Holly Holm once again fell short against Stephanie Han and once again there was controversy surrounding the result.
The undefeated Han successfully defended her WBA lightweight belt against Holm a second time Saturday in the main event of a Most Valuable Promotions boxing show in El Paso, Texas, earning a majority decision win over the former UFC bantamweight champion.
Han won via a pair of 96-94 scores, with one judge seeing the bout as a draw at 95-95. Holm immediately protested the result in her
post-fight interview.
“Honestly, I feel like I won that fight,” Holm said. “There’s always things, even in a win, that I want to do better, always. We always want perfection, but I really feel I won the fight, and that’s not any disrespect to Han at all. I have a lot of respect for her, it has nothing to do with that, I just feel that that fight was mine.”
Holm also received support from former UFC rival Cris Cyborg, who tweeted, “Boxing does what boxing does… [Holm] won that fight.”
The first championship meeting between Holm (34-4-3) and Han (13-0) this past January ended prematurely when an accidental head butt opened a cut on Han’s forehead that resulted in the bout being called in the seventh round. Han was up by a larger margin on the cards in that contest, winning a technical decision via scores of 69-65, 69-64, 68-65, so Holm would have needed a knockout to author a comeback. An immediate rematch was booked shortly after.
This time, the scores were considerably closer, but Han still walked out with her title and undefeated record intact.
Watch Han vs. Holm highlights below.
