Holly Holm has been squeezed out of the title picture after losing her belt to Miesha Tate.
HOLLY Holm is learning the hard way why you don’t cross the boss.
It was announced Wednesday night that Miesha Tate would defend her UFC women’s bantamweight title against Amanda Nunes at UFC 200 on July 9. Nunes earned the shot with her win over Valentina Shevchenko at UFC 196, the same night Tate choked out Holm in the fifth round to win the belt.
Tate, like Holm before her, does not want to wait until Ronda Rousey is ready to return to the cage in November or December. But many expected that there would be a rematch with Holm before anyone — excluding Rousey — received a title shot.
“Ronda is out until November or December,” Tate said on UFC Tonight. “Holly, it was her first defence, she wasn’t successful. It’s not like she was a long-reigning champion, and I finished that fight. So I think the most dangerous woman is Amanda Nunes.”
But it cannot have helped Holm that she appears to be at constant odds with UFC president Dana White. Holm and longtime manager Lenny Fresquez pushed for the fight with Tate after White had publicly declared that Holm’s first title defence would be against Rousey. After Holm was upset by Tate, White blamed Fresquez for derailing his fighter’s career.
“For me, I don’t really care what people say about me,” Holm said in response to White on “The MMA Hour.” “But I do care when people are negative about the people around me who I love and who support me. So yeah, it’s frustrating, because it was something that I wanted and it’s something that (Fresquez) pushed for (afterwards).”
Holm celebrates her win against Ronda Rousey at UFC 193.Source:News Corp Australia
Fresquez said last week that Holm also turned down a fight as the opponent in Cristiane “Cyborg” Justino’s much-anticipated UFC debut.
“We were not interested in that right now,” Fresquez told the Albuquerque Journal. “[Holm] just wants to fight Miesha.”
But now Holm lacks the leverage she had as champion and will have to wait in line behind Nunes and likely Rousey. Tate even gave Rousey a rare compliment on Wednesday night, calling her “the best female fighter on the planet for a long time.”
Past tense, yes, but still progress for Tate, who has devoted much of her time as champ to bashing Rousey despite having lost to Rousey twice.
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