SAN DIEGO — Holly Holm understands the expectations were high when she entered the UFC amid much fanfare.
After all, she was a multi-time world boxing champion and entered the sport’s biggest company undefeated in mixed martial arts. So some thought that the Jackson’s MMA fighter would knock out opponents left and right and move straight to a shot at UFC women’s bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey.
It hasn’t quite panned out that way. But still, after a one-sided decision victory over Marion Reneau on Wednesday night at UFC Fight Night 71, she’s 2-0 in the UFC and showed measurable improvement over her debut win against Raquel Pennington at UFC 184.
And as she gets more time in the Octagon, she becomes more comfortable with progressing on her own terms.
“I don’t want it to be like boxing where you face fighters of low skill level to build your record,” Holm (8-0) said at the post-fight press conference at Valley View Casino Center. “I want it to be challenging, if it’s not a challenge, then the victory’s not that great, it doesn’t feel that good. If you get in there and you fight and you want it to be more challenging, it’s a better victory. My goal is to be there challenging [for the title], if not there’s no reason to be there at all. It’s just one fight at a time.”
Holm knows that with her boxing reputation, fans were expecting knockouts. She admits that in hindsight, she wishes she had been more aggressive with Reneau, who didn’t seem overly eager to engage with Holm.
“I’ve been working my butt off since the last fight, so, I want to keep improving, I feel like I could have gotten a little more aggressive, had a little more aggressive performance, but my goal is to keep on improving.”
All in all, though Holm leaves San Diego pleased with her performance, knowing her perfect record remains intact.
“I think tonight I was kind of feeling her out, I guess maybe I didn’t do too much on offense,” Holm said. “That’s what I’m working for, I always want to work better. I’m happy with my performance, I just want to keep showing what I can do.”