By: Sean Crose
Hard thought it may be for UFC fans to believe, Holly Holm stopped the seemingly unstoppable Ronda Rousey a full decade ago. After polishing the brash Rousey off with a brutal kick, Holm could have well hung up her gloves. She had, after all, won championships in boxing, MMA and kickboxing. Indeed, she may well have been the first professional in all of combat sports to do so. Again, the woman could have easily packed it in after crushing Rousey that long ago night in Australia. Holm, however, seemingly wasn’t built to kick back and simply rest upon her laurels.
Therefore, in Puerto Rico Saturday night, Holm challenged the WBA lightweight champion Stephanie Han for Han’s title belt. Should Holm pull off the win she would be a world champion again for the first time since 2013. “I love women’s boxing because I always will respect it,” Holm recently told MMA Fighting , “always will be thankful for it and my whole journey with it.” Yet Holm also made it clear she’d love to face another legend – Katie Taylor or Taylor’s legendary arch rival, Amana Serrano. “That would be cool if I’d be able to go back or t and fight one of these girls,” said Holm, “Didn’t know if I’d ever actually make it back to boxing but here we are.”
First, however, she had to try to get past the impressive Ham. The bout was scheduled for ten rounds of three minutes each. The forty four year old Holm and policewoman (that’s right, she’s also a law enforcement officer) Han started off sharp. Although ten years had passed, southpaw Holm still employed the distance maintaining strategy that had worked so well in the octagon. With that being said, the early portion of the fight was close, with each woman landing sharply at moments.
Yet by the middle of the fight Han was clearly landing the cleaner more effective punches. While Holm was definitely in the fight, she appeared a bit slow against the faster, sharper Han. In the end, however, the fight didn’t go the distance, not because of a knockout or technical knockout but a cut Han received from a head butt. It was bad news for Han, but even worse news for Holm, who now had no chance to come back. It was no surprise, then, when Han was awarded a decision win from the judges.
“I want to thank God for this win” Han said afterward. “I’m nothing without Him.”
“I have all the respect for Holly Holm,” she added, after declaring she’d love a rematch. Holm responded that she’d like to do it all again, too.
