While the fight she has wanted since UFC 196 ended last month was an immediate rematch against Miesha Tate for the UFC Women’s Bantamweight Champion, Holly Holm might be sitting on the sidelines until mega star Ronda Rousey makes her UFC return, as it’s starting to look like Rousey-Holm II is the direction things are headed.
As noted, Tate will be defending her UFC Women’s Bantamweight Title for the first time against highly regarded contender Amanda Nunes at the landmark UFC 200 event on July 9th.
On Monday, Holm spoke with Ariel Helwani on “The MMA Hour” at MMAFighting.com and admitted that she might have to wait for Rousey’s return before she gets back into the Octagon.
“It’s very possible [they make me wait for Rousey]. I don’t know what their real thinking is, but they’re obviously a successful business for a reason. They’re a successful promotion. They usually have their reasons behind everything.”
According to Holm, if she does get a chance to fight the Tate-Nunes winner — and she openly admitted she is routing for Tate to win — she will be ready to take that opportunity.
“I’ll be ready either way,” Holm said. “If I rematch with Ronda, I’m gonna train my butt off. If I rematch with Tate, I’m gonna train my butt off. If they give me one of the other top girls in the meantime, I’m gonna train my butt off.
“I feel like at this point, not having the rematch, which is what I really wanted, I kind of just changed my train of thought to just be open to whatever. I don’t want to be so focused on that that if something else comes my way that I don’t take advantage of the opportunity.”