Holly Holm is competing for a lightweight world title in boxing on Saturday, but her name was mentioned a lot during the first MVP MMA card where Ronda Rousey submitted Gina Carano in the main event in just 17 seconds.
The talk largely surrounded Holm potentially facing the winner before the fight happened because she signed with MVP as her boxing promoter, but it’s impossible to forget her head kick heard round the world when she flatlined Rousey back in 2015. Holm’s knockout remains one of the biggest
upsets in MMA history but she never shied away from offering Rousey a rematch, although it never happened.
Rousey, who retired off back-to-back knockout losses, returned from a 10-year hiatus and beat Carano before calling it a career again and she refused to even entertain taking another fight. That’s why Holm appreciates that she was pitched as a potential opponent, but she doesn’t expect Rousey to ever accept her invitation to run it back.
“Yes, a lot of talk with the Ronda fight,” Holm told MMA Fighting. “I highly doubt she’ll ever want a rematch. I always have said since the minute the last fight was over, I’ll always rematch her. That’s always been available.
“But she wanted to come back and have this win and go back and enjoy and have a win like that. No hate from me. I hope she does well. I hope she does whatever she wants with her life. That’s her life. I’d always be open to fight her again.”
As far as the fight goes, Holm wasn’t shocked that Rousey won rather quickly after she scored a takedown and locked on her signature armbar submission to finish the fight in rapid-fire fashion.
Afterwards, there were calls that the fight was somehow rigged but Holm scoffed at that suggestion, especially after watching Rousey do the same thing to high-level UFC fighters in the prime of her career.
“[She did that] a lot to women who were ranked at the top, Ronda was still doing that,” Holm said. “You can’t judge someone [who lost like that]. You know what? It takes a lot of courage to step back in when you haven’t felt that in a long time and in that many years.
“Ronda has been a lot more active. So she’s been familiar with the grind and the physical strain on your body and things like that. Even just performing in front of people. You still get nerves. You still have things like that.”
While Rousey had been out of action for a decade, Carano hadn’t fought in 17 years and ever since her final appearance in Strikeforce, she’s largely turned her attention to an acting career. That means Carano was rarely if ever training anything related to MMA yet she put herself through a rigorous training camp to get ready for Rousey.
Holm says that level of commitment should be commended even if Carano ultimately lost the fight.
“To be able to come back after time off, it’s uncomfortable,” Holm said. “Fights are uncomfortable. I don’t like it. I hate fight week. I hate fight day. I always have. Every fight I’m like this is my last one. Because that’s how uncomfortable I am, and I know I’m going to feel like that. But it is very uncomfortable and that’s why a very small percentage of people can actually do this. It’s not just the physical aspect you put your body through. It is more emotionally and mentally. There’s just so much that goes into a fight. It’s wild. You don’t want to lose. You put so much into it and you just don’t want to lose. It’s the unknown. You don’t know what’s going to happen but you still face it anyways. You still walk in there with the unknown, feeling fully vulnerable for the whole world to see. Millions to see.
“It’s a very uncomfortable thing and to get away from it and then walk back into it, that kind of uncomfortable emotion, physically, mentally, all of it. It’s a big thing. For her to come back and face it, that takes a lot of courage, too.”
As far as her feelings towards Rousey, Holm says she’s never had anything but respect for her former opponent and that hasn’t changed. Holm knows that knockout changed her career forever and that win doesn’t have nearly the same magnitude attached to it without Rousey being the champion she was at the time.
“All the respect to her,” Holm said. “The whole reason why me beating her was such a big deal is because she was so dominant. You have to have a dominant champion in order to have a big upset. So I have all the respect for her and to her. I’ll never say anything negative.
“But then there’s like the fighter pride of things and a win is great but also to try to win that good or put that much of a stamp on something, anybody would be lying if they said they weren’t proud of it. I’m proud that I went in and did what I did. But I’m a fighter. That’s what we do. We go to win.”
Despite all the talk about the Rousey fight, or maybe even clashing with Carano one day in the future, Holm is currently only focused on her boxing career and her upcoming rematch against Stephanie Han.
The first fight ended due to a clash of heads and a cut that Han suffered before she won a technical decision on the scorecards. Holm immediately asked for a rematch and her wish was granted.
“I wanted the rematch real bad,” Holm said. “I think the way the fight [ended] warrants a rematch.”
At 44, Holm acknowledges that she only has so many fights left in her career and even though she’s already an International Boxing Hall of Famer, adding another boxing title would mean a lot to her.
Add to that, Holm is anxious to throw down with Han again after the unsatisfying ending to their first encounter.
“I still feel like this is unfinished business,” Holm said. “It’s a goal I had. I fell short of it and I need to make it right. I need to do everything I can to make it right. That’s what I’m doing. I’m going to show up and I’m going to fight for the belt and I’m going to win it. It’s a goal I have. A dream I have.
“I’m still pushing and I still love this sport. I’m not in it forever. I know it seems like it because I’m still healthy and very capable and doing very well. I’m not going to fight that much longer. But I do want to make sure that the last fights I have, I’m going to put everything into it. I always do. I don’t ever take any fight lightly but I put a lot into this fight and it’s going to pay off.”
