Holly Holm ‘lost all focus’ in loss to Kayla Harrison at UFC 300; Dana White wants her to retire
Holly Holm might be at a crossroads where her future is concerned.
The former bantamweight champion suffered a lopsided loss to two-time Olympic judo gold medalist Kayla Harrison at UFC 300 after she was taken down and choked out in the second round. The loss dropped Holm to 1-2 with one no contest in her past four fights with both losses coming via submission.
Following the disappointing loss, Holm took to social media to issue a statement about her performance.
“Well none of that went how I had envisioned over the last 10 weeks of this training camp,” Holm said. “I have no excuses. I had all the best coaching, the best teammates, the best sparring, all the help I could have even dreamed of asking for.
“I went out there and I lost all focus on the game plan. I did nothing that we trained for in this fight. All the respect to Kayla, she was the better fighter tonight.”
Early in the opening round, Holm invited a grappling exchange with Harrison, which seemed like a bad idea considering the former PFL champion almost certainly wanted the fight on the ground. Holm actually scored an early reversal but then found herself stuck under Harrison eating elbows and punches for nearly five consecutive minutes.
The situation only went from bad to worse in the second round when Harrison once again took Holm to the canvas, advanced to take her back before latching on the fight ending rear-naked choke.
At 42, Holm admitted in her statement that she needs time to process this loss before deciding what’s next for her career.
“I just know I’m capable of more than that,” Holm said. “I’m one of those that likes to self-reflect rather than run from things. I think honesty with yourself can sometimes be the hardest thing. But I’m healthy, my heart hurts, my ego hurts.
“But I just wanted to say thank you to all the fans that have always stood by my side and of course, my team, my coaches, my family, my friends. Much love to everybody, I appreciate you and I’ll be back.”
UFC CEO Dana White praised Harrison for her debut performance as she lived up to the hype as one of the bigger free agent signings in recent history.
As for Holm, White continued to call her a legend in the sport but he believes her best days are behind her.
“I would love to see Holly retire,” White said at the UFC 300 post-fight press conference.
Obviously, Holm didn’t respond to White’s suggestion to call it a career but she’s also understandably still dealing with the immediate aftermath from her latest loss.
Whether she continues fighting or not, Holm maintains her position as one of the top women’s bantamweights of all time, especially after her shot heard round the world when she knocked out Ronda Rousey back in 2015.