Holly Holm was asked why she likes to fight and her answer explains why she’s excited to face Germaine de Randamie for the UFC’s newly created women’s 145-pound featherweight championship Saturday night at Barclays Center.
“It’s the biggest high of your life when you have a victory, so you’re always chasing that,” Holm, 35, said this week. “We get in the cage and we say, ‘I’m going to do well. I’m going to win and I believe in myself.’ But anything can happen in there and you can be made a fool of in front of millions of people. But when you win that’s what makes it worth it. A lot of people don’t have the guts to take on that kind of job. But in my mind, I feel bad for people who don’t get to experience the victory.”
After two straight defeats, Holm hopes to taste victory again in the main event of UFC 208 in Brooklyn. It would make her the first woman to have won titles in two divisions in the UFC and give her something to brag about other than being the first to defeat Ronda Rousey. Holm, of Albuquerque, N.M., hasn’t won since her second-round knockout of Rousey in November 2015 in Melbourne, Australia, to capture the women’s 135-pound bantamweight title.
She lost the belt in her first defense against Miesha Tate, when she was choked to the point of unconsciousness while ahead on points in the fifth round. Then she lost her last fight in July on points to Valentina Shevchenko.
The two losses haven’t shaken Holm’s confidence and she insists she has improved since those two defeats.
“I know that I didn’t get schooled in my last two fights,” Holm said. “With Miesha Tate, I was winning until I got choked out. She won, but I know that I was competitive. And my fight with Shevchenko, I know that was still a close fight. I have confidence in my ability. I just need to perform.”
She’ll need to be at her best to deal with de Randamie, a decorated kick boxing and Muay Thai champion from the Netherlands. It figures to be a classic stand-up battle, with Holm relying on her skills as a former boxing champion. But both fighters have worked hard on their ground skills.
“She’s coming from a stand-up history,” Holm said. “That’s what her fights have been, same as mine. But we both are in mixed martial arts now. I know that she’s trained to be ready in all areas as I am as well. We’ve been training in all aspects of the game, just to be ready for all of it.”
It’s an historic pay-per-view showdown for Barclays Center, the inaugural title fight in the women’s 145-pound featherweight division. Until now the only women’s divisions in the UFC were strawweight and bantamweight. Holm (10-2) weighed in at 144.4 pounds on Friday, while Randamie (6-3) was 143.6. Holm thinks it won’t take long for the featherweight division to become as competitive as the bantamweight division, which has seen four different champions in the last 15 months.
“I’ve always wanted to do things that have never been done before,” Holm said. “I can guarantee you they can build this division in no time. There’s a lot of girls out there that are very tough. This is just the start of it.”
Holm desperately wants to erase the image that she’s a one-hit wonder. Her domination of Rousey at a time when Rousey looked invincible might always be the highlight of her MMA legacy. But she wants to be known for more than that.
“After that fight with Ronda, I knew if I didn’t win after things like [one-hit wonder] would be tossed around,” she said. “But I’m in this sport because it’s my passion and I love it and not for what others think.”
Still a victory over de Randamie would make a lot of people think differently about Holly Holm.
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