Holly Holm is a hometown hero from Albuquerque, New Mexico. Athletic in high school, her gym instructor encouraged her to enter combat sports at the age of 16. With her talent and hard work, her career took off quickly. After graduating from high school in 2000 and training vigorously, Holly won the championship in the International Rules Adult women’s welterweight division of the International Kickboxing Federation in 2001. It was her last amateur fight before launching a pro combat sports career that encompasses kickboxing, boxing, and now MMA.
After amateur kickboxing, Holly got involved in boxing. From 2002 through 2013 she accrued a record of 33-2-3, and was named Ring Magazine’s Female Fighter of the Year in 2005 and 2006. In 2011 she lost her WBF Female, IBA Female, and WBAN Welterweight titles after being knocked out in the 7th round of a bout with French slugger Anne Sophie Mathis. In a rematch a year later, Holly won and reclaimed her titles by a unanimous decision win. 33 of Holly’s 38 boxing bouts have taken place in her home state New Mexico.
With her roots in boxing and kickboxing, Holly was a natural match for the world of MMA. She fought on some Bellator and Legacy cards before she got her big break in 2015, carded to fight the UFC’s star female fighter, Ronda Rousey. Rousey was the betting odds favorite by a huge margin and up to this point had only let one opponent take her past the first round. Holly knocked out the champion with a thundering side kick to the head, earning the UFC bantamweight title and becoming the first woman to hold championship belts in MMA and Boxing. The victory was one of the largest upsets in combat sports history, and though Holly lost he belt to Miesha Tate in 2016, Holly Holm continues to fight in the UFC. Holly looks to redeem herself as she is set to face Australian army veteran Megan Anderson in her next fight, June 9th.
