Just because Holly Holm didn’t expect to fight Ronda Rousey doesn’t mean she’s backing down from the challenge.
Rousey announced Friday she’ll face Holm at UFC 195 on Jan. 2 to defend her UFC women’s bantamweight title. Many thought Miesha Tate — who already has faced Rousey twice and is the No. 1 contender for her crown — would be Rousey’s next opponent.
Holm was of that thinking as well and was training for a Dec. 5 fight against Sarah Kaufman when she got the call. Yet the 33-year-old appears to be taking the change in full stride.
“It was definitely a shock, a surprise,” Holm told the Los Angeles Times on Friday. “It wasn’t something I thought would happen right now. But I immediately got chills and thought, ‘All right, this is exciting, let’s do this, let’s feel life, let’s decide this right now.'”
Holm at the very least will be an intriguing matchup for Rousey, as she enters the fight with an extensive background in both boxing and kickboxing. Holm has nine MMA bouts under belt and has fought in just two UFC events, but she is undefeated to date and appears to be getting more comfortable by the day.
“People say I’m the most decorated boxer (in the UFC), and I’m proud of my boxing career, but this is totally different,” Holm said. “I do feel like that the thing that has helped me from boxing in my MMA career is that any challenge that came to me, I took it 100 percent, believed in myself. That will be my biggest help.”
Holm has age and experience on her side and certainly seems confident heading into the biggest fight of her MMA career to date. Whether she can use those strengths to knock off the seemingly unbeatable Rousey remains a different story, however.
Thumbnail photo via Jayne Kamin-Oncea/USA TODAY Sports Images
