David McIntyre-USA TODAY Sports
Former UFC women’s bantamweight champion Holly Holm is expected to make her return to action early next year and is hoping to take on one of the most talented young contenders at 135 pounds in the process.
Holm, 38, withdrew from her scheduled bout with Raquel Pennington back at UFC 243 due to a nasty tendon injury. “Preacher’s Daughter” ended up avoiding surgery, but still needed a few months to heal before returning to action.
Now it seems as if Holm is making the necessary recovery to put her on track for a comeback fight in early 2020. That’s according to Holm’s coach, Mike Winkeljohn, who recently spoke with BJPenn.com.
“Early next year. She ripped a lot of muscle of her tendon working out one day and it is one of those injuries that you need to let heal,” said Winkeljohn. “We will be seeing her soon.”
Holm, who hasn’t been the same fighter over the past few years, has gone just 2-5 inside of the cage since knocking out Ronda Rousey back in 2015 to claim the UFC women’s bantamweight strap. Her recent run of bad luck includes multiple stops over at featherweight and a recent bantamweight title shot against UFC champion Amanda Nunes last July, which ended in a first-round TKO win for “Lioness.”
Still, despite her recent lack of success, Holm is looking to land a legitimate contender in her return to action.
“Aspen Ladd would be great, we would love that fight,” Winklejohn explained. “Especially after what she said when Holm got the title fight and that fight never happened. So, Holly would love to get into the cage with that young lady. I don’t know, Raquel Pennington is still there.”
While Holm seems to be on the down swing of her career the proven striker remains one of the most popular female fighters in combat sports today. Her track record speaks for itself and her current fighting style plays into everything casual fight fans are looking for.
So even though Holm has some losses to her name over the past few years her team still believes she’s capable of landing the big fights, whether it comes at bantamweight or featherweight.
“She moved up to the heavier weight class before for two world titles, and that is what Holly does. People don’t understand, she only had a handful of fights before she fought for world titles in the UFC then moved up out of her weight class to fight for titles. I’m sick and tired of hearing, ‘oh she has some losses’, but who else in the UFC has done that? She has stepped up and fought anyone at whatever weight,” Winkeljohn concluded.
What say you, Maniacs? Who should Holm fight in her Octagon return?
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