ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – Holly Holm had a lot to deal with in the lead-up to her last fight.
Holm (13-5 MMA, 6-5 UFC) got back in the win column at UFC 246 with a unanimous decision victory over Raquel Pennington, making it 2-0 against the former UFC bantamweight title challenger.
But during training camp, Holm also had to make regular trips to the hospital to visit her dad, who recently suffered a stroke. After the fight, all she wanted to do was spend time with him, and thankfully, he’s back home now and healthy.
Speaking during a presentation Thursday where she was being honored for submitting 50 “flawless” drug tests to the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency at her home gym, Jackson-Wink MMA, Holm said she’s now ready to divert her attention to prepping for her next fight.
“I’m ready; I’m definitely ready to fight,” Holm told MMA Junkie. “I think, not that I’ve talked about it a whole lot, but with my dad having a stroke from my last fight, that was just kind of one of those, as soon as I got back, I wanted to give him 100 percent of my time, and I’m healthy and have no injuries from the fight and I feel great and he’s doing great. He’s been back home for a week now, so we’ve been blessed with that, and I’m ready to get back in it.”
Former UFC bantamweight champion Holm has failed to recapture her title since losing it in 2016, and has come up short in her quest for the UFC’s 145-pound belt, but she has been able to notch some marquee wins, consistently keeping her facing top contention.
As for what’s next, Holm said she is willing to take on anyone the UFC puts in front of her.
“Just one fight at a time,” Holm said. “Whatever they want to give me next, and I feel like if I plan on three (fights), I’m not focusing on the first one, you know? The one step gets you to the next step, so I know that I need to focus on whatever’s in front of me.”
“My last fight was a victory. I dominated, there was no question about it, but there’s still things that I learned, that I want to do better, that I want to move forward, that I could have done better in the fight, and so I want to work on those things, and I need to implement those in my next fight and just focus on the next thing at hand.”
