Holly Holm
Holly Holm
Holly Rene Holm-Kirkpatrick is an American mixed martial artist who competes in the Ultimate Fighting Championshipbantamweight division. She is the former UFC Women's Bantamweight Champion. Holm is also a former professional boxer and kickboxer. She was a multiple-time world champion in boxing, defending her titles 18 times in three weight classes, and was a two-time Ring magazine fighter of the year...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionMMA Fighter
Date of Birth17 October 1981
CityAlbuquerque, NM
CountryUnited States of America
At the end of the day, you are in control of your own happiness. Life is going to happen whether you overthink it, overstress it or not. Just experience life and be happy along the way. You can't control everything in your life, but you can control your happiness.
There's a lot of criticism in this job and what we do. It's in front of everybody and for everybody to have their own opinion about what we do. Don't be in this position if you can't handle that criticism.
Some people feel stronger in their 30s. I'm 34. I've noticed I do feel stronger now than when I was 24. But I'm also more sore in the mornings. If I have a bump or a bruise from practice, it takes me a little bit more than just an ice bath to get rid of it. At the end of the week, my body's ready for a day off.
I'm glad people think that I can do well. I always say I would rather that be the scenario than on the other end of it saying, 'We thought she'd be real crappy.' I'll take the side that I'm on. I'll take that people think that I'm going to do well; they have faith in me and believe in me, and that makes me feel stronger.
I'm always open to suggestions. I'm open to opportunities. Whether I take them or not, I don't know. And I would only take them if I weren't training, if I didn't have a fight scheduled. I really want to keep my focus on fighting. That's where all these doors are opening up from anyways. I don't want to lose sight of that. I love fighting.
I'd see people being really successful, whether it was my teammates or big-name fighters like Muhammad Ali and Mike Tyson, and I'd think, 'I want to be a legend like that.'
I think sometimes in life we rush and only later look back and say, 'Wow, that was something pretty cool that I did,' and we realize we should have been more aware while it was happening.
A rematch is one of those things that will always be there when you remove a champion, and it's something you definitely need to give them - that chance for a rematch. That's the only way to do it.
A lot of times, fighters get not only physically tired but mentally exhausted. It's like a chess match - you're thinking of offense and defense at the same time. It's almost exhausting to think about it. After a while, you just go, 'I'll move my pawn.' A lot of times in fights, people get exhausted, and they're just sick of trying to focus on it.
There's days in training where everything flows and days in training where they don't. You just pray that doesn't happen the night of the fight.
There's a ton of nerves for every fight I've been in; it doesn't matter if it was my debut.
I'm going to hit you as hard as I can regardless of whether you touch my gloves or not.
I think you can get so mentally beat by kind of working yourself up too much.
I still have a lot to learn, and I still have a lot to prove.