Las Vegas, NV — Former women’s 135lb champ Holly Holm learned of her UFC 300 match-up with Kayla Harrison about an hour before everyone else.
Now, she’s headed into a fight with high-profile newcomer Harrison that could produce a future title challenger in the UFC women’s bantamweight division.
“I’m capable of holding that belt again, no matter who is there. Even if Amanda [Nunes] was still fighting, I would want to get that rematch as well,” Holm (15-6, 1NC) told media outlets including Cageside Press during Wednesday’s UFC 300 media day. “So no matter who has the belt, I know that I’m still capable, strong enough, healthy enough to be able to hold that title again. So that’s my goal.”
To prepare for Harrison, Holm trained with former UFC, Strikeforce, Invicta FC and current Bellator featherweight champ Cris Cyborg. It was an interesting pairing; Cyborg herself has been a vocal rival of Harrison in recent years, though the pair have never fought. The Brazilian doesn’t utilize the same style as Harrison, however, but for Holm, it comes down to size and strength.
“Having another girl that’s strong and my size and competed at the top level is always going to be a good training partner. Obviously she didn’t come in to just stand as a righty and try and throw bombs or anything like that. She’s a very well-rounded fighter.”
“I have great training partners at home, I always have, I’ve been very blessed with being able to have good training partners and a good camp and a good team,” Holm continued. “But to have another female that’s my size and have a strong physique and give me that feel was great. I have nothing but positive things to say about training with her.”
Holly Holm was asked during Wednesday’s media day about Ronda Rousey’s recent revelation that she had suffered multiple concussions that were not publicly disclosed during her active competition days. Holm was clear that she wanted to give Rousey credit where due, but also wasn’t about to make similar excuses for losses.
“Everything I say, which I’m sure people will just take parts of what I’m about to say and make it sound how you guys want, I say this all out of respect. In order to have a big upset like that fight was, you have to have a dominant champion,” explained Holm. “So without her being so dominant, then I couldn’t have been able to have such an upset.”
“With that being said, I was the better fighter. I was the better fighter that night. And every fighter at this point, if you’ve made a career of fighting, you’ve had a concussion at some point. If you go back and look at some of my boxing fights and some of the things that I’ve done, I’ve definitely had some concussions.”
“I’ll never sit here and use that as an excuse for any loss,” Holm added. “I think that it’s probably hard for her really to want to like, admit that I was just the better fighter. Was she so dominant and a good champion? One hundred percent. I give her that, but she wasn’t better than me, and especially that night.”
Watch the full UFC 300 media day appearance by Holly Holm above.
