One of female MMA’s hottest properties Holly Holm has officially signed for the UFC according to Dana White who just broke the story on his Twitter account.
Holm made her name as one of the leading fighters in female boxing, winning titles in three different weight classes and compiling a 33-2-3 record along the way over the course of an 11 year career.
However, Holm, who also has experiencing in kickboxing, then decided to try her hand at mixed martial arts and took to the sport like a duck to water. So far she’s racked up seven victories since her first pro bout in 2011 with all but one of them coming by way of either KO or TKO.
She won Legacy FC’s inaugural bantamweight title back in April, but she’s been in talks with the UFC since before that fight, and though an initial meeting with White resulted in an impasse, they have apparently now reached an agreement that will breathe new life into the UFC’s 135lb division.
It comes at a good time as current champion Ronda Rousey has already dispensed with a who’s who of the weight class in her first four fights in the Octagon, and aside from Cat Zingano there’s no other obvious challengers for her belt at this moment in time.
Cris ‘Cyborg’ remains the fighter that most people believe has the best chance of beating Rousey, but since a deal between her and the UFC still seems some way off, Holm is the next best thing and should be a very marketable title contender in the future.
One other major female fighter that does seem to have slipped off the radar for the time being though is Gina Carano who was talking up the possibility of signing with the UFC earlier in the year, but has since faded back into the background and while the UFC haven’t completely ruled out the chances of a deal being struck, for now it appears that talks between them have stalled.
