2016’s UFC 196 pay-per-view (PPV) featured some wild finishes. The most notable, of course, being Nate Diaz’s submission victory over Conor McGregor in the main event – handing “The Notorious” the first defeat of his UFC career.
However, in the co-main event, Miesha Tate pulled off quite the finish of her own. She submitted Holly Holm to capture the 135-pound championship. The bout was Holm’s first title defense after pulling off one of the biggest upsets in mixed martial arts (MMA) history, knocking out Ronda Rousey. It was also the first loss of her career, starting a three-fight losing skid.
Tate took Holm’s back in the final round, locking in a rear-naked choke, and rendering “The Preacher’s Daughter” unconscious. Now, three years later, Holm is on the cusp of reclaiming that 135-pound title. All she has to do is get through the greatest women’s mixed martial artist of all time – Amanda Nunes.
The pair co-headline UFC 239 on PPV this weekend (Sat. July 6, 2019). In a recent interview with ESPN, Holm reflected on her 2016 loss to Tate, detailing what happened when she passed out from the choke (via MMA News):
“I remember the ref came over and was like, ‘Do you know what happened? I was like, ‘Yeah.’ And he was like, ‘What?’ And I was like, ‘I got choked out.’ And goes, ‘Oh, OK, good.’ And I was like [MUTED],” Holm said.
“He meant like, “Oh, good. You know where you’re at. And it’s like, this is not good. You put so much time and effort into it and then….when people say, ‘It’s not the end of the world,” that’s pretty much what it feels like, the end of the world. You put everything into it, but I’ve learned so much from then. And I use that as a motivation to keep learning and keep getting better.”
Now, years removed from the submission defeat, Holm has evolved leaps and bounds as a fighter, and plans to showcase that growth against Nunes this weekend:
“And I’m a different fighter now than I was back then, and that’s one thing that I do know. So that’s why I can look back on it and just think, ‘This is what I did to get better from then.’”
Do you think Holm can pull off yet another upset and dethrone Nunes this weekend?
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