Issue 158
September 2017
The Singapore crowd wasn’t stirred by the first two rounds of UFC Fight Night 111’s main event. Holly Holm and Bethe Correia combined to land a measly 32 significant strikes. Boos echoed around the arena.
But ‘The Preacher’ s Daughter’ knew she might have to shrug off cries of dissent to earn her first win since snatching the bantamweight belt from Ronda Rousey in 2015.
The former champion explained: “I wanted to do it right. The game plan was not to rush anything. We knew the crowd might boo, but I thought, ‘I’m the one in here fighting, I’m going to stick to the game plan and pick the right shot.’”
The answer to their boredom was a 50,000 dollar question – a Performance of the Night-winning question mark kick, in fact.
She replied to a taunt from her opponent by bringing the Brazilian’s guard down, faking with a front kick from a square stance. She then turned her hips over into a roundhouse kick to the head.
Despite being notorious for headkick KOs, Holm still managed to land one to end a three-fight losing skid. “If I was training to fight me, I’d be like, ‘OK, she has the left kick, let’s watch out for it.’
"It’s that competitive side of me that thinks: you know it’s coming but I still want to hit you with it,” she added.
“I didn’t feel threatened. Why not stand back and try and finish the fight?” And finish it, she did.
UNPROVOKED
“The taunting doesn’t do anything to me. That’s never affected me in any fight I’ve ever had. My plan was to stick to the game plan.”
KICK-OFF
“My team saw it open and they called it. I wanted to listen to my team. I failed to do that in my last two fights and it cost me the wins.”
AIMING HIGH
“We’ve been working a lot on varying kicks. I have a couple of head-kick knockouts, but I wanted to change it up. I didn’t want to be predictable.”
FINAL BLOW
“My first MMA fight, after I dropped the girl, I walked away to go to my ‘neutral corner’ out of habit. I know she was down but the ref hasn’t called it, so I’m going to go in and land another shot.”
SWITCH HITTER
“In my head, I thought I had to go for a hammerfist, but she was still halfway sitting and I thought, ‘Oh no, I can’t do that punch, I’d better change it up.’”
NUMBERS:
4: This was Holm’s fourth head kick KO in 11 wins.
581: Days since Holm’s previous victory at UFC 193.
1st: Holm is the only woman to notch two UFC KOs by head kick.
6: Significant strikes landed by Holm in round three
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