez.

“They are the masterminds behind it,” she concedes. “I’ve been able to take it to the top because they are great at keeping everyone relaxed and focused. Greg even said before the fight, ‘We’re just here to beat up a girl today.’ And it’s great to have that around you, to stay so calm and collected and you can really lose your focus by getting so worked up in a situation like this. I love that they have so much confidence in me.

“They’re all just such a great team together. Mr Winkeljohn is just a genius. He knows everything that’s about to come with all the takedowns and stuff. He knows what striking to use and we never work on stuff that’s not going to be transferable into MMA. A lot of people talk about my boxing career, but there’s just so many different things you have to watch out for in MMA. 

“Greg Jackson is just a mastermind with that whole transition to the ground, while Izzy is just that grind in the middle of it – the whole takedown defense and working off the cage. It’s just been great. I couldn’t be surrounded by a better team. They each have their own personalities. Mr Winkeljohn is plain and simple, like, ‘Just do this Holly and you’ll win.’ Then Mr Jackson is like, ‘You know, it’ll just come to you,’ he’s so calm. Then Izzy is in your face and a huge personality. How do you not do well with that kind of help?”

Finally, on the prospect of an immediate rematch with Rousey, likely in the summer, Holm adds: “Whatever opportunities are there I’ll take them. If I was more cautious or picky then I wouldn’t have won the title. You have to take what opportunities you can in life and that’s why I’m standing here now.

“If Ronda wants the fight then we’ll do it again. But I’ll train twice as hard for the rematch than with the first fight, because I know she’ll come back hard.” Holm then added: “I’m going to take over the division now. I wasn’t going to wait to be handed anything. I worked hard to earn this.”

Boxing clever: Queen of the sweet science

Holm won boxing world titles in the light welterweight, welterweight and light middleweight divisions and was voted The Ring’s ‘Female Fighter of the Year’ in 2005 and 2006.