LAS VEGAS – Former UFC women’s bantamweight champion Holly Holm broke from standard pre-fight talk to deliver an impassioned defense of her longtime gym, Jackson Wink MMA.
Holm (12-4 MMA, 5-4 UFC) is attempting to reclaim the title she previously lost to Miesha Tate with a win over two-division champ Amanda Nunes (17-4 MMA, 10-1 UFC) at UFC 239. She’s not just fighting for herself, however. She wants to bring the title back home to her team, as well.
“Absolutely I want to win it for them, because they believe in me,” Holm told MMA Junkie before her bantamweight showdown with Nunes on Saturday. “Doesn’t matter what the outside world thinks, I can walk into the gym, and I always tell people that’s where I feel most normal.”
Jackson Wink was back in the headlines this past month when longtime member and UFC welterweight Diego Sanchez announced he’d left the gym for the second time.
Sanchez said the gym’s coaches were “basically going through the motions” and cited UFC 239 title fights for Jackson Wink stars Holm and Jon Jones as the source of distraction. He expressed respect for founders Greg Jackson and Mike Winkeljohn but said it was time to move on.
“For this time in my career, there was no focus on Diego,” Sanchez said. “There was no real love on Diego Sanchez. Maybe because we’ve got two belt fights … but you know what? I don’t give a (expletive). I don’t give a (expletive). I’m Diego Sanchez. I am special. I’m a Hall of Famer.”
Sanchez defended Jackson Wink in the wake of another high-profile departure in UFC lightweight Donald Cerrone, who this past September accused head coach Winkeljohn of letting financial incentives drive a decision to corner opponent Mike Perry instead of him.
Despite negative headlines, Holm said nothing has changed at the gym.
“I am very prideful of my team, and I’m very thankful for my team, and I’m going to say this right now: It has never been different,” she told MMA Junkie. “Coach Winkeljohn and coach Jackson are the most loyal, good coaches out there. They genuinely want you to win (and) they genuinely will be there. They’ve always been there. I’ve never had an issue. (I’ll say), ‘Coach, I need to work on this – what time?’
“There is so much wanting you to succeed, and that is why this team has been built just off of passion and hard work. There’s no big business money people behind our gym. None. You see a lot of these other big MMA gyms out there, and they have all this help and this backup from a lot of these sponsors and people with money, and our gym has been built off of passion and hard work and love for the sport, and that comes from the top.”
Holm said the coaches’ commitment to fighters remains unchanged despite outbursts in the media.
“Any time there’s emotional things going on with the fighters, I will tell you right now that that is none of it,” she said. “The skill level of coaches is the best in the world, and the passion, and genuinely want for you to succeed, that’s No. 1. Money is last.
“There’s no way our gym would be built the way it’s built if money was No. 1. And so whatever people are having, I’m not here to talk trash about others, but I am going to say you can come into the gym and that is 100 percent how it’s been, and I have been part of this team longer than anyone on our team. I’ve witnessed it from start to finish, and that’s why (I love) the team we have.”
Holm thanked the team for pulling her out of a funk in the wake of a knockout loss in her former career as a professional boxer. Winkeljohn has been her coach from the start of her journey in combat sports as a teenager and was there when she shocked the world with a head-kick knockout of Ronda Rousey to claim UFC gold in 2015.
“Everybody told me I should retire, what am I thinking taking the rematch, and all this negativity, and it almost gets in your head,” Holm said. “And then you walk into the gym and they’re like, ‘Hey, when are we going to start work?’ And you’re like, ‘Thank you.’ They know. They get it. Their belief in you gives you strength.
“They’re going to believe in you honestly in the gym. They’re not going to tell you they think you can do it just to blow hot air. They genuinely believe it, and with that belief, they want to help you achieve it. They know it’s not going to be easy. Yes, you can do this, but you’ve got to do it right. That’s why you see multiple champions coming out of the team.”
Holm cited former UFC light heavyweight champ Rashad Evans, ex-interim champ Carlos Condit and top contenders Keith Jardine and John Dodson as evidence of the gym’s success.
“That doesn’t happen just because,” she said. “That comes from the coaches.”
UFC 239 takes place at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. Holm vs. Nunes co-headlines the pay-per-view main card following prelims on ESPN and ESPN+/UFC Fight Pass.
For more on UFC 239, check out the UFC schedule.
