“I’ve always said I wanted to fight and there still has been no for sure time that Ronda’s going to be back. So they said there’s all this money coming in for that fight, but what if that fight doesn’t even happen? Then what are you waiting for? Nothing. You only make money off that fight if it’s actually going to happen, and I don’t know what’s going to happen. Number one, I don’t fight for money. I only fight because I’m passionate about it, and so if we didn’t know if she’d be back right away, we thought well, let’s get another fight going… That was me. I definitely said I wanted another fight. I said I wanted to fight sooner rather than later. So, 100 percent, that was me, that was my decision. They’ve never ever made me take a fight without my blessing. Nobody in my camp has ever told me to do something one way or the other, it doesn’t matter. That’s something I said I wanted to do, I wanted to fight.”
-Holly Holm talks to Ariel Helwani on The MMA Hour about why fighting Miesha Tate at UFC 196 was what she pushed for.
Penick’s Analysis: Holm was coming to the defense of her manager after criticism from UFC President Dana White, but while the result worked against her in that fight, she wasn’t wrong for fighting it out. Given a lack of concrete timetable for Rousey’s return, Holm waiting would have needlessly kept her on hold for a payday that may not have lived up to the hype. It was a high risk/high reward spot, because a win would have kept that fight in play and added to her momentum. The loss hurts, but she can get back, and the Rousey fight is still significant given how their bout played out.
[Photo (c) Mark J. Rebilas via USA Today Sports]
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What’s funny is that now Miesha Tate is being told to wait for Ronda in November, but she’s rattling her saber to fight sooner that that. Those who fail to learn from history (even the history of someone else) are doomed to repeat it.