Since being announced as the top contender for the UFC women’s bantamweight title, Holly Holm has been quite busy. That’s not surprising, of course, as the already rigorous training regimen has new media and promotional obligations heaped on top of it.
Holm added another appointment to her calendar on Monday, speaking with MMAFighting.com’s Ariel Helwani on the MMA Hour (Warning, NSFW Language) and talked about her experiences at the UFC’s “Go Big” press event, which included direct interaction with both of the UFC’s top stars, Ronda Rousey and Conor McGregor.
Holm sat next to McGregor while he hijacked much of the presser with merciless smack talk directed against literally every featherweight and lightweight in attendance.
“I was just letting him have his time in the limelight. He likes it and it’s not necessarily my favorite. So it was kind of nice…I didn’t have to say much…he was talking a lot of trash on my teammates and stuff, so I was just waiting for Donald [Cerrone] to give back on that,” she said.
She continued, “it’s not how I am, but it makes it interesting to watch. I like having personalities like that in the sport…that’s what makes this sport so awesome.”
The former boxing champion is training at the famed Jackson-Winkeljohn MMA camp in New Mexico in anticipation of UFC 193, where she will face Rousey. While Holm is an undeniably interesting contender for Rousey, the matchmaking has drawn the ire of many fans, and the UFC’s sudden decision to push the fight forward by two months has some questioning whether Holm has anything resembling a chance to win. Holm isn’t letting any of that get to her, however.
“You can look at it in any way,” she said when asked about whether the abridged training camp would hurt her. “You can think ‘ugh, that’s two less months,’ or you can think ‘this might be perfect time to be conditioned and I have a well-oiled game plan and you can work out the kinks without mentally draining yourself.'”
As for the mixed reactions to her title berth, Holm is tuning out any and all discussion. “You know, I don’t really care what people think or say,” she said. “I think if you do care, you can’t get too far…my goal is to just prove them wrong. It is soon, but that’s what is so awesome about it.”
Holm will face Rousey in Melbourne, Australia, on November 14. While the betting line is terribly skewed (the opening line as presented by Odds Shark was a wild -1000 Rousey, +600 Holm), this is still an incredibly interesting fight.
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