Earlier this week, the UFC announced the signing of female Bantamweight Holly Holm to a multiple fight deal. Holm, a former boxing champion left the squared circle for the octagon and has run her record to a solid 7-0 fighting once in Bellator and on regional shows. The company and Holm have undergone a long back and forth period in negotiations before settling on a contract. The length would indicate that Holm will get a chance to feel her way around the octagon before being rushed into a fight with champion Ronda Rousey.
The tendency might be to rush Holm due to her terrific boxing credentials. She retired from the sport of boxing to pursue an MMA career with a record of 33-2-3, including multiple titles in multiple weight divisions. She lost via brutal KO to Sophie Mathis, but was able to avenge the loss in her next bout. What is more, in the Mathis fight, she showed the guts under fire, taking a beating but continually looking to defend and throw back.
Who she is matched up with in her first UFC fight will be interesting. It would be a mistake to put her in against say Sara McMann. McMann, an Olympic wrstler, is coming off a title shot where she was blitzed by Rousey, and has no fights scheduled. Due to her pedigree, if she continues to progress in MMA, McMann would be a terrible threat style wise to Holm. This is where the UFC gets ornery at times, especially if the negotiations at times got contentious. Putting in Holm with McMann first would put the difficult catch at 0-1 in the octagon and would take away a lot of Holm’s leverage.
A smarter move would be to put HOlm into the octagon against moderate but increasingly stronger competition for 4-6 fights. Holm is going to have to try get a highlight reel of finishes, and her boxing career includes just 9 KO’s in nearly 40 fights, so she will rely on kicks more than punches for KO’s. She will never have the ground game to mix it up with Rousey that way, so she is going to need to stay on her feet and win rounds boxing.
The main thing is that this is a glossy signing, but it is more fodder for Rousey, who shouldnt have a problem disposing the current version of Holly Holm.
