Holly Holm, who defeated Ronda Rousey in a 2015 UFC bantamweight championship match, has dismissed Rousey’s claim that a pre-fight concussion contributed to her loss, stating that she was simply the better fighter that night.
Well, who can forget 2015? Holly Holm certainly can’t. That’s when she sent shockwaves around the globe. Her foot connected with Ronda Rousey’s jaw in a way that can only be described as a seismic event. The UFC bantamweight champion was down for the count, and the world was left in awe.
Back then, Holm’s knockout was seen as one of the biggest upsets in UFC history. It’s been almost a decade since that fateful night. And guess what? Holm’s still holding her own in the bantamweight rankings. Rousey, though? She hung in there for one more fight before hanging up her gloves.
Rousey’s been busy, though. She’s penned an autobiography, “Our Fight”. In it, she talks about a history of concussions that she says forced her to quit fighting. She even mentioned a tumble down some stairs before UFC 193. Apparently, she was dealing with post-concussion symptoms when she faced off against Holm.
Holm’s reaction? She acknowledged Rousey’s prowess as a champion. But she wasn’t buying the concussion story. Not as an excuse for her loss, anyway.
Holm had some words to share during UFC 300 media day. She said, “So everything I say, which I’m sure people will just take parts of what I’m about to say and make it sound how you guys want, but I say this all out of respect.” She went on to say, “In order to have a big upset like that fight was, you have to have a dominant champion. Without her being so dominant, then I couldn’t have been able to have such an upset. With that being said, I was the better fighter. I was the better fighter that night.”
Holm’s take on Rousey’s concussion history? She thinks it’s par for the course in combat sports. She’s had her own run-ins with concussions, but she’s not about to use them as an excuse for past losses.
Holm said, “If you’ve made a career of fighting, you’ve had a concussion at some point. You go back and look at some of my boxing fights and some of the things I’ve done, I’ve definitely had some concussions. I’ll never sit here and use that as an excuse for any loss.”
Rousey’s been on a promotional tour for her new book. She admitted that losing to Holm stung, especially since she wasn’t at her best. She even said that if she was at 100 percent, no one in the UFC could have beaten her. She added, “It bothers me that I’m not recognized as the greatest ever when I know I am.”
Holm wasn’t shocked by Rousey’s comments. She knows Rousey still struggles with accepting defeat. Holm said, “I think that it’s probably just hard for her to maybe admit that — I was just the better fighter. Was she so dominant and a good champion? 100 percent, I give her that. But she wasn’t better than me, and especially that night.”