Anyone waiting for former UFC women’s bantamweight champion, Holly Holm to appear an old inside the Octagon, would need to find a more appropriate hobby.
Holm (14-5), just three weeks after her 39th birthday, looked like she still belonged to the elite fighters at 135 pounds after beating Irene Aldana (12-6) over five rounds on Saturday at the UFC Main Event. Fight Night on Yas Island in Abu Dhabi. Two of the judges scored 50-45 for Holm while the third got 50-44.
Has improved to 4-5 since her surprise title win in 2015 over Ronda Rousey by knockout, with all five defeats reaching former or current UFC Champions, Holm has taken a big step closer to the idea of fighting for a chance to reclaim her crown.
“There are some things I need to work on, of course. But I always say I love to learn from my gains and losses so that I always learn,” Holm said. “[Aldana] He’s the engine, just like me, so I had to think about what I would do if I was fighting myself there. Tonight, we managed to put together a match plan and won. ”
Despite Aldana’s 32-year-old reputation as a tough player, which included a brutal ending to Caitlyn Vieira on her last ride, Holm never gave the Mexican a chance to prove it.
By deflecting Aldana’s powerful shots and stinging with accurate counterstrikes, Holm controls distance with relative ease. But the main difference in combat, and especially the rare times Aldana began putting short punches together, was Holm’s ability to control movement on the ground.
Aldana entered the fight with the best elimination percentage of the UFC fighters. Meanwhile, Holm was never known for her terrestrial game. However, the former champion scored a total of five eliminations in total and proved to be dominant in her shot, including a series of punches from Full Mount in the third round.
After the fight, Holm didn’t commit to talking about whether she should be the next title shot or who you’ll need to defeat to get one. Although Holm’s violent loss of 2019 to current champion Amanda Nunes doesn’t help her replay the match so quickly, the division lacks depth.
“I need to keep working hard,” Holm said. “When I first came to MMA, they would always say, ‘Watch out for boxing. Then, when I started throwing kicks they said, “Watch her kicks.” Now he is, “Watch out for grabbing or wrestling.” I came to the cage to be a fully mixed martial artist and it takes time. I didn’t wrestle for the first time until four weeks before my first fight. MMA; I’m still green and learning, I just want to put it all together.
“I like to let the future hold. I have a great team around me worrying about it and I’m just training.”
Aldana Blood Holm nose with punches early in the fifth round but was unable to achieve any level of sustained success.
In addition to her recent loss to Nunes, Holm has fought unsuccessfully for the UFC featherweight title on two occasions in recent years, losing competitive decisions to former champions Jermaine de Randami and Chris Cyborg. De Randamie, now back in bantamweight, defeated Juliana Pena by submitting the third round on a card on Saturday and could be in line for a second match against Holm as Nunes, the two-division champion, defends her 145-pound title in December.
CBS Sports has been with you all the way on Saturday bringing you all the results and highlights from the UFC Fight Night Card.
UFC Fight Night Card and Scores
- Holly Holm Def. Irene Aldana, by unanimous decision (50-44, 50-45, 50-44)
- Carlos Felipe was defeated. Jürgen de Castro by unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28)
- Jermaine de Randy was defeated. Juliana Peña by submitting the third round (guillotine choke)
- Keeler Phillips def. Cameron Els via TKO in the second round (punches)
- Defeated Dusku Todorovi.. Daquan Townsend via TKO Round Two (Punches)
- Carlos Condit was defeated. McGee Court by unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
- Charles Jordan’s battle against Josh Colipau to split the tie (30-27, 28-29, 28-28)
- Nassour Eddin Imafov Dev. Jordan Williams by unanimous decision (29-27, 29-27, 29-28)
