Former UFC bantamweight champion Holly Holm is no stranger to high profile fights. Holm put on a dominant and storied career in the world of professional boxing before making her transition to MMA. However, in the world of mixed martial arts, Holm’s career defining moment went down Nov. 14, 2015. That is when she shocked the world with a stunning knockout victory that ended the dominant reign of UFC superstar Ronda Rousey. With that in mind, Holm now has another incredible challenge ahead of her as the fighter is facing off against another competitor with a reputation for dominance in the MMA world.
“The Preacher’s Daughter” will face off against UFC featherweight champion Cris Cyborg for the title on Dec. 30, 2017 inside the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nev. for the pay-per-view event UFC 219. Holm’s striking coach, Mike Winkeljohn, has now come forward to reveal that Holm plans on shocking the world all over again come UFC 219.
Speaking on the Submission Radio podcast, Winkeljohn offered his thoughts on the upcoming match up.
“You know what, behind the scenes when we fought Ronda we were pretty confident that we had the proper game plan to beat Ronda. Everybody thought we were crazy, everyone thought Holly was crazy when she first fought Christy Martin back in the early days in boxing cause Christy Martin knocked everyone out, and Holly made that look easy, and she had what I call that “Christy Martin” moment where Christy tried to throw a punch at her, Holly slipped under and then Christy almost went through the ropes. Guess what? Ronda did the same thing, and it’s gonna happen in the Cris Cyborg fight, she’s gonna have that same moment.”
“Holly’s stopping Cris Cyborg probably later in the fight. You know, round four, round five she’s gonna finish the fight, shock the world again.”
“Cyborg’s got the title, Holly doesn’t have a title, so we don’t have all the chips at the moment, and the fight is what’s most important. Beating Cris Cyborg puts Holly back and higher where she will be the, I guess, biggest name ever in women’s combat sports. So she’s gotta win the fight and got to do that first, and then maybe she’ll get paid even more in the next one.”
