Move over “The Preacher’s Daughter”, we reckon the UFC’s newest champion should call herself Holly “the Hustler” Holm.
Coach Mike Winkeljohn had a lot of time to prepare Holly Holm for the impossible task of derailing the Ronda Rousey hype train.
Dana White has openly admitted that he signed the former world boxing champion with the intent of having her take on Rousey at some stage. However, he probably didn’t expect her to absolutely annihilate his biggest star and render her unconscious early in the second round.
In fairness, not many people did.
RT: How @_HOLLYHOLM KO'ed @RondaRousey in #UFC193 pic.twitter.com/WR1RaS96B0
— Teddy ⚡️ $BUBBLE (@iCrazyTeddy) November 15, 2015
Despite the huge amount of hype surrounding Holm’s striking ability, she didn’t exactly light the promotion up with her first two appearances inside the Octagon.
Her debut was a lacklustre split decision victory over Raquel Pennington, which she followed up with a slightly better showing against Marion Reneau, although that also went the distance.
This left many fans wondering, where the hell did the Holly Holm that viciously knocked out the greatest WMMA fighter ever come from? Winklejohn revealed to Yahoo that Holm had intentionally held back in some of her previous fights in order to be a surprise package for her title shot.
“Footwork is always the key for Holly Holm in her fights and Holly has held back a bit in the past and that was all part of the plan.”
“We knew we would fight Ronda one day and Holly showed why she is now the best in the world.”
Genius.
