Former UFC bantamweight champion Holly Holm was a decorated star in the boxing ring before she turned her sights on MMA, and now it seems she’s feeling the urge to show what she can do in the squared circle once again.
The 40-year-old holm was an interested observer during this past weekend’s major women’s boxing title clash that saw Katie Taylor defend her lightweight title by defeating Amanda Serrano via split-decision, and now she’s floated the idea of going up against the champion.
“We had talked, Taylor and myself, before I wound up going to MMA. We had talked about a possible fight there,” Holm told Ariel Helwani on The MMA Hour show. “I always want to do something that hasn’t been done. I always get super intrigued by things, and I fought at three weight divisions, ‘40, ‘47, and ‘54, and I never got to fight at ‘35. But I’ve done most of my MMA career at ‘35, and that’s what their fight was at. So it makes me like, ‘I want to go back in and show what I can do at a whole different weight class.’ I never even fought at that weight class when I was in boxing and I think I’m bigger and stronger than a lot of the 135ers, and I still have conditioning and I still have a lot of that ring experience behind me.”
Holm last fought in the boxing ring back in May of 2013, earning a unanimous decision win over Mary McGee to retain her IBF and WBF female lightweight titles and take her career record to 33-2-3.
‘The Preacher’s Daughter’ then moved on to MMA and gradually found success there too, culminating in her shocking the world in 2015 by defeating Ronda Rousey via KO to seize the bantamweight title, taking her record in the sport at the time to a perfect 10-0.
She hasn’t faired as well in the years since, going 4-5 overall, but is coming off back-to-back wins as she prepares to make a comeback against Ketlen Vieira later this month after a long layoff due to illness and injury.
Her success in MMA seemed to make a return to boxing unlikely, but as she gets ready to be inducted into the boxing Hall Of Fame later this year, it now appears to be a real possibility.
“It does intrigue me. A lot,” Holm said. “To the point where, before, I was like, ‘I’ll never box again,’ and I’m not saying that. There’s been a lot of people that have been able to transition back and forth, but nobody’s really been able to do it successfully, and that drives me. I want to show people I was able to come to MMA from boxing but I can also go back. It does get me excited.”
