Holly Holm isn’t interested in hearing any of Ronda Rousey’s excuses.
On Saturday night (April 13), ‘The Preacher’s Daughter’ will make her 16th walk to the Octagon as she welcomes two-time PFL champion Kayla Harrison to the promotion. Holm goes into the UFC 300 clash as a sizeable underdog with Harrison currently sitting as a 4-to-1 favorite on DraftKings.
It’s a familiar spot for Holm who still owns the biggest upset in UFC history with her stunning second-round KO of Ronda Rousey.
Despite the decisive loss to Holm in 2015 and a subsequent shellacking at the hands of Amanda Nunes a year later, Rousey insists that she is “the greatest fighter who has ever lived.” Furthermore, Rousey recently suggested that a long history of concussions is what ultimately resulted in her losing the bantamweight belt against Holm.
Reacting to Rousey’s statement, Holm insists that she simply outperformed ‘Rowdy’ that night.
“I say this all out of respect,” Holm said during her appearance at Wednesday’s UFC media day. “In order to have a big upset like that fight was, you have to have a dominant champion. 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 have made a career of fighting, you’ve had a concussion at some point.
“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,” she continued. “I’ll never sit here and use that as an excuse for any loss. I think that it’s probably just hard for her to really … want to like maybe admit that I was the better fighter. Was she so dominant and a good champion? 100 percent. I give her that, but she wasn’t better than me, and especially that night.”
#UFC300's Holly Holm reacts to Ronda Ronda's claim she was concussed when they fought at UFC 193.
"I think it's just hard for her to admit that I was just the better fighter." pic.twitter.com/HWPqkaGoP9
— MMA Junkie (@MMAJunkie) April 11, 2024
Despite Their Similarities, Holly Holm Sees Many Differences Between Ronda Rousey and Kayla Harrison
Like Ronda Rousey before her, Kayla Harrison is an accomplished judoka, having won gold medals at the 2012 and 2016 Olympic Games. Now Harrison looks to follow in Rousey’s footsteps under the UFC banner.
But despite the pair coming from similar backgrounds and sharing the same goals, Holm doesn’t see Harrison the same way she saw Rousey during their epic encounter nearly a decade ago.
“As far as their backgrounds being judo champions, they have different stances, different sizes, different styles,” Holm said. “There are some similarities but they are two very different fighters as well. Even when they get to the ground, Kayla Harrison had her ground and pound and Ronda would always kind of reach for the arms. It’s just different. Their styles are different but also a lot of similarities.”
Watch the full interview below:
